ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP?
A recent survey found that more people are sleeping less than six hours a
night, and sleep difficulties visit 75% of us at least a few nights per week. A
short-lived bout of insomnia is generally nothing to worry about. The bigger
concern is chronic sleep loss, or longer periods of broken sleep cycles, which can
contribute to health problems such as weight gain, high blood pressure, and a
decrease in the immune system.
While more research is needed to explore the links between chronic sleep
loss and health, it’s safe to say that sleep is too important to shortchange.
Six reasons to get enough sleep:
1. Learning and
memory: Sleep helps the brain commit new information to memory through a
process called memory consolidation. In studies, people who’d slept after
learning a task did better on tests later.
2. Metabolism and
weight: Chronic sleep deprivation may cause weight gain by affecting the way
our bodies process and store carbohydrates, and by altering levels of hormones
that affect our appetite.
3. Safety: Sleep debt
contributes to a greater tendency to fall asleep during the daytime. These
lapses may cause falls and mistakes such as medical errors, air traffic
mishaps, and road accidents.
4. Mood: Sleep loss
may result in irritability, impatience, inability to concentrate, and
moodiness. Too little sleep can also leave you too tired to do the things you
like to do.
5. Cardiovascular
health: Serious sleep disorders have been linked to hypertension, increased
stress hormone levels, and irregular heartbeat.
Disease: Sleep deprivation alters immune function, including the activity
of the body’s killer cells. Keeping up with sleep may also help fight cancer.
Posts
This might be very true indeed. The last decade I've not been sleeping very well, and I have to do at least 5 times BodyCombat per week to stay at a rather normal weight. When I was younger, I slept much more, ate more and did not go to the gym at all and was much skinnier as well (I'm now 39 years old). The fact that you handle stress much worse is also I can relate to...
ReplyDeleteLet's test this out... With some effort it should be possible to have at least 8 hours of sleep per day on at least some days per week... In half a year I'll post an update about any differences I might notice or not...
Current weight = 112,1 kilograms
I've always had insomnia since I was a baby but as an adult, I learned if I worked out hard during the day, stayed away from Guinness or wine at least 5 hours prior to bedtime, set the thermostat to 68 and had my cuddle blanket, I sleep very well. And to clarify, my cuddle blanket makes me happy and keeps me safe when I watch scary movies...but it doesn't mean that I'm a petite flower...I'm still hardcore...with a cuddle blanket! On guard!
ReplyDeleteIm so guilty of not getting enough sleep and know i need to get to bed earlier. Dan what do you recommend for night owls with morning jobs :0/
ReplyDelete