When a client comes into my office with chronic conditions, one of the first things I want to talk about is their sleep. If you aren’t sleeping well, it’s nearly impossible for your body to heal and do the things it needs to do for you to feel well again.
Goal: eight to ten hours of sleep each night, without waking up once!
We are after sound, solid, refreshing sleep here.
While many of you are in bed for the appropriate seven to nine hours each night, it’s unlikely that you’re actually sleeping the whole time. Flipping through TV channels, tossing and turning, tomorrow’s to-do list flooding through your mind, back pain, waking in the night to use the bathroom, the list of sleep disturbances goes on and on.
The age-old belief that your body is dormant while you sleep has long been debunked. Sleep is more than a simple exercise to refresh you for the next day.
Here are a few of the things going on in your body while you sleep:
MEMORY BOOST:
Your brain is catching up on the day. Information that you’ve taken in, from simple passings to detailed conversations, is being sorted out and stored in the appropriate places in your brain. Lack of sleep makes memory recall more difficult (brain fog, ugh).
MOOD BOOST:
While your memories are being processed, so are your emotions. Studies demonstrate that sleep-deprived individuals respond to low stress situations much like an individual that is not sleep-deprived would respond to a high-stress situation. Those with insomnia are 10 times more likely to suffer depression and 19 times more likely to be plagued with anxiety. Those with sleep apnea are 5 times more likely to suffer depression.
Clearly, your quality and duration of sleep is directly correlated to your mood.
GERM FIGHTING:
While you sleep, your body releases cytokines. These are a special proteins in your immune system that help to promote sleep and fight off invading bacteria and viruses. If you are sleep-deprived, it will take longer to fight infections, such as the common cold or flu.
STABILIZING BLOOD SUGAR:
While in deep sleep, your blood glucose (sugar) decreases. If you don’t spend enough time in deep sleep, your body doesn’t undergo a glucose reset. Research demonstrates that a lack of sleep decreases a person’s ability to breakdown glucose by 40%. That’s a lot! When poor sleep is followed up with a high carbohydrate breakfast, glucose levels remain high throughout the day. This pattern can lead to diabetes and obesity.
HEALTHIER HEART:
When you sleep, your blood pressure decreases. This is called “nocturnal dipping” During sleep, your heart and blood vessels get a rest too. The longer you sleep, the greater the rest for your cardiovascular system. An absence of “nocturnal dipping” can lead to cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attack and stroke.
WEIGHT CONTROL:
When you’re sleep deprived, your body starts messing with the hormones that control hunger. Ghrelin is the hormone that makes you feel hungry, and it’s found to be elevated in people that get less than 7 hours of sleep per night. You’ll be hungrier, and you’ll have less energy to make healthy food choices. And remember, we said lack of sleep increases blood sugar. Research also demonstrates that less than 7 hours of sleep per night is correlated with having a higher BMI (Body Mass Index).
So what is adequate sleep? It depends on your age. While adults need 7 - 9 hours of sleep per night, teens require 8 - 10 hours per night, and toddlers need a combination of 14 hours in a day between naps and sleeping through the night. Looking for ways to increase your quality and duration of sleep? I’ve put together quite the list for you here!
Resources:
The Extraordinary Importance of Sleep: The Detrimental Effects of Inadequate Sleep on Health and Public Safety Drive an Explosion of Sleep Research
Sleep Medicine Reviews: "Sleep and Emotion Regulation: An Organizing, Integrative Review."
Lack of sleep: Can it make you sick?
Sleep Longer To Lower Blood Glucose Levels
Sleep and Hypertension
Sleep deprivation and obesity in adults: a brief narrative review