FEATURE: Sleep Deprivation Linked to Obesity
Written by Kathryn Savage
These
scientists just keep making it harder for me to continue my bad habits!
And now it appears all us night owls are under attack! Sleep
deprivation is linked to obesity. Not getting enough sleep lowers
the protein hormone leptin, scientists say. Leptin suppresses appetite,
and its absence may make you hungrier during the day if you skimp on
sleep.
A good night's rest is a losing battle, losing to the
demands of kids, careers, and computers. Modern life makes a goodnights
rest a hard thing to achieve. To be sure, lack of sleep is be a
regular part of life, but that doesn't make it good for you. A number
of recent studies explain that not sleeping enough, or sleeping at
strange hours may increase your risk factors for a wide array of
illnesses including cancer, heart disease and obesity.
Our go, go go nature is making it harder to sleep, sleep, sleep and at the heart of this matter is our health. So is modern life making us fat? And if so, how? Studies suggest that
sleep loss disrupts key appetite suppressing hormones. Namely the
hormones called ghrelin and leptin that suppress appetite. A large
study of nearly 10,000 adults indicated that middle-age adults who
sleep less than seven hours a night are much more likely to be obese.
The logic: if you skimp on sleep you'll eat more because your "Stop!
I'm full!" signal is out of order. A separate study indicates that the
chance of getting colon cancer, breast cancer, heart disease and
diabetes increases with the loss of quality sleep.
Other
experts in the field claim that sleep studies still need to be tweaked
- there are a wealth of other factors that may be at play when you talk
about obesity and serious illnesses. But the bottom line is that sleep
should be respected. And if you notice you're more inclined to
super-size your order when sleep-deprived, you should seriously think
about getting more rest.
So how much sleep is enough?
The amount of sleep that
keeps our physiologic functions in tiptop shape is different for
everyone, but a good rule of thumb is eight hours. If you have a sleep
disorder like sleep apnea, narcolepsy and chronic insomnia you should
take this seriously and treat it with attentive medical care. If you
are otherwise a good little sleeper, but stress, work, kids, or school
are keeping you up, I suggest a warm mug of chamomile tea, or even a
touch of wine (the nightcap thing really works for me!).
One more thing....
Going without a good night's rest, according to physiologic studies, may lead to chronic inflammation, and overproduction of stress hormones. It’s that feeling when you’re in the last leg of the road-trip and you just want to keep your eyes open long enough to get home. It’s the blurry-eyed-5am-at-the-airport feeling. Have you ever noticed your heart starts to beat a little high?
How to get more sleep?
- Slow down - read a book before bed instead of watching TV. Turn off the TV an hour earlier than you usually do, or better yet, don't turn it on at all.
- Drink a glass of herbal tea or a glass of wine or some other favorite nightcap cocktail.
- Set the alarm a few minutes later than you usually would and squeeze a few more minutes of sleep in each morning.
- Create a sleep routine. For a while there I got into the habit of drinking tea and reading in bed and it got to the point where two paragraphs into the morning newspaper, my body thought it was time for bed. We people are creatures of habit, indulge your inner sleeper!
For further inquiry follow these links:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/08/AR2005100801405.html
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/11/17/Worldandnation/Sleep_deprivation_rai.shtml
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