Nov 28 2008
4 Reasons to Get Enough Sleep
There are a lot of things in everyday life that can cause us to be sleepless. Stress and worry are two of the big culprits. However, new studies have shown how it is now more important than ever known before to get enough sleep. The old excuse of “I’ll catch up on my sleep this weekend” doesn’t hold true as we once thought it did. We now know that you can’t catch up on sleep and if giving sleep the short end of importance can effect your health over time.
1. 26% of children who don’t get enough sleep become overweight. Although this study related to children 2 ½ to 6 years, one has to wonder if a lack of sleep can effect this percentage of people, in this manner, in all age ranges. This was based on children of this age group getting fewer than 10 hours of sleep per night.
2. Lack of enough sleep can affects adolescents with both emotional and behavioral disturbances including ADHA. The results were ascertained through a study involving 882 high school students by reviewing their sleep habits in conjunction with their grades. As part of the study, students were also given psychological and behavioral testing.
3. Consider your overall fat intake (especially dinner fat intake) if you aren’t sleeping well. A study done at the Federal University in Brazil in which 52 healthy people’s food intake records were watched for three days. The study showed a higher fat intake matched up with a lower amount of REM sleep, a higher arousal and higher occurrence of apnea.
4. Cigarette smoking is linked with sleep disturbances. Research shows that smokers will report feeling unrested, in the morning, four times more than non-smokers. It turns out that smokers spend less time in a state of deep sleep than those that don’t smoke.
Things You Can Do to Sleep Better
1. Don’t sleep in. Set a schedule of going to bed and getting up at the same times, even on weekends.
2. Exercise between 20 and 30 minutes per day. However exercising late in the day may actually disturb sleep for some.
3. Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol especially late in the day and evening. Where stimulants keep you awake, depressants such as alcohol rob the body of deep sleep.
4. Find ways to relax before bedtime. Reading or taking a warm bath are good examples.
5. If you can’t sleep, don’t lie in bed. The anxiety of concentrating on being unable to sleep is worse than getting up and doing something else until sleepy.
