Day 42: The Answer to Life, the Look You Want, and Everything

Never had a bed felt so good before! Sitting on the edge of the mattress, she glanced down at the clock on the bedside stand. Two o'clock in the morning?! How could it possibly be that late... or early? What kind of person went to bed at two every morning?

Fuzzy thoughts stumbled through her brain as she tried to focus for just another minute and twenty-seven seconds - just long enough to set the alarm for 5:30 AM. With eyelids that refused to obey even the simplest of commands, she blearily checked that the alarm was, in fact, set for three and one-half hours later and rolled floppily onto the bed.

Her aching feet wearily reveled in the lack of weight above them and her exhausted frame slowly relaxed from the pressures of the day. Ahhh... she sank blissfully into the soft pillow and pulled the down comforter up around her neck, wriggling just a bit as sleep...

Suddenly her eyes flew open with the foggy realization that the alarm was going off. Noooo. It couldn't possibly be time yet! She had just fallen asleep. Must be some mistake. But a groggy inspection of the nasty little alarm clock revealed the truth; it was 5:30.

Two and one-half hours had disappeared as if they had never existed.

You know the feeling. One minute, you're anticipating the nice, deep sleep you're about to get and the next (or so it seems), that horrible alarm is going off or, worse yet, some family member dares to disturb your slumbers.

I would venture to say that all of us have dealt with inadequate sleep at some point in our lives. Sometimes, it is a function of our own poor choices; other times, we really don't have a choice and are called from our peaceful slumbers by necessity (be it our own or that of others).

The average American gets about 6.5 hours of sleep each night; one hour less than 20 to 30 years ago. That may not seem so terrible until you realize the average adult needs between seven and eight hours each night! Sleep just doesn't seem that important anymore: not with cool late-night TV shows, places to hang out, extra work, increasing insomnia, etc.

The price we are paying for decreasing our sleep is intense. According to surveys, an this cultural lack of sleep is costing fifteen billion dollars in health care expenses and an estimated fifty billion in lost productivity costs - and this is for the U.S. One in five adults experience daytime sleepiness and fifty percent of those say it affects their work performance! Caffeine consumption is up as are the sales of insomnia medications.

The market and economy are not the only areas affected by lack of sleep. Health is seriously affected by insufficient sleep: lowered immune systems, increased stress levels, mood changes, cognitive ability, appetite, and even weight gain.

Ghrelin and leptin are two amazing complementary hormones that can help or hurt your life. Ghrelin not only increases appetite, but also may prevent weight loss. Leptin is a made mostly in fat cells and its amount in your blood is proportional to your amount of body fat. It is thought to suppress appetite, yet obesity is a leptin-resistant state; you ignore signals to stop eating. Through regular lack of sleep, ghrelin production increases (and leptin decreases), making you feel like eating all the time - especially foods high in carbohydrates and increased night-time snacking.

In 2006, a the largest study to track the sleep/weight connection was released. It included close to 70,000 middle-aged women and ran the course of 16 years. The results were shocking. Sleeping five or fewer hours per night yielded women who were 32% more likely to gain 33+ pounds and 15% more likely to become obese over the women who slept seven hours each night. Even sleeping six hours a night still resulted in a 12% likelihood of major weight gain and 6% likelihood of becoming obese when compared to the seven-hour-per-night women.

What happens when you don't get enough sleep (with respect to weight)? The sleep deficit will interfere with your body's ability to deal with and process carbohydrates, stress management, and hormonal balance. In just one sleep-deprived week, you'll have significant decrease in glucose processing abilities and insulin levels can rise to a pre-diabetic level.

So it would seem that ensuring seven to eight hours of sleep per night can have dramatic health, mental, and weight benefits. One Stanford researcher was quoted as saying, "[After increasing hours of sleep per night] Some of the improvements in performance, in mood, in cognitive ability, and in energy were really dramatic, almost superhuman."

Think you don't have enough time to sleep an extra hour or fraction thereof? Think again. Something as simple as turning off the television or not watching that movie could help you get to bed earlier. How about minimal caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol right before bed. Try not eating for three hours before you go to bed and then make sure you sleep in the dark - no night lights. Keep your work and projects out of the bedroom and let it be a place where you can relax - keep it clean and tidy. Instead of taking that medication to fall asleep, try exercising during the day and taking some calcium right before going to bed.

And yes, I am aware of the irony of this post as I sit here, 36 minutes before midnight, pontificating on the benefits of sleep and knowing full well I shall have to awaken around five o'clock, not only to feed the baby, but also to get to the gym!

Let's try an experiment this week: try getting at least seven hours of sleep each night. It might mean giving up some personal quiet time or cutting some entertainment from the schedule... but think what worlds might open if all you needed to lose that last five pounds was an extra hour of sleep?!

I, for one, need all the help I can get!

(photo courtesy of Joseph Miller Photography)