Zzzzzzz....
In the past three weeks I've heard/read from two or three different sources that sleep deprivation is killer. That sleeping only four, five, six hours a night every night is making us cranky, emotionally ill-equipped to handle bad things that happen, fat, diabetic and we don't want to get it on as much. That humans are the only animals that purposely deprive themselves of the proper amount of sleep and that our bodies do not seem to have a way to compensate for lack of sleep. If you're sleep deprived, you're sleep deprived and your body will not learn to adapt.
Yikes! I'm one of those people! I'm always scooting along on about five to six hours of sleep. Sometimes I get seven but that's a lot for me. Here I was all these years thinking that my butt is big because I eat popcorn at midnight. And it is for that reason but the reason I'm eating it is because I'm really sleep deprived. The little hormone that tells your body that you're not hungry? You don't make that hormone when you're sleep deprived hence, popcorn at midnight!
We've somehow fooled ourselves into thinking that sleeping eight to ten hours a night (and the stories I read/heard said that the minimum we should be sleeping is eight hours a night, every night) is a sign of laziness. That's we're not getting the most out of life when we sleep that much and it's a sort of badge of honor to drag through each day after only getting five hours of sleep. What we don't realize though is that we're not doing our best and getting the most out of life and the added stress it's putting on our bodies is aging us faster and making us fatter.
This has explained so much about things in my life that I'm unhappy with. It won't fix everything but I imagine it'll remove some roadblocks that I've let trip me up. I know on those days after I've had a really long sleep I feel so much better and I wonder why I keep staying up too late at night and robbing myself of what I really need.
posted by Dixie at 10:06 PM
7Comments:
"That sleeping only four, five, six hours a night every night is making us cranky"
aha! That's my problem!
I've always had problems with insomnia, but I take 3 mg of Melatonin a night, and it gets me through. It's herbal and has no side effects. I've taken it for years. I would be glad to send you some, if you can't find it there.
Dee
Now see that? The scientists can't make our minds up for us. Not so long ago I read an article, one of those quickies on Yahoo, saying they'd done a study that revealed people getting more than 6-8 hours a night were more likely to die young. It said the best you could do for yourself was to get six. No more, no less. More than three days on six hours of sleep per night and I end up having to take a nap!
In 2007 my adrenal glands like shut down and I started having a cushings syndrome type illness. After about 40 doctors, one who had a co-specialty in homeopathic medicine told me to get some freakin sleep- I had gone two years on 4-5 hours a night. I now force myself to have at least seven and preferably eight. It has made a huge difference in my health and weight. I believe it!
For years I had trouble sleeping because of chronic hip pain. Then I was good for a couple of years and now that the other hips is going the insomnia has started again. I also take melatonin along with a tylenol3 for pain but what helps me with the eating issue is smoothies made with fresh fruit, milk or water and a scoop of whey powder. Pure protein, makes you feel full, reduces fat believe or not and increases muscle tone. Works for me, I have a couple a day usually one before bed. I need a good 9 hours of sleep to be happy...ciao
For the past five months I've been on a serious (twice weekly, which for me is serious) exercise regiment. I found that after I began it--particularly the days I had my ex. class--my body would nearly shut down by 10 pm--sloppy, drooling sleep would soon follow. Then I started aiming to sleep by 10:30 and up by 7. If I couldn't get the 15 episodes of LOST in at one sitting, so be it.
This is the first year I've been able to lose the pounds I needed to lose AND the first year I have not had battle after battle with asthma. I think sleeping right has a lot to do with it.
While I still have the occasional past midnight stay-ups, I found that the way to go is to sleep regularly.
You know, I seldom have trouble falling asleep. On occasion I go to bed with my mind too busy and I have trouble sleeping but else I am asleep within five or ten minutes of getting into bed. My problem is getting myself to go to bed. I want to stay up to watch one more show or knit five more rows or read one more chapter - and my "I'm definitely going to bed by 1am!" turns into me going to bed at 2:30 or 3am. I'd love to sleep until noon but that doesn't work either.
I've got to start going to bed earlier. I'm not getting things done during the day because I'm either too tired or too unmotivated - and I think that lack of motivation is because I've had a lack of sleep - or it's too late in the day to start something. I can read that one more chapter or knit those five more rows at a different time during the day. And I record everything I watch because I don't like watching TV during prime evening time. There's no need for me to be sitting up at 2am watching Medium.
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