There has been quite a bit of press lately about how sleep,
the amount of it and the quality that you get on a regular
basis, can affect more than just our moods and our
alertness. Now there is gathering evidence that sleep may
have a great impact on how much you weigh for a number of
reasons.
So, if you think that getting your Z's wasn't affecting
your health, then you definitely want to read on, because
it could be affecting not only your weight, but also may
have a serious impact on your longevity, and your
predisposition toward everything from cancer to diabetes.
You may think that this supposition goes only one way.
That is, that it's only the lack of sleep that increases
your health problems and also may impact overall longevity.
However, it also appears to go the opposite way as well,
since people who get too much sleep, which is nine hours or
more, also experiencing higher rates of health issues, as
well as a higher incidence of obesity.
So, what is described as being too little sleep, exactly?
Well anything that falls under the absolute minimum of six
hours of sleep per night qualifies as very little sleep,
but that can vary per study. Some studies claim that the
only acceptable range of sleep is about seven to eight
hours of solid rest per night.
The consensus does seem to be, however, that anything under
six hours per night could be seriously detrimental to your
health and that by getting this small amount of sleep on a
regular basis may increase your odds of becoming overweight
or obese. The thought process behind sleep's relationship
to obesity and excess weight goes two fold.
Some researchers believe that those that get little sleep
are already predisposed, perhaps genetically or
personality-wise, to not get enough sleep by traits such as
anxious personalities, depressive disorders, and even
people who smoke or drink too much caffeine.
The end result, however, is the same, and that is that
there is definitely a correlation between those that get
too much or too little sleep and obesity, so it could be
assumed that either one causes the other, or vice versa.
Another thought is that lack of sleep, or too much sleep,
can trigger certain hormones and chemicals in the brain
that make people more hungry and also induce a more
insatiable appetite that contains more cravings for foods
such as carbohydrates and sweets, to make up for the
hormonal imbalance that is caused when someone is getting
improper amounts of sleep, whether it be too much or not
enough.
I know that I've seen this theory at work in my own life
when I've had too much sleep, which for me is nine hours or
more, although I can rarely sleep longer than that, or when
I've had five or less hours of sleep.
On these mornings and the ensuing day after a bad night's
sleep, I almost always find that I have a huge appetite,
and that all I want to eat seems to be those "comfort
foods" that are always the biggest diet no-no's, like
sugary sweet and fatty fried foods. For me, my body has
proven to me time and time again that adequate and correct
amounts of sleep directly affect my appetite and the types
of foods that I crave.
Getting the correct amount of rest, as well as the quality
of that rest, every night on a consistent basis has also
been studied as a possible cause or at least partial cause
of some disease. Take for example a recent study that
showed that men who worked the graveyard shift and also
women who worked this shift were more prone to getting
hormonally based cancers, for men that cancer being in the
prostate, and for women the correlation was for breast
cancer.
It makes sense that the lack of solid sleep and the kind of
rest that coincides with something called the circadian
rhythm, which is sleep that is had between certain times
which is said to be more effective than sleeping during the
day, causes people to be more prone to certain types of
cancers as well. This would partially explain the obesity
factor as well, since hormones are a delicately balanced
presence in our body which greatly dictate our base weight.
They also run almost everything in our lives, from our
moods, to our appetites, to the healthy growth, division,
and reproduction of cells, so it makes sense that when our
sleep is out of wack, it causes great harm to our bodies.
The lesson here? Well, it's that sleep is a lot more
important than many of us think. It used to be something
of a luxury to get the right amount of it, however,
research is pointing to the fact that we have to make it as
much of a priority to get the right amount if we want to
live longer, disease free, and happier lives.
----------------------------------------------------
Danna Schneider is the founder of several websites
dedicated to natural treatments and remedies for common,
everyday health issues and concerns. You can find
information on an effective herbal insomnia remedy and
sleep aid here at
http://www.herbalnewsmagazine.com/melatrol-review/ , and
also a natural anti anxiety and depression remedy here at
http://www.herbal-therapeutics.com/natural-depression-remedy
.html .
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