By Lindsay Colcombe, DI Virginia Tech
Eat better and exercise more. Sound familiar? Oftentimes, healthy lifestyle advice is missing one key element: sleep. Sufficient sleep each night has been found to be critical in bodily regulations, mood balance and memory consolidation; additionally, sleep also plays an important role in regulating weight and preventing chronic diseases like diabetes.
The sleep/weight connection
Sleep can be responsible for how much and what we eat as well as how well we exercise. Evidence shows people who report fewer hours of sleep are more likely to be overweight or obese than individuals who get a sufficient amount of sleep each night. Why is this?
... Sleep regulates a hormone called Leptin. Leptin is the hormone that tells your brain when you are full. Lack of sleep has been shown to decrease leptin and increase ghrelin, the hormone that tells you that you are hungry. If your sleep cycle is off, you may feel hungry even though your body does not physically need food. Lack of sleep can also affect your food choices. Being sleepy makes you more inclined to reach for foods higher in sugar and fat.
In a study done at the University Of Chicago School Of Medicine, healthy individuals who had their sleep restricted to 4 hours a night for 6 nights were already in a prediabetic state after only 6 nights of sleep deprivation. Over a long period of time, this could have serious effects on your body!
How do you know how much sleep you need?
While 8 hours is the magic number we hear when it comes to sleep, it may not be the amount you need. To find out how much sleep you need, try going to bed at the same time every night for 5 consecutive days and see what time you wake up naturally (with no alarm) each morning. This can be done over a holiday or vacation. This will give you a better idea of how much sleep you should aim for each night. It may be as low as 7.5 hours or it could be as high as 9! Regularly getting just one hour of sleep less than the amount you need can have detrimental effects on your body.
Not all sleep is created equal
There are 4 cycles of sleep. Your body alternates between these stages throughout the night. The Rapid Eye Movement or REM stage is the most critical for rejuvenation. This stage occurs 70-90 minutes after falling asleep and repeats 4-5 times throughout the night. The longest amount of time spent in the REM stage occurs between hours 7 and 8 of sleep, which is why it is critical to not skimp on your sleep. Excessive alcohol consumption can actually prevent the body from going into REM sleep, this is one of the many reasons why alcohol should be consumed in moderation.
- Make your bedroom cool, comfortable and dark.
- Use a white noise maker or fan to drown out noise.
- Use your bedroom for what it's meant for. Try to avoid things like studying, doing work and eating while in your bedroom.
- If you are unable to fall asleep after 20 minutes, don't keep tossing and turning. Do some light reading, write a to-do list or put your thoughts down in a journal. Then, try falling asleep again.
- Try to avoid exercising 2 hours or less before bed time. Exercising increases alertness, energizes you and increases body temperature which can make it more difficult to fall asleep.
- If you know ahead of time you're going to get less sleep than what is ideal for you, try pre-napping. Pre-napping is napping before you go into "sleep debt."
Feel free to comment with any other sleeping tips that worked for you!
