GET SOME SLEEP!

Why You Need To Sleep More to Be Effective

You may have heard this phrase before: Sleep is the cousin of death. And while that may or may not be completely true, there is general consensus that losing too much sleep is never a good thing for you, or the body. As a matter of fact, there are multitudes of negative consequences to not getting enough rest that can and will ultimately render a human being inefficient and nonproductive. Let’s face the cold hard facts: most people only get 4-6 hours of sleep on a regular basis, which is way below the suggested 8-10 hours. Not only does your body need it to repair and replenish lost energy stores and to heal itself (especially if you work out and tear muscle fibers) but your brain needs it too. Even though your mind does not turn off, mostly the creative part of your brain continues to operate at a high level and that drives your emotive part which makes you happy, and also inspires you to create fantastic ideas, or just ponder on one from time to time if you lack the gumption to act on it. Personally, I find my sweet spot between 6-7 hours. There’d be no way I can accomplish all the tasks in my day if I was busy stealing 10 or more.

Not convinced? Let’s dive deeper into the reality of losing sleep by definition and then by the numbers. Definition: Sleep deprivation exists when sleep is insufficient to support adequate alertness, performance, and health, either because of reduced total sleep time (decreased quantity) or fragmentation of sleep by brief arousals (decreased quality). Acute sleep deprivation refers to no sleep or a reduction in the usual total sleep time, usually lasting one or two days, while Chronic sleep deprivation exists when an individual routinely (let’s say > 4 times a week) sleeps less than the amount required for optimal functioning. What’s effected you ask? Let’s look at the numbers.

–15 Percent – Nearly 25% of people who gets less than 6 hours of sleep a night have some form of cardiovascular disease. Harvard Medical School experts believe that people who miss the 5 hour mark are 15% more likely to die at any age from anything.

– 24 Hours – After 24 hours without sleep, your cognitive motor reflexes match those of a person who has consumed 5 alcoholic drinks.

– 10 A.M. – The production of the hormone leptin significantly decreases by as much as 15+% in those who habitually sleep for less than 5 hours. Leptin is responsible for making you feel full and regulates storage of fat. 9 or 10 A.M. craving for sugar sound familiar?

– 3.6 % – The BMI (body mass index – a measure of the risk of a person’s predisposition to develop cardiovascular disease and secondary diseases of excess weight) of a person getting less than 5 hours of sleep is 3.6% greater than the average person who achieves more than that on a regular basis.

– 132 – The average systolic Blood Pressure of a person who gets less than 6 hours of shut eye daily.

– 19 Hours – Staying up for more than 19 hours can cause damage to and kill brain cells. I don’t know about you, but as I get older, I can use all of these little guys I can get. There are some research studies that siggest that the brain loses the ability to clear out plaque-forming proteins responsible for Alzheimer’s and dementia. Yikes!

So after reading this article, do yourself a favor – shut down your electronic device and start counting sheep – you owe it to your body to do so. What are you waiting for? I said now!!!!

I’m just saying. Until next time.