As the Christmas festivities swing into full force this week the first thing that we will sacrifice is sleep, swiftly followed by our resolve as we overindulge in alcohol and sweet foods and forget where the gym is. However, it may come as news that this domino effect is in fact causal.
We are all aware that we feel great after a really good nights sleep but recent research suggests that the effects of sleepless nights are far more significant than just drinking a few more espressos the next day. A weakened immune system, stress, depression, lowered brain function, and perhaps most surprisingly of all, weight gain, are all associated with lack of sleep. Crucially, just a single night of interrupted sleep is enough to trigger symptoms that can lead to a vicious circle as the symptoms themselves make sleep harder to achieve.
Sleep Specialist at the University of Surrey, Dr Neil Stanley says, “Sleep deprivation interferes with leptin and ghrelin – the hormones that help regulate food intake. Sleeping less than seven hours a night can cause you to feel hungrier than those who sleep well.” Dr Stanley points out that to compound the problem, gaining weight, “plays havoc with your hunger hormones and this increases your risk of suffering from certain sleep disorders.” As we get more fatigued, we are less likely to exercise and more likely to eat fatty foods, which can lead to depression and illness.
Our bodies produce protein molecules while sleeping, and these help to mend the body at a cellular level. Damage from stress, pollutants, infection, sun exposure and so on, is then repaired while we sleep. In addition, sleep helps reduce levels of inflammation in the body, which in turn reduces the risk of heart disease, strokes and heart attacks and also helps to keep blood pressure and cholesterol low.
As we sleep our brain is busy organizing and processing memories and sleep deprivation interrupts this thereby making it difficult for us to concentrate or recall facts, faces or even conversations. One of the great benefits of sleep is that it increases both our retention and understanding of information by enabling our brains to better process new information and experiences.
Sleep also reduces stress by lowering the elevated levels of stress hormones that are a result of the 24/7 culture in which we live. Dr Frank Lipman, author of ‘Spent: End Exhaustion and Feel Great Again’ believes that, “Modern lifestyles have removed us from nature’s rhythms. We are built to sleep when the sun goes down and wake it rises yet very few of us are living this way. People are overwhelmed because they don’t switch off.” Social forecasters, Future Foundation, found that only 1 in 3 of us feel that we enjoy uninterrupted sleep in an average week with 7 per cent of us complaining that we never have a good nights sleep. The research concluded that our lifestyles are to blame for this with the average number of activities that we take part in having doubled since the 1970s. If we are not working, we are socializing and increasingly even when we are alone we are surfing the net, watching tv or ‘Twittering’. The physical effects of fatigue-induced stress include an increase in the aging and degeneration of organs, cells and other body parts. By reducing high levels of stress, sleep helps to reverse these effects and encourages us to relax.
However, even the most aggressive social animals amongst us can regain some control by tackling our unhealthy sleep routines which in turn can help us to rebalance, feel healthier and even lose weight.
The London Sleep Centre recommend establishing and sticking to some simple rules, focused on retraining our brains. These include restricting sleep to 7 and a half hours per nights and banning any daytime naps in order to reinforce that sleep needs to happen at night. Removing electrical equipment from the bedroom is also necessary so that our bed only has associations of sleep (or sex), this includes banishing mobile phones and BlackBerrys as well as getting rid of the television. A ‘wind-down’ ritual helps to trigger sleep associations in the brain and whether that manifests itself as a long relaxing bath or a milky drink will depend on personal choice and available time. Getting ready for bed in dimmed lighting also triggers our natural body clock to feel sleepy and dressing for bedtime in comfortable, loose clothing again tells the brain that it is time to sleep.
For most of us who are juggling work, partners, children and the extra pressures and celebrations of the season, creating much more time to sleep seems impossible. However, by making a few adjustments to our sleeping environment and routine, we can increase quality of the sleep that we get.
And if the research is to be believed, with better sleep we can even have that extra mince pie without feeling the effects when we stand on the scales the next morning…
Executive and Life Coach, Rachael Wood, www.ogilviedavies.com can be contacted at Rachael@ogilviedavies.com
No Comments on this post