Showing posts with label sleep deprivation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sleep deprivation. Show all posts

How Sleep affects Our Health

Posted by Admin Friday, 13 February 2009


People in the provinces are said to live longer than people in the city. Socio-economic and cultural factors aside, some theories credit the health advantages of a rural lifestyle, less stressful. Others say it's the food, home cooked vegetables, fish and meat, fresh from the backyard, market, or sea. Bot don't ignore one other aspect, sleep. Rural people normally get a full eight hour of sleep every night. Sleep affects various aspects of our health, including:

  • Cognitive performance - Sleep helps organize memories, solidify learning, and improve concentration. Lack of sleep impairs alertness and affects judgment, reaction time, and recall.
  • Mood and mental well being - Lack of sleep has been linked to anger, anxiety, sadness, and mental exhaustion.
  • Hormones and metabolism - Important hormones are secreted based on person's sleep pattern. These hormones are affects growth, regulate energy and control metabolic and endocrine functions.
Inadequate sleep may also contribute to the development of obesity and and diabetes. It cause a decline in the body's supply of the growth hormone, allowing more fat than muscle to develop. It impairs our body's ability to metabolize sugar, making us more prone to getting diabetes. It may also increase our risk for hypertension and heart disease and cause a breakdown of our immune system.

Related Post:
What's your Insomniac sign?
Style of eating can assault our sleep
Cant Sleep?
Lack of sleep means getting fat and ugly
13 tips for goodnight sleep
8 tips on how to prevent snoring


Style of eating can assault our Sleep

Posted by Admin Tuesday, 9 September 2008

The way we Eat affects the way we Sleep

How and what we eat can affect our sleep, for example if we go to bed hungry chances are we may have difficulty getting to sleep. And we manage to sleep hunger assault us back and wake up us in the middle of the night. Vice-versa if we have a huge meal close to bedtime still we will have difficulty in sleeping, because our digestive system is working overtime. But some people can sleep with full stomach and they are better with it. But if your the type of person who's not used to eat before bedtime, then don't have a midnight snack.

What you eat is important too, There is good evidence that food high in carbohydrates (such as bread or cereal) makes us sleepy, whereas food high in protein (meat, nuts, etc) tends to make us more alert. Milk another healthy food contains amino acid called tryptophan that helps induce sleep. British researchers have shown that milk mixed with chocolate drinks can help reduce restlessness in the second half of the night. Both these drinks are high in carbohydrates, which may be what makes them effective. So my conclusion is eat right to sleep right.

Lack of Sleep means getting fat and ugly

Posted by Admin Thursday, 31 July 2008


Lack of Sleep means added pounds - Perhaps surprisingly, recent evidence points to a strong link between sleep deprivation and obesity. Recent published studies suggest not getting enough sleep does two things that promote weight gain:

1. Hunger

2. Retards the body's metabolism

In combination, these two effects make it difficult for a sleep deprived person to maintain a target weight and shed pounds.

Sleep deprivation has been shown to affect the production of leptin, the chemical that makes you feel full. As a result, someone who hasn't been sleeping well may continue to feel hungry despite having a large meal. We feel hungry when we are awake than we are in sleep so the more hours the we are awake, the more hours that we will feel hungry.

Sleep loss may also interfere the body's ability to metabolized carbohydrates. This is cause your blood sugar level to shoot up, which in turn promotes the over production of insulin,leading to increased body fat.


Lack of sleep means getting ugly - This is a bad news for anyone who cares about her looks. While sun exposure is the often blamed culprit for premature aging, sleep deprivation can cause similar damage. Anyone who has lost a night's sleep can attest to the dull complexion and dark circles that inevitably stare back at her in the bathroom mirror next morning. But the long-term effects gradual and potentially irreversible. Sleep gives the skin the chance to repair itself while we are sleeping. Long term, those not getting adequate sleep may develop lines and wrinkles around the eyes and mouth sooner than individuals who gets and enjoy more sleep.

Lack of sleep may lead to depression, possible emotional disturbances and poor memory. It means Getting enough restful sleep helps prolong our lives and keeps us young active and vibrant.


We must realize that the quality of sleep is just as important as the quantity. There are several stages of sleep, ranging from light dozing to deep sleep and finally, dreaming sleep. These stages repeat themselves in a cycle throughout the night. Getting good quality sleep means getting enough deep sleep, and that requires being able to sleep peaceful, with few interruptions throughout the night.

Too many of us take sleep for granted, and don't think much starting the day tired and craving more time in bed. Taking control of how well you sleep takes effort and a little experimentation. But the rewards, feeling alert and energetic the rest of the day, improved mood, better health and better looks are more than worth it.