SLEEP YOURSELF HEALTHY
By "DocNurse" Norma Stephens Hannigan
By now you have heard that there is an “obesity epidemic” in the U.S. and, in fact, in many developed countries of the world. The reason we care about this is that obesity leads to a variety of health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, muscle and bone pain, sleep apnea (you stop breathing while sleeping), stroke, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and the list goes on and on. Every week it seems there is a new theory about what makes people fat. Diets high in fats and refined sugars and lack of exercise are well known culprits.
Researchers know lots more these days about all the chemicals and hormones in our bodies that make us feel hungry or full. They study the pleasure chemicals in the brain that make some folks crave certain foods – why is it some people just HAVE to have chocolate? We know how many calories to burn to lose weight, but, it seems, that diet and exercise are not the only factors that influence our weight. Over the past few years, scientists have been looking more closely at the amount of sleep people get and its relationship to obesity, and they are coming up with some interesting information.
First, let’s start with a little background on how some of these chemicals in our bodies impact our weight. Ghrelin is a hormone that increases feelings of hunger. Not only does it increase appetite, it also encourages the body to store fat in the belly (and that’s the most dangerous fat). Too much belly fat increases the risk for developing diabetes and heart disease. Leptin, another hormone, suppresses appetite, making us feel less hungry. Insulin, a hormone made in the pancreas behind the stomach, helps sugar get inside the cells.
All of the food we eat eventually gets broken down into sugar through digestion. Think of your cells as a garage and insulin like a pickup truck. The pickup truck (insulin) is supposed to carry the sugar into the garage (cells) to give us energy for living. In overweight people, the garage door gets stuck and the pickup truck can’t get all the sugar inside where it belongs. Sugars that are quickly broken down (from foods like cakes, cookies, white bread, white rice, potatoes, for example) make the pancreas have to work harder and faster to produce insulin. When the amount of sugar in the blood goes up, insulin also goes up to get the sugar into the cells. If the pancreas gets worn out from this overwork and can’t produce enough insulin any more, you develop diabetes – too much sugar floating around in the bloodstream rather than inside the cells where it belongs.
A few years ago, researchers in England found that people who slept less than eight hours a night had increases in ghrelin and decreases in leptin, and, therefore, were more likely to be overweight. At Columbia University, scientists there found that people who slept four hours or less a night were 73% more likely to be obese. Studies done around the world have shown the link between short amounts of sleeping time and obesity both in children and adults. People who sleep less than six to seven hours a night are more likely to prefer starchy, high carbohydrate foods (the kind most associated with weight gain) and are more likely to have blood sugar and insulin levels like those of people with diabetes. Even using your air conditioning can increase your risk of obesity. When we are warm, appetite decreases naturally; when we are cool, our appetite goes up. When we artificially make it cooler with our air conditioner we also stimulate our appetite, which can cause us to gain weight.
So, why aren’t people sleeping enough? Technology has had a huge impact on the amount of sleep people get. Computer use has made it possible to stay up all night playing games or chatting with people. Some people have a hard time falling asleep when they are not in their own comfortable bed. If you are in the habit of drinking lots of caffeine to stay awake while driving, this can sometimes get in the way of being able to fall asleep when the time finally comes. Many medicines, such as high cholesterol medicines, can cause insomnia. Some people have sleep apnea, a condition in which the person’s airway closes down during sleep and they stop breathing momentarily. This can happen hundreds of times a night, resulting in fewer hours of actual sleep and a very poor quality of sleep.
Even though truckers are supposed to have eight hours for sleep, some studies have shown that the average trucker is only getting about five hours at a time. If you are a person who isn’t getting enough sleep and is struggling with being overweight, it’s time to think about making a few changes. We all know that getting enough sleep makes us feel better, more alert and alive, and ready to face the day’s challenges. The argument is often made that time is money, and that sleeping keeps us from making money. But think of it this way – if we are not healthy enough to work, we will lose money anyway – and feel miserable.
If you love your computer, allow yourself a certain amount of time on it and then put it away and go to sleep. If you suffer from insomnia, do your TV watching and computer using early in the evening so your body can wind down before it is time to actually go to sleep. Doing those things right before it’s time to sleep can be too stimulating and keep you wide awake. Exercise often helps people to sleep better, but, again, should be done early in the day so as to not keep you awake.
I keep little sayings, reminders of how to live my life, around my desk, and one of my favorites is, “Sleeping is NOT a waste of time.” As a result of these studies, I am even more convinced of this now. I guess maybe it is true – we really can dream our way to better health!
~ Dr. Norma Stephens Hannigan, who recently graduated with a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, teaches at Columbia University in New York and has treated many truck drivers at the various clinics she has worked over the years. She currently writes from her home in Newburgh, New York.