· If you want to be healthy, you know you've got to eat more greens and
hit the gym. But did you know that cuddling your pillow a little longer also
does you good?
While it's not a new discovery that sleep makes us feel better, in the
past several years medical research has shown that slumber has a much bigger
impact on our overall health and fitness than just keeping away those under-eye
bags.
The problem is that, in the midst of our hectic, workaholic lives,
getting enough rest tends to be a low priority.
In fact, a study published this month in the journal SLEEP confirms that
time spent punching the clock has the biggest effect on how much a person
sleeps. The more hours a person works, the less sleep he or she gets, says Dr. Mathias
Basner, a research associate at the University of Pennsylvania and author of
the study.
The irony, experts say, is that the less sleep you get, the worse you're
bound to perform at work.
'In a culture that puts a premium on people who work hard, get a lot
done and don't take time off, and where we provide the means for them to work
and be entertained all of the time, the message goes out that [sleep] isn't
important,' says Dr. Lawrence Epstein, medical director of Sleep HealthCenters,
a network of specialized sleep medicine centers, and author of The Harvard
Medical School Guide to a Good Night's Sleep. 'That's the wrong message.'
Restless Risks
Beyond work effects, most people don't realize what insufficient sleep
can do to their health.
During the various stages of sleep, a lot more is happening than we
realize. Our blood pressure drops, blood supply to our relaxed muscles
increases, tissue growth and repair occurs and our energy levels are restored,
according to the National Sleep Foundation. If you have a sleep disorder or
you're just not making sleep a priority, you're at a greater risk for
cardiovascular disease and hypertension.
Not getting enough rest can impair the body's ability to use insulin,
predisposing us to diabetes and obesity, says Dr. Carol Ash, a board-certified
sleep and pulmonary specialist and medical director of the New Jersey-based
Somerset Medical Center's Sleep for Life Center.
The Magic Number
While the amount people need varies, experts say adults should get seven
to nine hours per night. Regardless of the numbers, if you're dragging yourself
out of bed in the morning, fighting off the need to nap in the afternoon or
falling asleep watching TV, you're probably not getting enough.
To figure out what you need, during your next vacation Epstein suggests
going to bed at the same time every night and sleeping in. After a few days you
should start waking up at the same time and have an idea of how much sleep your
body demands.
Carving out that kind of time for sleep in your daily life, though, is
another story, and every time we miss a few hours we accumulate sleep debt.
Sleeping six hours a night for two weeks will create the same degree of sleep
deprivation as staying up for 48 hours, Epstein says. And, despite popular
belief, your body doesn't adapt to getting insufficient sleep.
Instead, he says, 'you just keep getting sleepier and sleepier.'
Sleep Saboteurs
Even when you have time to devote to sleep, you could be unknowingly
sabotaging its quality by eating or drinking too close to bedtime, or
slumbering in imperfect conditions.
Devices such as Innovative Sleep Solutions' Sleeptracker Pro, available
this fall, could help you pinpoint the problem. Worn as a watch, it records the
average time between your restless moments during the night. The longer the
stretch is between these moments, the more restful your sleep. Upload the data
to your PC and you can input factors such as a late dinner, a strenuous workout
or alcohol intake, which might have had an impact. It shouldn't take long
before a pattern appears, says Lee Loree, the product's developer and managing
partner of Innovative Sleep Solutions.
Making your bedroom slumber friendly also can improve the quality of
your sleep overnight, says Dr. Rubin Naiman, director of sleep programs at
Miraval Resort, Tucson. He suggests sleeping in a darkly painted room, using
organic sheets that won't irritate your skin or respiratory system, setting the
room at 68 degrees, removing the TV and all LED lights and installing light
bulbs that lack blue light rays, which suppress sleep promoting melatonin.
No Escape
Of course if you continue putting off a good night's sleep, you may not
see the negative health effects right away. But the impact, experts say, will
catch up with you eventually.
'As we get older, we are less and less resilient, especially past 40,'
Ash says. 'Not adhering to sleep rules will really wreak havoc.
Allison Van Dusen
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