You DON’T snooze…you lose. Get those ZZZ’s, before you catch a Disease.
By: Sarah Gogarty (ACE-CPT)
FACT: “More than one out of three adults get less than 7 hours of sleep a night.” – CBS News
I have always known that getting 7-9 hours of sleep per night is important for your health, but I never thought I was at risk because I slept well. Then I had my second child and suddenly was caring for two children, under the age of 4, (one a baby,) and losing sleep every night! Despite healthy exercise and nutrition habits, I developed an Auto-Immune, hypothyroid condition called Hashimoto’s. Hence, today’s article is to spread the knowledge about the many health risks of sleep deprivation and hope others will start getting there ZZZZ’s before they catch a disease!
Lack of Sleep Causes…
Poor Nutrition – Lack of Sleep makes the body’s hunger response switch on. You want to eat, and you usually crave the high calorie/low nutrient comfort foods. In addition, when sleep deprived your Central Nervous System becomes more active, which inhibits the pancreas from producing adequate insulin. Insulin is what the body needs to digest glucose, resulting in impaired glucose tolerance – which can lead to a diabetic response.
Poor Workouts – It’s simple, low energy from lack of sleep makes for poor performance during your workouts. Sure you could suck a cup of coffee down before hitting the gym, but you might be putting additional stressors on your body, including the potential of dehydration, which isn’t healthy for you and won’t lead to optimal fitness improvements long-term.
Poor Recovery – Growth Hormone (GH) is secreted during deep sleep. This is what helps your muscle fibers repair and grow after your workouts. Without efficient sleep, you aren’t recovering well before your next workout…which will yield less results and potential injury.
Suppressed Immune System – Sleep deprivation adversely effects your white blood cell count. Let’s not forget all the other ways discussed above such as poor nutrition, workouts and recovery, that put your body under stress and a state of inflammation, all due to your lack of sleep.A suppressed immune system means you can expect to experience more sick days.Even more concerning,over-time and with the right triggers, this could even lead to developing auto-immune diseases.
Poor Skin and Appearance – This is to be expected from the effects of dehydration, poor nutrition, and a suppressed immune system, all brought on with Lack of sleep.
Low Mood & Depression, Irritability & Stress – We already learned that when we are sleep deprived, our CNS is in overdrive. This means we’re in a state of stress. Your cortisol levels increase with more stress and higher cortisol levels result in higher body fat production. If you aren’t in a state of Stress, then alternatively you might be experiencing extremely low energy which can lower your mood. Persistant low mood can result in depression and lack of motivation. If you’re sleep deprived, it’s common to swing from one to the other, making it very hard to be happy and enjoy life.
I hope this list inspires you to rest up and stay healthy! Remember…
“MOVE, EAT CLEAN, SLEEP WELL, BE AWESOME, REPEAT!”
Sincerely,
Sarah Gogarty (ACE-CPT)
SGO Fitness, LLC
Article Sources:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sleep-deprivation-the-surprising-causes-and-solutions/
http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/injurypreventiontreatment/tp/sleepdeprived.htm
SGO Fitness 