Importance of sleep:
Lack
of sleep has many consequences, from minor to major, depending on your
accumulated sleep debt. Short term, lack of sleep tends to have an immediate
effect on your mental and emotional states.
Over the long term, poor sleep can
contribute to a whole host of chronic health problems, from obesity and diabetes to immune problems and an increased risk for cancer.
Plus it raises your risk of accidents and occupational errors.
Part
of the problem is our propensity for using artificial lighting and electronics
at night, in combination with getting insufficient exposure to full, bright,
and natural sunlight during the day.
This
disconnect from the natural cycles of day and night, activity and sleep, can
turn into a chronic problem where you’re constantly struggling to sleep well.
It
is essential to re-establish a healthy sleep pattern.
Even a single night without sleep can have health implications.
Going just one night without proper sleep starts to
impair your physical movements and mental focus, comparable to having a blood
alcohol level of 0.10 percent.
In essence, if you haven’t slept, your
level of impairment is on par with someone who’s drunk.
According to researchers, 24 hours’ worth of
sleeplessness breaks down cognitive faculties to such a degree that you’ll be
4.5 times more likely to sign a false confession.
Overall,
you become more susceptible to "suggested" memories, and start having
trouble discerning the true source of your memories. You might confuse
something you read somewhere with a first-hand experience.
Lack of Sleep Linked to Internet Surfing and Poor Grades
Other research has linked lack of sleep to more
extended internet usage, such as browsing through Facebook rather than studying
or working. The reason for this is again related to impaired cognition and the
inability to focus, making you more prone to distraction.
Not surprisingly, academic performance also
suffers. In one recent study, the less sleep high school students reported
getting, the lower their average grades were.
Sleeping
well is also important for maintaining emotional balance. Fatigue compromises
your brain’s ability to regulate emotions, making you more prone to crankiness,
anxiety, and unwarranted emotional outbursts.
Recent
research also shows that when you haven’t slept well, you’re more apt to
overreact to neutral events; you may feel provoked when no provocation actually
exists, and you may lose your ability to sort out the unimportant from the
important, which can result in bias and poor judgment.
After
48 hours of no sleep, your oxygen intake is lessened and anaerobic power is
impaired, which affects your athletic potential. You may also lose
coordination, and start to forget words when speaking. It’s all downhill from
there.
After
the 72 hour-mark of no sleep, concentration takes a major hit, and emotional
agitation and heart rate increases. Your chances of falling asleep during the
day increases as does your risk of having an accident.
In
some cases, hallucinations and sleep deprivation psychosis can set in — a
condition in which you can no longer interpret reality. Recent research
suggests psychosis can occur after as little as 24 hours without sleep,
effectively mimicking symptoms observed in those with schizophrenia.
Sleep Deprivation Decreases Your Immune Function
Research published in the journal Sleep, reports
that sleep deprivation has the same effect on your immune system as physical
stress.
In
a nutshell, whether you’re physically stressed, sick, or sleep-deprived, your
immune system becomes hyperactive and starts producing white blood cells — your
body’s first line of defense against foreign invaders like infectious agents.
So your body reacts to sleep deprivation in much the same way it reacts to
illness.
Unfortunately,
sleep is one of the most overlooked factors of optimal health in general, and
immune function in particular.
Sleeping Poorly Raises Your Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
A number of studies have demonstrated that lack of
sleep can play a significant role in insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. In earlier research, women who slept five hours or
less every night were 34 percent more
likely to develop diabetes symptoms than women who slept for seven or eight
hours each night.
The Many Health Hazards of Sleep Deprivation
Aside from directly impacting your immune function,
another explanation for why poor sleep can have such varied detrimental effects
on your health is that your circadian system "drives" the rhythms of
biological activity at the cellular level.
For example, during sleep your brain cells shrink by about 60 percent, which allows for more
efficient waste removal. This nightly detoxification of your brain appears
to be very important for the prevention of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Sleep is also intricately tied to important hormone levels, including
melatonin, the production of which is disturbed by lack of sleep.
Tips to Improve Your Sleep Habits
Small adjustments to your daily routine and
sleeping area can go a long way toward ensuring you uninterrupted, restful
sleep — and thereby better health.
Optimize your light exposure during the day. Your pineal gland produces
melatonin roughly in approximation to the contrast of bright sun exposure in
the day and complete darkness at night.
Take a hot bath 90 to 120 minutes before bedtime. This raises your core
body temperature, and when you get out of the bath it abruptly drops, signaling
your body that you’re ready for sleep.
Avoid
watching TV or using electronics in the evening, at least an hour or so before
going to bed. Electronic devices emit blue light, which tricks your brain into
thinking it's still daytime. Normally, your brain starts secreting melatonin
between 9 pm and 10 pm, and these devices may stifle that process.
Develop a relaxing pre-sleep routine. Going to bed and getting up at the same
time each day helps keep your sleep on track, but having a consistent pre-sleep
routine or “sleep ritual” is also important.
Avoid alcohol, caffeine and other drugs, including nicotine before bed
time.
Two of the biggest sleep saboteurs are caffeine and alcohol, both of
which also increase anxiety. Caffeine’s effects can last four to seven hours.
Tea and chocolate also contain caffeine.
Alcohol can help you fall asleep faster, but it makes sleep more fragmented,
less restorative and restful.
Nicotine in all its forms is also a stimulant, so lighting up too close to
bedtime can worsen insomnia. Many other drugs can also interfere with
sleep.
Chiropractic can help with sleep by optimizing your nervous system and
helping with all those aches and pains that keep you up at night.
Dr. Stephen Kelly
Dr, Kelly works at
Family First Chiropractic located at 142 Erickson drive in Red Deer. Call us
today to book an appointment (403)347-3261 or visit us at www.family1stchiro.ca
