Oh Glorious Sleep…

Not everyone, but most of us need about 8 hours of sleep. Sadly, we get by on 6 1/2 hours, and it isn’t uncommon to survive on 5 hours of sleep. For most of us, that’s what we are doing with 5 hours of sleep: surviving. Barely. Not thriving, not growing, not thinking clearly, not focusing. We are surviving, badly.

Think about how you feel the day after you haven’t slept well: groggy and annoyed. Lack of sleep leads to poor memory, increased impulsiveness, and poor judgement. To say nothing of crankiness. You don’t think, you make stupid decisions, then blame someone else.

Following a bad night’s sleep, our overwhelming thought is how tired we are. In an effort to function, we might drink more rocket fuel coffee, and shove a quick, fat-laden breakfast down our throats. Which brings up weight gain and lack of sleep. Oh yes, there’s a correlation. Our system releases more ghrelin, a hormone produced by the cells lining the stomach that stimulates appetite. Ergo, we think that we are hungry, so we eat more. Ghrelin appears to make high-calorie foods look more appealing. Ghrelin loves donuts. This stresses the body, and stress, plus loss of memory, leads to suppressed immunity. We become sick more often. Stress throws glucose and cortisol into blood circulation, which eventually produces diabetes. It adds to cardio-vascular disease. Oh, the things that will happen when you go without sleep….

Sleep increases concentration, attention, decision making, creativity, social skills and health. It extends your quality of life.

Sleep decreases mood change, stress, anger, impulsiveness, drinking and smoking. It limits poor choices.

In cases of mental illness, there is often sleep disruption, creating a loop back to the mental illness.

Sleep is a skill that needs to be practiced well and consciously, like anything else. To encourage deep, sustained sleep, darken the room and keep it cool, dim the lights before bedtime, and stop eating a couple of hours before retiring.

Do yourself and everyone else a favor. Get some sleep.

That’s Aging Intelligently.