Essential 3: Sleep Peacefully

Sleep is the only time your body has to repair and rejuvenate every organ and system in your body. Sleep depravation causes cellular damage, and limits the production of enzymes and hormones your body needs to keep your cells healthy and prevent premature aging. Sleep also has a powerful impact on your emotional health—it eases stress and helps you cope with the ups and downs of your day.

Physiology

Sleep is essential to both present health and longevity. Sleep signals your body’s cells, systems and organs that it is time to rejuvenate, repair and rebuild after a day of constant physical and emotional stress.

Sleep is also the time when your brain produces the hormones and enzymes essential to regulating every body system, including HGH (Human Growth Hormone). When the body is deprived of sleep, HGH production is limited, causing:

• More free-radical production and less antioxidant production
• Aging and wrinkles
• Decreased libido and sexual performance
• Hormone imbalance in women
• Insufficient testosterone in men
• Weight gain

There are four phases of sleep, each occurring in succession and each triggering different activities in the body. Cellular renewal and hormone production occur only in the last two phases of sleep, dictating the need for deep, uninterrupted sleep.

Symptoms of Imbalance

• Crankiness or irritability
• Fatigue during the day
• Dark circles under the eyes
• Poor cognitive function
• Difficulty concentrating and keeping focused
• Short-term memory loss
• Lack of motivation
• Weight gain
• Slower reflexes—increased accidents and injuries
• Negativity and despair
• Difficulty in waking up
• Lack of hunger upon waking

Health Threats

Short-term: The short-term health risks associated with lack of sleep are widely recognized. Lack of energy, irritability, and difficulty performing daily tasks are all associated with too little sleep. Automobile and other accidents are significantly greater—up to 400%— in individuals who have not had adequate rest.

Long-term: Long-term sleep deprivation creates what medical experts call “sleep debt.” Sleep debt has been linked with inadequate hormone production, which is linked to premature aging, free radical damage, sexual dysfunction and depression.

Sleep debt takes time to occur, and it takes time to resolve. You cannot make up for weeks, months or years of poor sleep quality or inadequate amounts of sleep in just a few nights. Increasing the amount of sleep each night over a long period of time is the only way to erase sleep debt.



Points to Consider

• Sleep is the only time your body has to recover and rebuild—physically, emotionally and spiritually
• When cells aren’t given the chance to regenerate during sleep, aging, wrinkles, and a lowered immune system is the result
• Insomnia rises as we age, and it is damaging to our health, causing depression, rapid aging, memory problems and early admission to nursing homes
• If you feel sleepy, that is your body’s signal that you need more sleep
• Sleep deficit is cumulative, but you can make up for it over time
• People often trade hours in front of the TV or computer for the sleep that they need to feel great and support the immune system that fights disease
• People who do not get enough sleep are sick more often and have a shorter lifespan
• Sleep is as essential to Emotional and Spiritual health as it is to Physical Health
• People suffering from even minor sleep deprivation have a significantly greater incidence of accidents—especially car accidents
• Every body is different, but the average person needs between seven and nine hours of sleep each night—a figure that does not decrease as we age

Substantiation

According to a 12-year research study at Dalarna’s Hospital in Northern Sweden, people who have difficulty falling asleep for any reason, including stress or anxiety, have a greater risk of suffering a myocardial heart attack and depression.

According to the National Sleep Foundation’s 2001 Sleep in America Poll, only one-third of adults say they get at least the recommended eight hours of sleep each night during the week; 40% of adults report being so sleepy during the day that it interferes with their daily activities a few days per month; 69% of adults surveyed reported having one or more sleep problems a few nights a week or more; Americans continue to get less sleep than recommended for good health, safety and quality of life, particularly during the work week.

According to researchers at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in June 2002, even just a few hours of sleep deprivation could impair daily functioning and affect the body’s hormonal levels. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University studied 25 healthy young men and women who agreed to spend 12 days in a sleep laboratory. Subjects were allowed to sleep for up to eight hours during the first four nights and were woken after sleeping for six hours during the remaining nights. After a week of mild sleep deprivation, researchers measured subjects’ changes in quality of sleep, daytime drowsiness and hormonal activity. Study results showed that men and women had significant hormonal changes and that sleep deprivation impairs daily functioning.

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital studied 71,617 women enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study for ten years who were aged 45-65 and had no reported heart disease to investigate the impact of sleep deprivation and heart health. Study results showed that women who regularly don’t get enough sleep are more likely to suffer from heart disease.