Mercola on Sleep 101

Sleep Is Essential for Your Health!                                                             

According to Dr. Joseph Mercola (Wellness Advocate, Natural Health Physician and owner of one of the most successful natural health websites in the USA,)quality sleep is absolutely essential to being healthy. You could be leading a stress free life, working out to keep fit and have the best diet for you, but if you aren’t getting enough sleep - you can’t say that you are healthy.

If you’ve made a habit of catching only a few hours of sleep, this can disrupt your metabolism and hormone production in a way that mimics the effects of aging and the early stages of diabetes. Chronic sleep deprivation may quicken the onset or worsen the symptoms of age-related conditions such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and memory loss! Research shows that just a week of sleep deprivation wreaks havoc on hormone levels and hinders the capacity to metabolize carbohydrates. What’s worse is you might not even know you are actually sleep deprived because people, who prioritize work or play over sleep, may become accustomed to lack of sleep and feel less fatigued.

In our quest to live a full life we have nonchalantly brushed aside “sleeping time”! The right amount of sleep is just as important as the right amount of exercise and leisure activities. We don’t slack off when we sleep – we recharge! 

What Lack of Sleep Does to You

The Link between Lack of Sleep and Stress!

Lack of sleep may hinder the brain from producing new cells. A study on rats reveals that inadequate sleep triggers a stress hormone which affects the hippocampus, one of the brain regions responsible for forming memories.

Rats that went without sleep for 72 hours showed higher levels of the stress hormone corticosterone, resulting in markedly fewer new brain cells in an area of the hippocampus. When the animals were brought back to normal sleep patterns, brain cell production was normalized in two weeks.

This study proves that you need to get the right amount of sleep every night -- not doing so can harm your brain because of elevated levels of corticosterone, the stress hormone associated with road rage.

Don’t Take Sleep Lightly!

Take this into consideration: People who suffer from sleep apnea (a condition where one temporarily stops breathing during the night) may be at high risk for liver problems, one study states.

And sleeping five hours each night may increase your risk of developing diabetes. Researchers found that women who slept five hours or less every night were more likely to develop diabetes symptoms than women who got seven or eight hours of sleep each night.

If you want to live a long, healthy life, “sleep” is a subject that shouldn’t be taken lightly!

Sleep Issues Compromise Your Overall Health!

This clearly underlines why sleep problems are increasingly tied up with all types of fundamental health conditions. When your body becomes stressed due to lack of sleep it produces hormones that cause your heart rate and blood pressure to increase. In addition, your muscles tense up, your digestive processes are disrupted and certain brain centers are sparked, which changes your brain chemistry.

This type of stress response can ultimately result in various health problems:

·         Headaches

·         Indigestion

·         Insomnia

·         Increased Anxiety

·         Depression

·         High Blood Pressure

Sleep problems may compromise your health and shorten your life! Usually, one sleep issue (insomnia or sleep apnea) starts a domino effect!

Dr. Joseph Mercola Gives You Some Tips for Better Sleep

Dr. Joseph Mercola advises (whether you have difficulty falling asleep, keep waking up at night or don’t feel rested when you wake up in the morning) that if you want to improve the quantity and quality of your sleep you must consistently practice the techniques below:

Don't change your bedtime. You should go to bed, and wake up, at the same time each day, even on weekends. This will help your body to get into a sleep rhythm and make it easier to fall asleep and get up in the morning.

Establish a bedtime routine. This could include meditation, deep breathing, using aromatherapy or essential oils or indulging in a massage from your partner. The key is to find something that makes you feel relaxed, then repeat it each night to help you release the day's tensions.

Go to the bathroom right before bed. This will reduce the chances that you'll wake up to go in the middle of the night.

One of Dr. Joseph Mercola’s techniques against insomnia is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). Most people can learn this gentle tapping technique in several minutes.

EFT can help balance your body's bio-energy system and resolve some of the emotional stresses that are contributing to the insomnia at a very deep level. The results are typically long lasting and the improvement is remarkably rapid.

Listen to white noise or relaxation CDs. Some people find the sound of white noise or nature sounds, such as the ocean or forest, to be soothing for sleep. An excellent relaxation/meditation option to listen to before bed is the Insight audio CD.

Sleep in complete darkness or as close to darkness as possible. If there is even the tiniest bit of light in the room it can disrupt your circadian rhythm and your pineal gland's production of melatonin and serotonin. There also should be as little light in the bathroom as possible if you get up in the middle of the night. Please whatever you do, keep the light off when you go to the bathroom at night. As soon as you turn on that light, you will for that night immediately cease all production of the important sleep aid melatonin.

How Much Sleep Is Good for You?

Dr. Joseph Mercola suggests “I believe that seven hours is an absolute minimum for most all of us, and most of us would benefit from closer to 9 hours”

He adds “The researchers did find that sleep debt could be made up by spending longer than the normal eight hours in bed, which seemed to return the body’s chemical balance to normal. Another sleep hygiene principle is that you should be in bed by 10 pm. I think in the winter months 9 pm is more likely to be a better time if you have to wake up early to go to work”

He observes “I have been experimenting with 9 pm as a bedtime and find it to provide a great deal of rest and I wake up feeling far more refreshed. I will attempt to keep this pattern as I usually get up at 4:30 and I believe 7 1/2 is the bare minimum amount of sleep one should get”

Sleep Isn’t a Waste of Time!

Cynthia McKay, CEO of specialty-foods company “Le Gourmet Gift Basket” hadn’t been getting enough sleep for years. She spent most of her nights tossing and turning in bed, her mind unable to shed the everyday stresses of business ownership. She managed to get to the office each morning, but in her exhausted state she found herself making decisions that didn’t help her business. The breaking point came when she found herself wide-eyed until the wee hours of the morning and slept right through her flight departure to Australia.

You, yourself may not be getting the seven to eight hours of sleep at night that you require. And some successful entrepreneurs even brag that they need only a few hours of sleep! Research shows however that failing to get at least seven hours of sleep, puts you at a cognitive disadvantage, and your health and work may become compromised.

We Need Sleep to Reach Our Goals!

The baby boomer generation has taken “overachievement” to a different level. This generation of overachievers made do with less sleep to achieve their goals. They began to think of sleep as a hindrance rather than as time to regroup and recharge. Times are changing however, and we now know how important sleep is for our bodies. Contrary to what some overachievers say - “sleep is a waste of time” – sleep actually makes you healthier, smarter, and a better leader!