Twenty-Five Benefits of
Getting Enough Sleep:
A Personal Reflection
on Sleepiness, Consistent Bedtimes,
and the Need for Enough Sleep; Listed In No Particular Order;
an unfinished draft to persuade my subconscious to get to bed!
For years I have been trying to
improve my sleep habits. Like many others in my family of origin, and also my
sons, I am a confirmed night owl.
According to my sleep doctor, I am in the 15%
of the population who struggle with Delayed Onset Sleep Syndrome (also known as
Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, or DSPS); another small percentage is extreme
early birds, with the rest of the world having "normal" sleep hours.
(American Sleep Association)
As a person with an ADHD brain, I've always found
it difficult to shut down my thoughts and go to sleep. And as a person addicted
to my technology and social media, it is hard to shut down the screens at
night--and screens can cause additional wakefulness. If they don't have to wake
up at the traditional time for work or other reasons, people with DSPS actually
can achieve adequate rest on their own terms--just a bit later than most
people; for me, some of my obligations require conforming to society's hours.
The sleep doctor actually
recommended a few things to help move my sleep cycle to conform to conventional
hours--which would be helpful for my family, my work, and my social life.
Apparently it would also be beneficial for my health. The most common practice
is to gradually shift the bedtime a little earlier each day--which is what I
have been doing.
1. Relationship Between Lack of Sleep and Obesity
Numerous studies have shown evidence that either too little
OR too much sleep is a problem for obesity. (Patel) Scientists have not figured
out all of the causal links yet. Apparently people who get between 7-8 hours of
sleep are more likely to have a healthy height-weight, whereas people with
either fewer than seven or greater than nine hours of sleep on average per day
are more likely to be obese.
2. Sleep Helps Regulate Appetite, Through Hormones
Leptin and ghrelin are two of the primary hormones discovered
to control appetite and hunger.
Ghrelin increases appetite, fat production, and
growth, while leptin is an inflammatory agent.
Leptin is sometimes called the
'satiety hormone,' while ghrelin is nicknamed the 'hunger hormone.'
hen sleep
deprivation occurs, these hormones become imbalanced in the body, leading to
difficulties with regulating appetite and hunger. (Prinz)
3. Leptin
Imbalance --Through Sleep Deprivation--May Lead to Autoimmune Issues
According to some promising studies, an imbalance in the
hormone leptin can cause inflammation in the body, possibly even leading to
autoimmune diseases or causing them to have greater severity of effect. Some
evidence--although not conclusive yet--implies that possibly getting more sleep
may be effective at reversing some of the damage of autoimmune illness. (Prinz)
From a personal point of view, this is exciting news, because I have UCTD--undifferentiated
connective tissue disorder--and when it flares up, I have skin troubles, eye
troubles, joint pains, and severe fatigue. If getting more sleep might help
avoid flares of my UCTD, then sign me up now!
4. Staying Up Late Means More Late-Night Snacking
Based on my own experience, when I stay up late, my poor
sleep-deprived body begins to crave nourishment. I am certain that what the
body really needs is sleep, but since it isn't being given sleep, the next best
thing to provide instant energy is food--especially carbs and sugars.
The
longer one stays up, the more time there is to raid the pantry--and the choices
one makes late at night are generally poor ones, nutritionally speaking. It is
actually a classic Weight Watcher strategy to go to bed early--just to limit
one's interaction with the refrigerator. When one is asleep, one is usually not
eating.
5. Sleeping Traditional
Hours Leads to Easier Work/Social Interactions with Others
My daughter must wake up at 6 a.m. for middle school, while
my son must wake up at 7 a.m. for high school. Right now, I get up and make
sure they are awake and moving, and then I crawl back into bed and fall back
into a comatose state.
In a more perfect world where I am better-rested, I
would be staying awake with them and interacting with them. There is only a
limited time period where my children will be at home, and those morning hours
theoretically could be precious ones…if I were awake enough to savor them.
In general, most work environments have early start times,
which is made difficult by a late-night bedtime. I have always had trouble
waking up, and struggled with exhaustion during my workday. When younger, I
would always be late to work--because I was so tired and had trouble getting up
in time.
6. With More
Sleep, One is Less Grumpy
Lack of sleep causes grumpiness. It is not just Garfield the
Cat who experiences this. My favorite personal anecdote to illustrate this
comes from my college years. In my senior year at college, I was in a suite
with two other women. We each had our own very tiny bedroom, and a larger
common area with a couch and chairs. In the mornings, my suitemate Penelope would chirrup out a melodic, "Good morning, Demelza!" as she passed me
on the way to the bathrooms. I would glare at her.
One morning, she complained that I was being terribly rude in
my response each morning. I explained that as an extreme night owl, I was
having a very difficult time just getting functional each morning so early. (My
own fault, really, for choosing to take "Baby Greek" during my senior
year--the intensely difficult, Ancient Greek 101 course taught by notable Bryn
Mawr Professor Mabel Lang.
Penelope and I agreed that in the future, to avoid offending
her with my perpetual grumpy rudeness, she would continue to sing out her
cheery good morning to me, while I would WAVE my hand to her. She would understand
my wave to be shorthand for "good morning, Penelope." For the
remainder of our senior year, whenever I would wave my sleepy good morning at
her, Penelope giggled. Eventually, I would giggle, too, and a happier morning
interchange was the result.
Penelope will be shocked if I become even remotely more of a
morning person.
7. With Too
Little Sleep, One Experiences "Brain Fog"
8. Driving
Sleepy is Exactly as Bad as Drunk Driving
It is well-known how terribly driving while drunk impairs
one's ability to function, but driving while drowsy is equally dangerous. (CDC
website) Falling into a microsleep while driving can lead to car crashes.
I have no desire to cause the death or injury of any other
people, nor my own death. Because of my chronic sleep debt, I often get sleepy
when driving, and usually resort to such inadequate arousal methods as opening
the windows, eating snacks, singing, pinching or slapping myself, and taking
frequent breaks.
Usually I start to have trouble staying awake after the first
hour of driving. Interestingly, since changing my bedtime hours (and getting
more sleep, even though not as much as my ultimate goal), the last couple of
road trips I've taken have been noticeably easier in terms of alertness on the
road. If getting to bed at the conventional hour on a consistent basis can help
me to once again drive on longer road trips without falling asleep, then that
will be well worth the effort.
9. Being
Chronically Sleep-Deprived Leads to Falling Asleep at Inopportune Moments
Here again, my history has been one of always falling asleep
at the worst time. Since high school--which is typically when sleep problems
begin, right at puberty--I have fallen asleep in class, during lectures, at
assemblies, at church, in concert halls, in movie theaters, watching television
with family, during staff meetings, and even when at an important client
meeting.
It has become so chronic and humiliating for me that I tend to avoid
situations where I might fall asleep. Most likely it is because of the massive
sleep debt that I am so prone to falling asleep so quickly. (It is possible
that I have a mild version of narcolepsy; the sleep doctor actually wants me to
be tested for it, but I haven't managed to make that appointment yet.) So it
will be interesting to see if this problem is helped with the new, improved
sleep patterns, and more sleep overall. It does take a very long time to
recover from a chronic sleep debt.
10. Concentration & Focus are Helped by Adequate Sleep
11. Social
Interactions Go Better If One Isn't Yawning All the Time
12. Productivity
is Enhanced by Adequate Sleep
13. Sound
Sleep Can Enhance Athletic Performance
14. Chronic Sleep Deprivation Puts One at Risk for
Stroke
15. Chronic
Sleep Deprivation Lends Itself to Heart Disease
16. The
Diabetes-High Glucose-Lack-of-Sleep Connection
17. Sleep
Helps One's Immune System Fight Off Infections
18. Depression
is Linked to Lack of Sleep
19. Dark
Circles Can Develop with Inadequate Sleep
20. Your
Skin Looks Better with Proper Sleep
21. Lack of
Sleep Can Trigger Microsleep Incidents
22. Tragic
Errors Have Been Caused by Inadequate Sleep
23. Learning
is Enhanced with Enough Sleep
24. Emotions are More Stable, Less Labile, with Adequate Sleep
25. Better
Rest Leads to Better Sex
26. Getting
More Sleep Means More Time to Dream of a Special Someone…
While lucid
dreaming--dreams where the dreamer has some conscious control over the dream
content--is a difficult thing to learn, some people claim that it is possible.
While this is a controversial topic, according to lucid dream proponents, one
can influence one's dreams. This sounds a little flaky to me, but I am willing
to suspend my disbelief if it means I might be able to spend more time, while
asleep, dreaming of a beloved person.
- American
Sleep Association. "Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome." September 2007. https://www.sleepassociation.org/patients-general-public/delayed-sleep-phase-syndrome/.
3/28/2016.
- Brogaard,
Berit. "Lucid Dreaming and Self-Realization." Dec. 4, 2012.
Psychology Today.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-superhuman-mind/201212/lucid-dreaming-and-self-realization.
3/27/2016.
- Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. "Drowsy Driving: Asleep at the
Wheel." Nov. 5, 2015. CDC website.
http://www.cdc.gov/features/dsdrowsydriving. 3/27/2016.
- Patel, Sanjay R.
and Frank B. Hu. "Short Sleep Duration and Weight Gain: A Systematic
Review." Sept 6, 2012. Wiley Online Library. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1038/oby.2007.118/full.
3/27/2016.
- Prinz, Patricia. "Sleep, Appetite, and
Obesity—What Is the Link?" Dec. 7, 2004. National Institute of Medicine,
NIH. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC535424/.
3/27/2016.
- https://authoritynutrition.com/10-reasons-why-good-sleep-is-important/
