HOW IMPORTANT IS SLEEP?
Along with proper nutrition and exercise, the right amount of sleep plays a very significant role in your health and well being. But it’s important to know that there is just as much risk associated with sleeping too long as with sleeping to little. Like sleep deprivation, sleeping to much has been linked to a number of serious health problems, including diabetes, heart disease, and even an increased risk of death.

EFFECTS OF SLEEP DEPRIVATION
According to Dr. Joseph Ojile, CEO of the Clayton Sleep Institude, “Only 1 to 3 percent of people are genetically wired to function on less than eight hours of sleep per night”. A 2007 University of California–Berkeley study confirmed the obvious: Sleep deprivation directly affects areas of the brain that deal with mood and concentration, leaving tired people grumpy, overly emotional, and unable to focus. But these are short-term effects and are easily remedied by simply getting more sleep. More importantly is the lack of sleep’s effect on the body’s ability to fight infection and disease over the long-term. Being deprived of sleep for weeks, months, or even years can have serious, cumulative effects on your health.

Heart disease: Even short-term sleep deprivation is known to raise blood pressure and stress hormones, lower glucose tolerance and even lead to irregular heartbeats, all of which can lead to heart and coronary disease.

Diabetes: Adequate sleep has been shown to be important in regulating blood sugar levels. People who don’t sleep can become increasingly resistant to insulin and long-term insulin resistance puts extra stress on the pancreas to produce even more insulin which eventually can result in type 2 diabetes.

Obesity and weight gain: In a study conducted at the University of Chicago, researchers limited people to four hours of sleep for two consecutive nights and found that their levels of leptin, a hormone that tells your brain you’re full dropped 18 percent while their levels of ghrelin, a hormone that makes you crave food increased 28 percent. Any imbalance in either of these hormones can cause overeating, increasing the risk of weight gain which can lead to a number of diseases.

EFFECTS OF OVERSLEEPING
The effects of sleeping to much can have an equally dangerous effect on your health.

Heart disease: The Nurses’ Health Study, involving nearly 72,000 women, showed that women who slept nine to 11 hours per night were 38% more likely to have coronary heart disease than women who slept eight hours.

Diabetes: In a study of almost 9,000 Americans, researchers found a relationship between sleep and the risk of diabetes. People who slept more than nine hours each night had a 50% greater risk of diabetes than people who slept seven hours per night.

Obesity and weight gain: A recent study showed that people who slept for nine or 10 hours every night were 21% more likely to become obese over a six-year period than were people who slept between seven and eight hours.

WHAT ONE STUDY DETERMINED
In a 2007 study conducted by the University of Warwick and University College London, researchers found that lack of sleep can more than double the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. However they have also found the point when too much sleep can also double the risk of death.

The study determined that those who had cut their sleeping from 7 hours to 5 hours or less were twice as likely to die from cardiovascular problems while those individuals who showed an increase in sleep duration from 7 hours to 8 hours or more a night were more than twice as likely to die compared to those who had not changed their sleeping habits. According to the study, researchers have not yet determined why an increase in sleep duration would have this effect. Read more

WHAT IS THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF SLEEP?
All sleep experts agree that there are no set factors in determining the amount of sleep any one person requires. Not only do different age groups need different amounts of sleep, the needs of each individual varies. Most doctors recommend getting somewhere between seven to eight hours each night. “There is no magic number that works for everybody,” says Dr. Tracy Kuo, a clinical psychiatrist and sleep disorder specialist at Stanford University Sleep Disorders Clinic. “As an individual, you need to figure out what your sleep need is.”

It’s common to feel a bit tired first thing in the morning but sleep experts say that if you feel tired and sleepy throughout the day or feel the urge to nap, you could possibly be sleep deprived. Another symptom of severe sleep deprivation is the occurrence of “microsleeps”. These are short episodes of sleep that can happen while sitting still, or even while driving, without even realizing it.

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Tagged as: Chronic Disease and Prevention