Are Zzz’s Important? You Get to Decide

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I’ve decided NOTHING beats a day where I WANT to jump out of bed when my alarm rings ready for the start of a great day. My ideal weekday is having a coaching client from 7 to 7:45 am, going to aqua aerobics at 8:15, meditating in the sauna and being home for a 10 am client. It feels so productive, so indulgent and so happy. But, it all depends on one variable – my sleep. If the lights are out at 10:30 pm sharp I can easily get up at 6:45 am. I wish I were like Gary who only needs to sleep from 10:30 pm to 5 am and often does not require an alarm. Some people are genetically predisposed to require very little sleep.  But most of us live in a sleep-deprived society.  And if wasn’t for me honoring Gary’s need for lights out at 10:30, I would be sleep deprived too. I find when we really probe the reason my clients are feeling overwhelmed it often stems from their lack of sleep.

Getting less than seven hours of sleep has the following huge health consequences.

  1. Obesity. The shorter the sleep the greater the obesity measured by body mass index (BMI). By age 27, if you sleep less than 6 hours you are 7.5 times more likely to have a higher BMI. (Getting to bed sure seems easier than being on a diet.)
  2. Increased appetite. Sleep debt increases your appetite due to lower levels of leptin, a hormone that decreases your appetite and higher levels of the hormone ghrelin a peptide that stimulates your appetite. (Weight gain is not about willpower; rather your environment and getting yourself to bed.)
  3. Diabetes. Adults who sleep less than five hours were 2.5 times more likely to have diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance, compared to adults who slept seven to eight hours. (All I can say is that diabetes is an ugly disease that affects your entire body…avoid it if you can.)
  4. Immune dysfunction. Sleep less than 5 hours or less increases mortality risk by 15 percent. (I have not worked so hard to not live happily ever after in retirement. How about you?)
  5. Cardiovascular disease and hypertension.  Five hours or less was associated with a 45 percent increase risk of heart attacks and strokes (The big problem with heart attacks is that often the first sign IS the heart attack.)
Can’t count the number of times I fell sleep and Gary would find Danielle wide awake but still content to cuddle with me. Those were the days!
Can’t count the number of times I fell sleep and Gary would find Danielle wide awake but still content to cuddle with me. Those were the days!

Science tells us that sleep is a critical component of energy and health.  The big myth is that although you can teach yourself to sleep less, you cannot teach yourself to need less sleep.  Please read that sentence again. Your sleep needs are biologically determined.  If you get sleepy when you are bored, sitting quietly in a warm or dark room or when you are trying to read or listen to a lecture you are sleep deprived. Boredom does not cause sleepiness.

When I ask coaching clients if they had one wish what would it be? They reply, “I wish I didn’t have to sleep.” I don’t know about you but if sleep can help you avoid all of these huge disease risks and you don’t have to even sweat, use your brain, or be busy it seems like a no brainer to me to get yourself to bed. If you don’t make the decision to take the time for sleep it may be made for you in the way of a health challenge or crisis.  You get to decide!

We would love to hear your sleep tips.

///image by imagerymajestic with permission///