Sleep, Are You Getting Enough? | Live Healthy Live Well

March 12, 2012 by lisabarlage

According to the Harvard School of Public Health “Nutrition, exercise, and sleep are the three pillars of good health”, but while nutrition and exercise get a lot of press, sleep isn’t mentioned nearly as often. Think about yourself, “Did you get 7 or 8 hours of sleep each of the last couple nights?” I know that I didn’t. So why should we be concerned about sleep and our health?

First let’s think about why we need sleep:

During sleep our body produces valuable hormones and chemicals are replaced.
Our brain is reenergized and repaired during sleep.
Our immune system increases our resistance to infections during sleep – which may prevent a cold or the flu.
Cells, tissues, and muscles are repaired during sleep.
Adequate sleep improves our mood and relationships with others.
Our thinking process is improved and we react more quickly with proper sleep.

Fatigue from lack of sleep can contribute to a number of serious health problems including: heart disease or heart attack, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, depression, stroke, irregular heartbeat, and even an increased risk of breast cancer. Other risks associated with a lack of sleep include workplace and traffic accidents – studies show that 1 of 6 traffic accidents are due to falling asleep at the wheel. Workplace tiredness is reportedly causing US industries over $100 billion each year as well.

Tips for getting better sleep:

Avoid caffeine for about 6 hours before bedtime. This stimulant takes that long to work its way through your system.
Alcohol and nicotine are also stimulants to avoid close to bedtime. They will disrupt sleep and cause awakening.
Exercise regularly, but not close to bedtime. Exercise will raise your body temperature and cooler body temperature is associated with better sleep.
Avoid using electronics, which stimulate the brain, close to bed time. This includes TV’s, cellphones, e-readers, and computers.
Move your pets out of your bedroom – they disrupt your sleep with noise and movements.
Maintain a regular bed and wake time, even on weekends.

To improve your sleep and your health avoid using sleeping pills and create a bedroom that encourages sleep. To do this: move the TV out, get a comfortable pillow, put a note pad by the bed for jotting down ideas, make sure your room is dark and cool – which may mean you need to move the night light or alarm clock, don’t snack in bed, and most important – use your bedroom for sleep and sex – not a bunch of other things.

Sources:

American Psychological Association, http://www.apa.org/.

Wellness Council of America, http://www.welcoa.org.

WebMD, Coping With Excessive Sleepiness. 10 Things to Hate About Sleep Loss, http://webmd.com/.

Progressive Insurance, Workplace accidents prevention and tiredness, http://www.progressiveic.com.

The Harvard School of Public Health, http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Your Guide to Healthy Sleep, http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/sleep.

Written by: Lisa Barlage, Patricia Brinkman, and Jenny Even, Ohio State University Extension, Family & Consumer Sciences Educators.