Getting enough sleep at night is the most overlooked but easiest path for good health. Our modern lifestyle can keep us busy all day, and minimizing sleep to accommodate work or play might seem harmless, efficient, necessary or even taken pride in. However, feeling tired at night is more than an indication to rest.
Behaviors and physiology are intricately linked to light and dark cycles, and an internal timing mechanism has evolved to ensure that physiological processes occur at optimum times in a twenty-four hour cycle. Maintaining the circadian clock seems to have wide-ranging health effects. Lack of sleep is increasingly associated with weight gain and other metabolic problems. Interfaces between the pathways that regulate circadian timing and metabolism in our body might be hiding these adverse health effects.
How much sleep is too much sleep?
Few people worry about spending too much time in bed every day. Using Sundays or a holiday to sleep in can feel like heaven after a long week of work and other engagements. But did you know that sleeping more than the recommended amount of sleep can negatively impact your health?
For most adults, getting between seven and nine hours of sleep a night is usually considered ideal for a healthy lifestyle. Although a small percentage of people actually need ten hours of sleep for most adults sleeping more hours than the recommended amount may indicate an underlying health concern. In addition, regularly sleeping more than the required amount may increase the risk of obesity, headache, back pain, and heart disease. Recently, several studies have found that oversleeping can cause metabolic disorders in our body.
Similarly on the other side of the spectrum, sleeping for six hours or less every night is harmful to you in the same way. It mostly affects the body the same way as oversleeping does.
People diagnosed with metabolic problems have at least three of the following symptoms- Excess fat around the middle of the body, hypertension, low levels of HDL or “good” cholesterol, high fasting blood glucose and high triglyceride levels. More men than women show these problems.
There are considerable differences between genders when it comes to the effects of sleep on metabolism. In particular, women who sleep less than six hours a night may have more belly fat than those who snooze longer, while men are likely to have both bigger waists and metabolic problems if they sleep less than six hours. On the other hand, women who sleep ten or more hours have a much higher risk for metabolic problems, while in men it correlates to higher triglyceride levels as well.
Poor sleep & weight maintenance
If even after a fairly balanced diet and a decent amount of exercise, you seem not to lose weight as good as you should, your amount of sleep might be to blame. Skimping on snoozetime or oversleeping regularly can lead to weight gain, especially around the waist where stress-induced kilograms often collect.
Different studies have time and again shown that sleep-deprived people tend to select sweet, fatty comfort foods and often engage in midnight snacking as well. This quick-energy fare may compensate for the sluggishness and fatigue a poor night’s shut-eye produces daily, but it also increases daily caloric intake by as much as 20 per cent, because of the extra meals.
Your mattress can also be a reason for your bad sleep and poor weight maintenance. An old and saggy mattress can be bad for your body, as well as a mattress which is not a perfect fit for your sleeping needs, however expensive it may be. If its time to change your mattress or you are just tired of finding a perfect fit, come to Livpure to choose the best one in the market. You can not only find the best mattress, but you can also customize it to your needs and it will be delivered right at your doorstep.
Insulin resistance by our body
Even one night of short duration of sleep can set the stage for your body’s insulin resistance. Not getting enough sleep for one day can increase cortisol levels and change insulin sensitivity. Type 2 diabetes is twice as common in adults who regularly report insufficient sleep than the people who do for the ideal amount of time- the connection between short sleep duration and type 2 diabetes is separate from other risk factors, such as high blood pressure, obesity, and family history. Once type 2 diabetes develops, studies show, the condition reduces sleep quantity and quality even further.
Our recommendation
Try your best to get in the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep each and every night. If you have trouble winding down before going to sleep, we can give you a few tips towards a healthy lifestyle– Create a routine where you go to the bed at the same time each night and get up at the same time each day, as this will make your body used to the similar routine and make you sleep easily.
You may also want to do some relaxing activities, like taking a warm bath or doing some gentle yoga before tucking yourself into your bed. Use white noise, earplugs, blackout curtains, and other tools to block distractions in your sleeping space. Keeping the temperature of your room cool may also help you nod off faster. Make your bedroom your haven for sleep.
Avoid smoking and drinking coffee before bed. They may take a while to wear off and make it hard to relax. While you might feel like alcohol helps you sleep, it disrupts sleeping patterns and ends up doing more harm than good. Also following a balanced diet will keep your cycles better.
Turn off cell phones, computers, televisions, and other electronics well before heading to bed. The blue light emitted by these devices can disrupt your body’s natural sleeping rhythm. Set an alarm clock and put your devices to aeroplane mode. And lastly, limit naps to just 30 minutes. Getting more shut-eye in the daytime hours may make it harder to close your eyes at night.
Final Thoughts
Sleep is not only the key to a healthy lifestyle and temple of a body, it also saves you from lifelong diseases and keeps you in prime shape. Everything from a balanced diet, exercise, avoiding sugar and alcohol etc. is necessary for a good sleep. And for your bedroom, trust in Livpure to give you the best sleep products at friendly prices for the best sleep of your life and keep you healthy and clean!
