Most Americans struggle with having to do it all. Between work, family, and other responsibilities, who has time to sleep eight hours a night? Research has shown that in fact eight hours of sleep is essential for:
- Productivity: Lack of sleep can alter cognitive functioning making you less capable of completing tasks and less productive. It will impair attention, alertness, and concentration impeding your ability to learn. The hippocampus in the brain is where memory and the body’s ability to coordinate movements.
- Biological and physiological processes: deep sleep coincides with the release of Growth Hormone which is responsible for cellular repair and growth. With Chronic lack of adequate sleep can decrease intracellular Magnesium which is essential for cellular and smooth muscle functioning.
- Libido: energy stores become depleted without adequate sleep, leading to reduced testosterone production and diminished sex drive.
- Reducing health risks: heart disease, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, and diabetes are all conditions associated with lack of sleep. These conditions are all due to increased inflammation that would have been more easily cleared if given adequate resting time to begin rebuilding and repairing day to day damage to ensure you are an efficient machine.
- Maintaining healthy weight: Cortisol is a powerful hormone that is responsible for sympathetic nervous system functioning, it enables the fight or flight response. Without adequate sleep cortisol constantly has to be secreted which can have effects on blood sugar regulation. Increased appetite from lack of sleep due to the lack of production of leptin, satiety peptide. Ghrelin, the peptide for appetite, is more stimulated accounting for sugar and carb cravings.
- Mood stabilization: Insomnia is categorized as the inability to stay asleep throughout the night. Research has shown strong correlations with insomnia and depression.
Call us now, (480) 427-0442, to schedule a consult on how we can improve your sleep quality.