Sleep is something that is so essential to our health and our well-being; however, we might all be guilty of taking it for granted.
Do you have trouble sleeping? Is it becoming increasingly difficult for you to stay healthy because you are too sleep-deprived? Do you want to set your sleeping habits on the right track and finally live a healthy and empowered life?
One should be intentional in making it happen in order for this to work
In this episode of my Hungry for More series, I talk about how sleep should not be looked down upon as it is something that greatly contributes to our health and mental well-being. Practicing “all-nighters” and grinding without proper sleep or rest are lifestyles we should learn how to stop and be more aware of how this could affect us in the long run. I’ll be sharing with you some facts on why depriving yourself of sleep is a big no and how you can practice your mind and body to avoid these occurrences.
Highlights:
If you haven’t listened to previous episodes in my Hungry for More series, go back and check them out to deepen your understanding of hunger:
Episode 1: The Anatomy of Hunger: How Your Body Signals Hunger
Episode 2: The Science Behind Emotional Eating
Episode 5: The Five Pillars of Nourishment and Nutrition (Part One)
Episode 6: The Five Pillars of Nourishment and Nutrition (Part Two)
Episode 7: 10 Practical Tips for Weight Loss
Connect with Dr. Adrienne Youdim
3 Ways to Get More From Adrienne
1. Subscribe to our Newsletter. Subscribe Now and get the 5 Bites to Fasttrack your Health and Wellbeing https://dradrienneyoudim.com/newsletter/
2. Buy the Book. The current weightloss strategies have failed you. Its time to address your true hunger. Purchase 'Hungry for More' https://www.amazon.com/Hungry-More-Stories-Science-Inspire/dp/0578875632
3. Leave us a Rating and Review via Apple Podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/health-bite/id1504295718
Sleep is something that is so essential to our health and our well-being; however, we might all be guilty of taking it for granted.
Do you have trouble sleeping? Is it becoming increasingly difficult for you to stay healthy because you are too sleep-deprived? Do you want to set your sleeping habits on the right track and finally live a healthy and empowered life?
One should be intentional in making it happen in order for this to work
In this episode of my Hungry for More series, I talk about how sleep should not be looked down upon as it is something that greatly contributes to our health and mental well-being. Practicing “all-nighters” and grinding without proper sleep or rest are lifestyles we should learn how to stop and be more aware of how this could affect us in the long run. I’ll be sharing with you some facts on why depriving yourself of sleep is a big no and how you can practice your mind and body to avoid these occurrences.
Highlights:
If you haven’t listened to previous episodes in my Hungry for More series, go back and check them out to deepen your understanding of hunger:
Episode 1: The Anatomy of Hunger: How Your Body Signals Hunger
Episode 2: The Science Behind Emotional Eating
Episode 5: The Five Pillars of Nourishment and Nutrition (Part One)
Episode 6: The Five Pillars of Nourishment and Nutrition (Part Two)
Episode 7: 10 Practical Tips for Weight Loss
Connect with Dr. Adrienne Youdim
3 Ways to Get More From Adrienne
1. Subscribe to our Newsletter. Subscribe Now and get the 5 Bites to Fasttrack your Health and Wellbeing https://dradrienneyoudim.com/newsletter/
2. Buy the Book. The current weightloss strategies have failed you. Its time to address your true hunger. Purchase 'Hungry for More' https://www.amazon.com/Hungry-More-Stories-Science-Inspire/dp/0578875632
3. Leave us a Rating and Review via Apple Podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/health-bite/id1504295718
Transcript
Good morning and welcome back to Health Bite, the podcast created to give you small actionable bites to support you towards greater physical, mental and emotional well-being. I'm your host, Dr. Adrienne Youdim, and today we're going to talk about sleep.
In my practice, I define sleep as a nutrient, as a vitamin, because it is so essential to our health and well-being. But sleep is a nutrient that we take for granted. Even before the pandemic, lack of sleep was a major public health crisis. And now even more so, as our schedules have shifted, so did our sleep! Many of us have had later nights as our daytime routines deteriorated, and many of us have not returned to a healthy sleep schedule despite the return of our early mornings, school drop-offs, and getting back to work. Sleep is really essential to every aspect of our health and well-being. And sleep deprivation can result in hunger both emotionally and physiologically. In fact, in my book, Hungry for More: Stories in Science to Inspire Weight Loss from the Inside Out, I tell a story of Tanya who comes to see me in my office, whose state of sleep deprivation leads to metabolic dysfunction, as well as, weight gain. Not to mention irritability, and ultimately was impacting her work life, her family life, and her other relationships.
The Science of Sleep: All about the linkages and hormones
So let's dig into the science of sleep. First, let's talk about the link between sleep and our mood. We all know that sleep affects our mood. You may notice that after a night of poor sleep, that you're more irritable, short-tempered, and more susceptible to stress. But it goes deeper than that. Chronic sleep deprivation and dysfunction actually increase anxiety and clinical depression. And anxiety and depression also have negative effects on sleep, resulting in this, kind of, vicious negative cycle. So remember the link between sleep and mood. And shortly we'll talk about the ways in which we can empower ourselves to make positive and impactful change.
The second link I want to discuss is between sleep and cognition. You may have also noticed that after a poor night of sleep, you're less focused, less mentally sharp. And in fact, sleep does impact cognition in a really concrete way-- not only short-term but also long-term cognition. Sleep is a time when the brain engages in kind of housekeeping functions. It reviews the events of the day and processes the data that was received. It's also involved in consolidating memories and learning. So in the short term, lack of sleep will affect your memory and your mental acuity. But the data shows that sleep is also critical to brain health in the long term, as well. In fact, one recent study revealed that people who slept six hours or less in their 50s and in their 60s were more likely to go on to develop dementia later in life. And yes, chronic sleep loss is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. Another study, fascinating study, showed that sleep deprivation leads to an increase in tau protein in the bloodstream. Now, tau protein is a biomarker for Alzheimer's disease. And in this study, when young healthy men were deprived of just one night of sleep, so one night of sleep deprivation, they had higher levels of tau in their bloodstream than when they had a full and uninterrupted night of sleep. We also know that sleep deprivation affects metabolic function and is associated with not only weight gain, but insulin resistance, which is a precursor of type two diabetes.
How does sleep affect our weight?
There is one study, The Nurses' Health Study, in which they took a group of nurses and they followed them for, I think, what was 40 years and looked at a bunch of different lifestyle parameters, one of which was sleep and the impact on weight and BMI or body mass index. And they found that nurses who got five or less hours of sleep started off at a higher weight at the beginning of a study as compared to those who got six or seven hours. And that category had a higher weight as compared to those who got eight or more hours of sleep per night. And when they followed these nurses over the course of 40 years, they found that not only did they have a higher baseline weight, but they had more accelerated weight gain over the course of time. And this was again a function of sleep, such that those individuals who got five or six hours of sleep had much more steady weight gain than those who had slept eight hours or more. Clearly linking sleep deprivation to waking.
Why do I feel more hungry the less I sleep?
There are other studies that have shown the impact of sleep on hunger hormones. And so in prior episodes of the Health Bite Podcast, I've talked to you about the physiology and anatomy of hunger. I recommend that you go back and listen to some of those if you're interested in the science and the hormones behind our hungers. But essentially, our bodies will release hormones in response to nutrient intake, to signal hunger or fullness to the brain. So for example, the stomach releases this hormone called "ghrelin". And that hormone, or protein, travels up into the brain and signals to the brain that you are hungry. And after you eat, this ghrelin level drops down and is no longer signaling hunger to the brain. What happens with as little as two nights of sleep deprivation is that ghrelin levels go up by almost 30%. So this hormone that is signaling hunger to your brain that really is and should respond to food or nutrient intake, is also responding to lack of sleep. Another hormone named "leptin" is released by our fat cells- this one actually signals energy sufficiency or fullness. This hormone level drops when we are sleep-deprived. So again, the hormone that is signaling to the brain that we're full goes down with two nights of sleep deprivation. And then when they survey these individuals, they find that not only are they hungrier as a result, but they are hungrier for more palatable, A.K.A. yummier foods. I always joke that when I was an undergrad at UCLA, and you know, at times would pull all-nighters, I would wake up with this crazy desire for doughnuts. And that wasn't me talking, that was my hunger hormones. And the studies really show that.
Should I be scared of my insulin levels?
So sleep deprivation is closely and physiologically linked to weight gain. In those same studies, they have shown that sleep deprivation also results in insulin resistance. So when individuals are sleep deprived, insulin levels go up, suggesting that it is not as effective in managing your blood sugar. And insulin resistance, of course, is a precursor to type two diabetes. So sleep, involved in mood, involved in cognition, involved in metabolic function. And sleep is also involved in healthy immune function. So not only is sleep involved in all these areas of homeostasis in the body but sleep dysregulation results in a heightened sympathetic drive.
So remember, your sympathetic nervous system is that fight-or-flight aspect of your nervous system. The part of your nervous system that gets you ready to flee from tigers and that's what it was used for, kind of, from an evolutionary perspective. But sleep deprivation and chronic insomnia do result in this chronic state of heightened sympathetic tone. And this high-stress state actually dampens the immune system, as does insulin resistance, which we already discussed.
Why is having a good sleep more important now that we’re in a pandemic?
Another interesting point is that during sleep, our bodies create a certain kind of cytokine, or a certain kind of protein rather, called "cytokine". Now, these proteins are released by our bodies in order to fight infection. And sleep deprivation results not only in a reduction in these sleep-fighting proteins or cytokines but also in a reduction in the antibody response. And yes, studies have linked chronic insomnia and sleep deprivation to a greater susceptibility or risk of developing infections, including viruses, which, of course, is so the top of mind for us these days. So enough said, it goes without saying that sleep is essential to restoring our body and critical to maintaining our body's homeostasis, in maintaining mood cognition, metabolic function, and immune function, among other things. Contrary to what we think, sleep is not just our body shutting down, sleep is actually restorative and repairing our bodies. So it has, again, an important and critical function to maintaining our body's health and well-being.
The Sleep Architecture: How much is too much?
So how much sleep do we really need? Well, the amount of sleep needed does go down with age. So, any of us who've had kids- we know that infants are always sleeping, as our puppies. And infants require up to 16 hours of sleep per day. By the time we reach school age, school-age children require anywhere from nine to 12 hours. For teens, it drops down to about 10 hours. And for adults, we need seven to eight hours of good uninterrupted sleep per night. And so let's make a point about sleep quality, right? Because it's not only sleep duration but also the quality of our sleep, which can be affected by organic causes. So obstructive sleep apnea, for example, can disrupt sleep, and sleep architecture. Restless leg syndrome is another organic cause of sleep dysfunction. Alcohol can affect our sleep architecture, and results in little micro awakenings that we may not even be aware of, but are affecting or are affecting sleep architecture in a way that is diminishing the quality of sleep. So whenever quality is affected, the restorative property of sleep is also affected. So keep that in mind.
Sleeping 101: Tips and Strategies on How to Overcome Sleep Deprivation and Enjoy the Land of Your Dreams
So now let's talk about strategy. Because Health Bite, of course, is not only about educating you, but also empowering you with small actionable bites. So let's address the easy stuff, "the low hanging fruit", as we like to call it. First off, let's make sleep a priority. If you deprioritize your sleep, let's give it the attention it deserves. And that requires being intentional about our sleep. My first recommendation is, as always, to create a routine. Routines are so important in really everything that we seek to achieve. Set a regular bedtime and set a regular wake time, and I know that it's difficult, weekends vs weekdays, but try your best to stick to it. If you are intentional and make your sleep a priority, then you're less likely to dismiss your sleep for other activities. And it may require saying no sometimes to certain plans or certain activities. And that is okay! Again when you make your sleep a priority, you are intentional about maintaining it. My second tip is to engage in a soothing activity before bed. Create a relaxing ritual or routine before bedtime. Maybe a warm shower or reading a good book. Maybe you want to take a crack at meditation, listening to soothing noises, or journaling before bed, which is something that I love to do. Something to bring your mind and body down to a more restful and relaxed state. Along those lines, manage your screen.
Screen time can impact your sleep in multiple ways. First, of course, is that the light emitted from your screens impairs the natural release and production of melatonin, that hormone that helps lull our bodies to sleep. But more importantly, I think, is the emotional toll of screentime. Exposure to social media, to the news, to our inbox can all impact our mood. It can cause anxiety, I know it does for me, which of course is not conducive to good, healthful, high-quality sleep. So manage your screen.
My next tip is to move your body. Get exercise. So people who exercise routinely do have, not only, a better quality of sleep, better sleep architecture. Exercise can be tricky though, because for some people, if they exercise before bedtime, or too close to bedtime, it can actually be too activating. So my pro tip is to get up early and exercise first thing in the morning. If that doesn't work for you, try it later in the day, but be mindful of how it may have a negative effect on your sleep if it's done too late.
Good sleep hygiene includes many of the things that we've already discussed. We talked about limiting alcohol because it can affect sleep quality and architecture. Caffeine also can affect sleep, of course. We use caffeine to help with wakefulness. It actually produces a hormone in the brain that blocks those sleepy receptors in the brain. And so if you drink caffeine too late in the day, those receptors are blocked and don't allow for restful sleep. I recommend that we really limit caffeine to before one or 2 pm in the afternoon, and preferably no more caffeine in the afternoon. That being you know, 12 noon. Also, think about all the other ways in which we're getting caffeine. So we tend to think about coffee. Of course, tea has caffeine, even green tea that is considered more healthful, does have caffeine. And then there are other things in our diet, including chocolate, for example, that have caffeine. So be mindful of the caffeine in your diet. I love body scan meditation. So even if you don't engage in meditation or meditative practice before bedtime, if you're having trouble sleeping, consider a body scan meditation. And this is a type of meditation in which you literally and mindfully scan your body everywhere from your head to your toe. Bringing attention to your body does two things. One, it points out areas of tension. So oftentimes, our eyebrows are raised, our jaws are clenched, even our sphincters, our anal sphincters are clenched. And this results, kind of, in a heightened and more alert state. So bringing attention to your body, and literally focusing on relaxing every muscle, every area, every body part, will get your body in a more relaxed and restful sleep.
The second thing that a body scan meditation does is it literally brings your attention out of your mind and into your body. I always talk about that constant buzzing that we have in our minds, right, oftentimes before sleep. It is a time where everything comes up to the surface and we're ruminating and processing what has happened during the day. But when you bring attention to your body, you literally are taking attention away from your thoughts and away from your mind because we cannot be in two places at once. So the body scan meditation is a really effective way of, kind of, shutting down our mind and our thoughts for the evening and getting ourselves into our body and ready for sleep. And finally, I want to point out a cognitive strategy called CBT-I. So this is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia. And many of you may know about CBT in other aspects of your life. There are practitioners who provide CBT, like mental health professionals for depression or habit change. But there are also strategies for insomnia, including modules that you can- and apps that you can sign on to and do on your own. So if you're really struggling with insomnia, I do recommend CBT-I. And believe it or not, this has become number one in our guidelines, in National Sleep guidelines, and our physician guidelines to be above and beyond pharmacologic sleep aids. So CBT-I is known to be more effective than pills or pharmacologic sleep aids for sleep. So check it out if you're having difficulty- real difficulty with your sleep.
Finally, and as always, don't strive for perfection. We don't have to be perfect in order to be effective. Even small changes in your sleep are positive changes and can have a beneficial impact on your physical and emotional well-being.
So that's a wrap on our conversation today on sleep. I hope that you've enjoyed this episode of Health Bite. If you feel it was a value, please share it with a friend and subscribe for future episodes. I believe wholeheartedly that knowledge is power. And I have created many spaces in order to uplift and empower you. You can find me on Instagram (@dradrienneyoudim) where I post daily musings on health and well-being. You can also go to my website www.dradrienneyoudim. That's D-R, A-D-R-I-E-N-N-E, Y-O-U-D-I-M.com, where you can find content, links to my book, Hungry for More, as well as the companion journaling course I've created, as well as signing up for my weekly newsletter. Wishing you a happy and healthy week. Until next time, bye-bye!