January 2006 | Quality Checkup
A Sleepy Resolution
By Bob Condor
Here’s a New Year’s resolution more appealing than, say, running on a treadmill several times per week or vowing to eat fewer chips at your favorite Mexican restaurant: Get more sleep.
We all know a lack of sleep makes us tired and irritable. Researchers have proved it increases the risk for car accidents. But here’s something you probably don’t realize. Routine sleep deprivation can promote weight gain.
Eve Van Cauter, a sleep researcher at the University of Chicago, has found that “short sleepers” have an impaired ability to regulate insulin, which can lead to fat storage in the body. Short sleepers include anyone who gets six hours or less per night.
In previous research, Van Cauter observed men in their 20s who were allowed to sleep only an average of four hours per night. After just one week, the volunteers’ metabolic levels and insulin processing functions were compromised enough to equal 70-something men. Along with risk of becoming overweight, these symptoms can lead to high blood pressure, diabetes or mental sluggishness.
Not exactly a compelling case for pulling all-nighters, staying up to finish a novel or surfing the Web.
Van Cauter and other sleep researchers offer Quality Checkup tips for creating better sleep habits: awaken at the same time every day, even on weekends, to optimally set your internal clock; keep your bedroom totally dark to produce the proper amount of melatonin for slumber; be careful about alcohol within two hours of bed because it disrupts the second half of nighttime sleep.
Bob Condor is the well-rested editor of Conscious Choice.
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