What Lack of Sleep Does to Your Body

– By Birgitt Haderlein Owner of To Fit You, Wellness coach/Fitness Consultant

Happy New You! I hope 2014 was as great a year for you as it was for me. It was filled with many challenges that kept me focused and on my toes. And now I look forward to what 2015 holds.

I spend every New Year’s Eve reviewing my goals and writing down my top 10 accomplishments. This is important because it gives me the motivation and inspiration to be a great role model for myself and my clients. Yet what I find most of my clients still struggle with is getting the rest they need. So one of my colleagues put together some great facts that I hope we all can use to help us focus on getting better sleep.*

Don’t skimp on slumber if you want to be as healthy as you can be.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, most healthy adults need 7-9 hours of sleep a night. If you consistently fall short of this goal, you may be increasing your risk for obesity, cognitive impairment, a compromised immune system and much more.

In 2011 Harvard scientists estimated that sleep deprivation costs U.S. Companies $63.2 billion in lost productivity per year.

In one study, middle-aged and older adults who reported 5 hours of sleep or less were 2.5 times more likely to have diabetes, compared with those who slept 7-8 hours per night.

Several studies have found that sleep deprivation raises blood pressure. Half a night of sleep loss has been reported to increase blood pressure in people with hypertension or prehypertension.

When exposed to the cold- causing rhinovirus, study subjects averaging less than 7 hours of sleep a night were about three times more likely to develop cold symptoms than study volunteers who slept 8 or more hours a night.

Insufficient sleep decreases the number of genes that peak and fall in expression during a 24 – hour period from 1,855 to 1,481. Less than 6 hours of sleep a night affects more than 700 genes.
Sleeping 5 hours or less may increase mortality risk from all causes by roughly 15%.

I hope these facts help give you the desire to get and work on getting better quality rest. Here are my top 5 suggestions for improved sleep!

1. Exercise. It helps you relax! (To the right are 5 great exercises)
2. Some form of relaxation. I meditate regularly and it has helped not only my sleep but it has increased my energy.
3. I create my day every morning. I do that by asking my self “what is the greatest ideal of myself”. The person I don’t want to be (negative or pessimistic) and the person I do want to be (happy, joyous and balanced).
4. I don’t watch tv, read, or do anything while I am in bed.
5. Lastly, before I go to sleep I review my day and ask myself how I did today when did I fall from grace and how I can do it differently.

This has increased my quality of sleep and I am happy to report – I sleep a lot better.

Are you ready to get the gift of happiness and health? If you are stuck and need some accountability, call me at 713-410-3376 to coach you in the direction you want to go. You can also check out my website at www.tofityou.com. Give the gift of health. Gift certificates available.

Yoga class times are Tuesdays at 6:30 pm and Wednesdays at 12:00 pm.

*Idea Fitness Journal, January 2015