Day 3
Sleep is critical to your health. You can only force your body so many days without it before your sleep cycles will overwhelm you.
I was working two full-time jobs once and several weeks into them literally fell asleep on my feet. I woke up just before I hit the ground.
Sleep causes you to overeat to stay awake, whether your body needs the calories to fight off the darkness or you just want the "crunch, crunch, crunch" in your head to keep you going.
Many of us in the overweight arena are snorers, which interrupts the quality of our sleep. And if that doesn't interrupt you, someone who doesn't appreciate it will!
Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea, when your breathing stops during your sleep, is dangerous and can be life-threatening. Ten years ago I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and it changed my life to be hooked up to the CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine. Now, unless I'm camping, I never sleep without it.
A CPAP machine pushes air into your nose with slightly greater pressure than the air around you. It encourages normal breathing during the night and allows you to fall fully asleep. Without it, you will slowly build a deficit of sleep until it begins to impair your motor skills and judgment.
Usually be the end of a week of summer camp, I'm kind of a mess since I don't have the CPAP to make sure I'm getting the rest I should. I'm pushing coffee and soda for the caffeine and I have no problems falling asleep for a "quick nap" whenever I have the opportunity. Once I get home, after 6 nights without the CPAP, I usually head straight to bed and sleep until the next morning.
One of the downsides of sleep apnea is that your body doesn't really shut down as it does during a normal persons sleep cycle. You may sleep too lightly or need to use the bathroom multiple times a night (since your body doesn't shut down properly). Often, what we tend to view as "just getting older" is really sleep issue.
A CPAP machine will help remedy that, and you will actually begin to make up ground against your sleep deficit. Once you've used one for even a few weeks, you feel sharper and you think more clearly. You'll have more energy and you won't have the need to push the caffeine and calories so late into the evening.
Sleep Disorders
If a loved-one is telling you that you snore loudly or sleep fitfully, pay attention. Sore throat in the morning, feeling like you haven't even gone to bed yet, inability to focus soon after getting up are all signs to watch for.
Research shows that adult still need 7-9 hours of sleep each night, and there are many reasons we don't get the sleep we need. Stress, burning the candle at both ends, physical condition, alcohol...
Fix It!
But we can fix most of them. Diet and exercise (why does this sound familiar?) are big components. So is establishing a bedtime routine, going to bed and getting up each day at the same time.
The first step is listening to your spouse when they tell you that you have this problem, and making the appointment for a sleep study. In a sleep lab, they will hook you up with a LOT of wires and monitor your sleep. After only an hour of my test, the technician came in and pushed the CPAP mask in my hands and told me I'd feel a lot better in the morning.
Boy was she right. It was like getting glasses after a lifetime of fuzziness.
One estimate I read is that only 30-40% of people with a treatable sleep disorder are aware of it. It accelerates your weight gain and increases your need to eat to fight the sleep.
And it will save your life.
Tell the truth--does someone in your life say you snore or sleep terribly and you don't want to admit it? Or, maybe worse, you have a CPAP but won't make yourself use it properly? The life you save may be your own!
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