Lack of sleep causes the liver to start secreting enzymes that predispose an individual not to recover from the deleterious effects of sleep loss,” reveals a study conducted by biologist Paul Franken.
A total lack of sleep leads to death in a few days, as has been observed in studies with rodents.
The animals suffer a metabolic imbalance, begin to quickly lose calories and increase the intake of food to compensate, but the loss is faster and a metabolic failure occurs.
At the same time the immune system stops working properly and infections appear.
These symptoms are similar to those experienced by humans with sleep disorders such as chronic insomnia, which suffers 13% of the population, and point the keys on the functions of this fundamental process.
We know that you can not live without sleeping but we do not know the exact function it has.
Fatigue due to lack of sleep makes people move less. It also causes less leptin to secrete. Leptin, is a protein that dilates the stomach walls and creates a feeling of fullness.
At the same time, more ghrelin is produced. Ghrelin is a hormone that increases appetite. Clearly, the lack of hours of sleep is making us more obese,
Most people are not aware of the harms of lack of sleep
We have an elastic concept of sleep as if it were chewing gum that we can crush when there is no time to sleep and then stretch it when we have time.
But it does not work like that. Compensating lost sleep with a binge of hours in bed relieves behavioral symptoms, such as tension and fatigue, but not the consequences on the endocrine and cardiovascular system.
It is thought that one of the fundamental functions of the dream is to classify and preserve the memories accumulated during the day.
During deep sleep, the same areas of the brain that were lit when important experiences were recorded are activated, a process that may be related to the strengthening of those memories and the discarding of irrelevant ones.
“Probably that’s one of the reasons we sleep,” says Susanne Diekelmann of the University of Tübingen in Germany.
Sleeping shuts us down to reset vital functions
“The brain has to shut down and isolate itself from the outside world so as not to interrupt the reinforcement process, otherwise we could relive past experiences and suffer hallucinations,” she argues.
Her team is one of those whose studies have shown that this process can be controlled with sensory stimuli.
If a person stores a memory and at the same time perceives a certain smell, then, during sleep, the presence of that same aroma is enough to recover that memory and reinforce it unconsciously.
The next day, the memories associated with smells are stronger than those that did not have that sensory incentive.
“This type of research could lead to new treatments for people in rehabilitation, for example, those who have to relearn how to walk after a cerebral infarction,” says Diekelmann.
Further research regarding sleep quality shows the connections between memory and sleep in patients with Alzheimer’s.
“One of the most debilitating symptoms of the disease is the enormous nocturnal agitation of the patients, who can not rest.
In fact, insomnia is the main cause of hospitalization of people with Alzheimer’s.
If you manage to avoid sleep problems in these patients, you save many of the health problems caused by the disease.
Sleeping badly activates Killer brain Cells
Internally, your brain seems to be fine. What researchers recently discovered is that the problem is not in the neurons, but in another type of brain cells known as toxic glia, responsible for killing neurons.
The lack of sleep activates the toxic glia, which could explain the high neuronal mortality of people with Alzheimer’s.
Twenty years ago scientists discovered the role of hypocretins, essential proteins, to keep the brain awake and alert.
Currently, there are antagonist drugs of these molecules that are used as sleep facilitators for people with insomnia and that, soon, could help treat other disorders.
About 1 in 3 Americans gets less than seven hours of sleep a night, and more than 83 million adults in the U.S. are sleep-deprived
Some of your “enemies of sleep” may include alcohol and caffeine, anxiety and depression, artificial lighting, long work hours, loneliness and overcommitment
Consistent lack of high-quality sleep wreaks havoc on your body’s two hunger-regulating hormones: ghrelin, also known as your “hunger hormone,” and leptin, referred to as your “obesity hormone”
Lack of sleep significantly raises your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, mainly because amyloid-beta deposits that would normally be cleaned out of your brain nightly during deep sleep accumulate and kill off surrounding cells
Poor sleep makes you two to three times more likely to develop a chronic pain condition. It also puts you at risk for other health problems such as higher cortisol levels, increased inflammation and reduced immune function
About 1 in 3 Americans gets less than seven hours of sleep a night and more than 83 million adults in the U.S. are sleep-deprived.1,2 If you work long hours, have a sleep disorder or spend a lot of time in front of electronic screens, you may be sleeping five or fewer hours per night. Such little sleep can trigger a wide range of health issues, such as chronic disease, increased risk of accidents, reduced sex drive and weight gain.
You may not realize sleep also plays an important role in memory formation, and chronic-sleep dysfunctions such as sleep apnea have been shown to accelerate memory loss. Earlier in life I disregarded the importance of sleep, at times getting no more than five or six hours a night. Now, because I value sleep as a significant factor with respect to my health and longevity, I get the recommended eight hours most nights.
I have said it many times before, and I hope you are taking this advice to heart: Most adults need about eight hours of sleep per night to function well. Children and teenagers, because they are still growing and developing, require nine or more hours of rest. As you likely have observed, it is also common for them to sleep even longer on weekends.
Sleep Deprivation: A Serious Threat to Society
Matthew Walker, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience and psychology, and founder and director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley, defines sleep deprivation as sleeping less than seven hours a night.
“No aspect of our biology is left unscathed by sleep deprivation,” says Walker. “It sinks down into every possible nook and cranny.”3Sleep deprivation, he notes, is associated with a number of serious diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, mental illness, obesity and stroke.
In an interview with The Guardian,4 Walker points out how easy it is to observe sleep problems: “I get on a flight at 10 a.m. when people should be at peak alert, and half of the [passengers on the] plane [have] immediately fallen asleep.” According to a Gallup Poll,5Americans slept an average of 7.9 hours a night in 1942, but only 6.8 hours in 2013. Walker pins the blame for our consistently declining slumber patterns on the following “enemies of sleep:”
Alcohol and caffeine: These and other substances, such as sleeping pills, interfere with sleep quality and sleep time
Loneliness, anxiety and depression: The longing for connection and the effects of mental illness can often interfere with or cause people to forego sleep
Long work hours: The international business environment, increased global competition and longer commuter times are just a few of the factors contributing to the increase in work hours and stress-related burnout
Overcommitment: Schedules are filled from morning to night, and many people are unwilling to trade entertainment or socializing with family and friends for sleep
Interesting Facts About Our Global Sleep Problem
Below are some intriguing facts about our global sleep problem that may surprise you:6
Two-thirds of adults in developed nations fail to receive the World Health Organization’s recommended eight hours of sleep per night
A 2013 study7 reported men who slept too little had sperm counts 29 percent lower than those who regularly got a full night’s sleep
You are 4.3 times more likely to be involved in a crash than a well-rested driver when you drive on less than five hours of sleep; on just four hours of sleep, your risk of crashing is 11.5 times higher
A hot bath before bed readies you for sleep because it causes your dilated blood vessels to radiate inner heat, lowering your core body temperature, which is an essential activity to initiate sleep
More than 100 diagnosed sleep disorders exist, the most common of which is insomnia
The global population comprises 40 percent morning types, those who prefer to awaken at or around dawn; 30 percent evening types, those who go to bed late and wake up late; and 30 percent who are classified as somewhere in between
Why Is Lack of Sleep a Badge of Honor While Healthy Sleep Is Vilified?
According to Walker, for whatever reason, lack of sleep in modern times has become a sort of “badge of honor.” You may feel compelled to talk about how busy you are or how much you are accomplishing, even if pushing yourself to do increasingly more is causing you to damage your health by foregoing sleep.
On the other hand, good sleep can sometimes be characterized as a sign of sloth. “We have stigmatized sleep with the label of laziness,” says Walker. “We want to seem busy, and one way we express that is by proclaiming how little sleep we’re getting.”
Walker asserts no one would look at an infant and suggest he or she was a lazy baby. That’s the case because “we know sleeping is nonnegotiable for a baby.” Unfortunately, the notion that sleep is vital to our well-being is quickly dispensed with as we age. “Humans are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent reason,” suggests Walker.
Based on years of studying sleep, he is certain there is not a single person on the planet who can make it on five hours or less of sleep without suffering some level of short-term impairment or long-term illness. When asked if he takes his own advice about sleep, Walker replied:
“I give myself a nonnegotiable eight-hour sleep opportunity every night, and I keep very regular hours. If there is one thing I tell people, it’s to go to bed and to wake up at the same time every day, no matter what. I take my sleep incredibly seriously because I have seen the evidence.
Once you know that after just one night of only four or five hours of sleep, your natural killer cells — the ones that attack the cancer cells that appear in your body every day — drop by 70 percent, or that a lack of sleep is linked to cancer of the bowel, prostate and breast … how could you do anything else?”
Sleep Affects Your Body’s Hunger-Regulating Hormones
You may not realize a lack of consistent, high-quality sleep wreaks havoc on two of your body’s hunger-regulating hormones. Chronic lack of sleep can cause ghrelin — also known as your “hunger hormone” — to skyrocket, which has the effect of making you feel hungry when you really don’t need to eat. Ghrelin appears to act on your brain’s pleasure centers. This explains why you may be inclined to reach for a second brownie based on remembering how good the first one tasted and made you feel while you were eating it.
Leptin, also referred to as the “obesity hormone,” helps regulate your appetite, metabolism and feelings of satiety. Leptin tells your brain when you’re full and when it should start burning calories. When you are sleeping, your leptin levels increase, signaling your brain you have sufficient energy and letting it know to curtail any calorie burning or signals for hunger.
The decrease in leptin brought on by sleep deprivation often results in your metabolism slowing down and your body signaling a constant feeling of hunger even though you do not need to eat. Because leptin is secreted by fat tissue, if you are overweight, you likely have higher than normal levels of leptin, which may lead to leptin resistance.
Overly high levels of leptin have been tied to heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and stroke, as well as blood sugar problems.8If you are leptin resistant, your body will receive signals that may lead you to continue to eat even when you’ve actually had enough. While chronic sleep deprivation cannot shoulder total responsibility for the continuing surge in global obesity rates, Walker believes it certainly plays a significant role. He states:9
“I’m not going to say the obesity crisis is caused by the sleep-loss epidemic alone. It’s not. However, processed food and sedentary lifestyles do not adequately explain its rise. Something is missing. It’s now clear sleep is that third ingredient.”
The researchers stated, “These differences in leptin and ghrelin are likely to increase appetite, possibly explaining the increased BMI observed with short sleep duration.” 11A sleep-disorders study involving more than 1,000 participants, which was designed to uncover a link between sleep problems and metabolic hormones, concluded:10
Those who slept for five hours had 14.9 percent higher ghrelin levels and 15.5 percent lower leptin levels than those who achieved eight hours of sleep
The short sleepers had higher body mass indexes (BMIs)
Running Low on ZZZs May Put You at Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease
While working on his Ph.D. in neurophysiology, Walker stumbled into the realm of sleep. After failing to successfully identify brainwave patterns in people with different forms of dementia while testing them during daytime hours, Walker stumbled across a scientific paper revealing a probable link between sleep and dementia. In the ensuing six months, Walker set up a sleep laboratory and began to study his patients’ brainwave patterns at night. In doing so, he found that sleep quality, it seemed, could be an early diagnostic for dementia.
Now, Walker is convinced too little sleep during your adult life span significantly raises your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. This is the case because amyloid-beta deposits that would normally be cleaned out of your brain nightly during deep sleep accumulate as plaques and kill off surrounding cells.12 This waste-removal system has been dubbed the glymphatic system, and operates similarly to your body’s lymphatic system, which is responsible for eliminating cellular waste products.
Because your brain is a closed system, protected by the blood-brain barrier, it needs its own system for waste elimination. Your glymphatic system gets into your brain by piggybacking on blood vessels in your brain. By pumping cerebral spinal fluid through your brain’s tissues, your glymphatic system flushes waste from your brain back into your circulatory system for elimination by your liver.
Because your glymphatic system ramps up its activity during sleep, when you don’t get enough sleep, the damaging plaques build up, attack and degrade particular regions of your brain.
Walker notes a brain affected by Alzheimer’s has lost most of its ability to remove the amyloid-beta waste products, mainly because it is caught in a vicious cycle: more amyloid, less deep sleep; less deep sleep, more amyloid. If you are not sure of the steps you can take to help prevent Alzheimer’s disease, please review my previous article “Alzheimer’s Disease — Yes, It’s Preventable!”
Lack of Quality Sleep Contributes to Chronic Pain
A U.K. study13 published in Sleep Medicine Reviews suggests poor sleep makes you two to three times more likely to develop a chronic pain condition, while also putting you at risk for other health problems. “Sleep and pain problems are two of the biggest health problems in today’s society,” said lead author Esther Afolalu, a Ph.D. student in the department of psychology at the University of Warwick in Coventry. Afolalu and her colleagues reviewed 16 prior sleep studies involving more than 60,000 adults from 10 countries.
The studies looked at how well people were sleeping at the onset of the research as well as the effects of longer-term sleep changes on participants’ immune function, pain and physical health. Half the participants were tracked upward of four years. Afolalu and her team wrote: “A decline in sleep quality and sleep quantity was associated with a two-to-three-fold increase in the risk of developing a pain condition, small elevations in levels of inflammatory markers and a decline in self-reported physical health status.”
Based on the research, if you do not get adequate sleep, you may be at risk for:
Reduced ability of your immune system to fight off bacteria, viruses and other foreign substances
Increased levels of other biomarkers related to fatigue, pain and poor health
Deficits in physical functioning
Notably, Afolalu and her team discovered recently developed insomnia doubles your risk of a chronic pain disorder and hip-fracture problems. While increases in sleep did not appear to directly diminish pain or arthritis, improved sleep did help participants function better physically. Keep in mind Afolalu’s research has two notable limitations: reliance on individuals to self-report their sleep patterns and a lack of consistent tools for measuring sleep quality and quantity.
Poor Sleep, Depression and Your Brain’s Reward Center
While the precise causes of depression are not always evident, certain factors such as poor sleep have been shown to contribute to it.14Insomnia, for example, has been shown to influence the onset, severity and recurrence of depressive episodes. If you routinely suffer from insomnia, you are at twice the risk of developing depression as compared to individuals who sleep well.
A study published in the Journal of Neuroscience15,16 suggests your brain’s reward center may help protect you from the depressive symptoms traditionally associated with poor sleep. Researchers at Duke University have taken a closer look at the involvement of your ventral striatum (VS) — an area of your brain responsible for reward processing and motivation. Their objective is to better understand the role your VS may play with respect to depression and poor sleep.
Dysfunction in your VS is thought to be associated not only with depression, but also with addiction, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and Parkinson’s disease. Because poor sleep is not necessarily associated with depression in every individual, researchers have found that stimulating the VS region of the brain has a therapeutic effect on some depressed patients.
Reut Avinun, Ph.D., department of psychology and neuroscience, Duke University, and her colleagues engaged more than 1,000 university students to explore the relationship among depression, self-reported sleep patterns and VS activity.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging data collected while study participants played a card-guessing game designed to engage the VS indicated students with higher reward-related VS activity were less likely to report symptoms of depression even when their sleep quality was poor. Avinun said:17
“In our study, we showed how the negative effects of poor sleep can also be modulated by [the ventral striatum], so high reward-related activation can buffer the effect of poor sleep on depressive symptoms. This same region has been associated with optimism, so it’s possible individuals with this high reward responsiveness can cope with stressful and negative experiences better by having a more positive outlook.”
Further research in this area may help scientists gain further insight into how depression works, as well as assist them in identifying biomarkers for depression risk. Says Avinun: “In the future, I plan to work on gaining a better understanding of depression susceptibility, and help to identify the individuals who are more at risk of developing depression by looking at their brain and DNA.”
Is Your Chronic Sleep Problem Caused by Sleep Apnea?
Some 30 million adult Americans suffer from undiagnosed sleep apnea,18 a serious health condition which causes you to stop breathing while you are sleeping. Depending on the severity of your condition, these breath interruptions may occur just a few times — or hundreds of times — an hour. During these moments without breath, your brain and the rest of your body is literally being starved of oxygen.
If you have undiagnosed sleep apnea, you may be unknowingly putting yourself at risk for diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke. In addition, sleep apnea can contribute to depression, insomnia, impotence, pregnancy complications and weight gain. Clearly sleep apnea is not something to be taken lightly.
Sleep apnea can often go unnoticed because doctors don’t routinely screen for it and you may be inclined to dismiss daytime sleepiness as “a bad night’s sleep” or stress. If you suspect you may be suffering from sleep apnea, you’ll want to seek the help of a qualified sleep specialist. Ask your general practitioner for a recommendation, and also do your own research. Some sleep doctors offer solutions focused on addressing only secondary problems, while you will want to uncover and treat the root issue(s).
Treatment Options for Sleep Apnea
Potential treatment options for addressing sleep apnea are as follows:
Buteyko Breathing Method: The Buteyko technique, which is named after the Russian doctor who developed it, is useful to reverse health problems caused by improper breathing, including sleep apnea
Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP): CPAP is a special type of sleeping mask prescribed for severe sleep apnea, which is designed to mechanically restore your breathing by applying air pressure to open your airway
Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy: Myofunctional therapy involves the neuromuscular reeducation or repatterning of your oral and facial muscles, including facial and tongue exercises and behavior modification techniques to promote proper tongue position, improved breathing, chewing and swallowing
Oral appliance: If you have mild to moderate sleep apnea related to jaw or tongue issues, dentists specializing in sleep apnea can design a custom “mouth guard” you can wear while sleeping to facilitate proper breathing
Weight loss: Because obesity and sleep apnea often go hand in hand, you may be able to dramatically relieve the effects of sleep apnea simply by losing weight; weight loss will reduce pressure on your abdomen and chest, thereby allowing your breathing muscles to function more effectively when you sleep
When it comes to how you breathe, your diet may play a bigger role than might imagine. Processed foods, which tend to acidify your blood in an attempt to maintain normal pH, cause you to breathe more heavily and can lead to chronic overbreathing. As such, processed, high-protein and high-grain meals have been shown to have negative effects on the way you breathe. Give your body a break by consuming more water, fruits and vegetables, which have lesser impact on your breathing.
Sleeplessness Is Having a Catastrophic Effect on Health and Well-Being
In the video above, Walker asserts his belief that getting sufficient quality sleep is the single most effective thing you can do to reset your brain and body and invigorate your health on a daily basis. I agree wholeheartedly. You may be surprised to know the World Health Organization, since 2007, has tagged shift work as a “probable human carcinogen” because it causes circadian disruption.19
While this news may surprise you, the truth is if you work erratic hours, particularly the night shift, you most assuredly are putting yourself at greater risk for diseases such as cancer, diabetes and obesity. While you may not be a shift worker, you very likely are wrestling with one or more issues that are causing you to sleep poorly.
No matter the root issue(s) you face, research linking chronic poor sleep and lack of sleep to disease and illness cannot be ignored. The scientific facts underscore my belief that there is no substitute for, nor any excuse for not getting, a full night’s rest. Says Walker:20
“The decimation of sleep throughout industrialized nations is having a catastrophic impact on our health and wellness. It is a silent sleep-loss epidemic. It’s time for us to reclaim our right to a full night of sleep, without embarrassment or the stigma of laziness. In doing so, we may remember what it feels like to truly be awake during the day.”
Given its importance, I encourage you to take a few moments today to evaluate your sleep habits. Are you getting enough sleep? If not, what’s one change you can make to improve the length and/or quality of your sleep? If you need help getting started, check out my 16 Chronological Tips to Improve Your Sleep.
A new study has just revealed why it is so important to give your body enough sleep. Sleep deprivation robs the neurons in the brain of the ability to function properly. And that could be detrimental to every aspect of life.
Previous studies have tied sleep deprivation to a heightened risk of depression, obesity, diabetes, heart attacks and stroke, as well as medical errors.
A new study is the first to reveal how sleep deprivation disrupts our brain cells’ ability to communicate with each other, leading to temporary mental lapses that affect memory and visual perception. “We discovered that starving the body of sleep also robs neurons of the ability to function properly,” said senior author Dr. Itzhak Fried, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Tel Aviv University. “This paves the way for cognitive lapses in how we perceive and react to the world around us.”
Fried led an international team in studying 12 UCLA epileptic patients who had electrodes implanted in their brains in order to pinpoint the origin of their seizures prior to surgery. Because lack of sleep can provoke seizures, these patients stay awake all night to speed the onset of an epileptic episode and shorten their hospital stay.
The team asked the patients to categorize a variety of images as fast as possible while their electrodes recorded the firing of nearly 1,500 single brain cells across the group in real time. The scientists zeroed in on the temporal lobe, which regulates visual perception and memory. –Medical Express
Performing simple tasks grew more challenging for people too as they experienced even less sleep. “We were fascinated to observe how sleep deprivation dampened brain cell activity,” said lead author Dr. Yuval Nir of Tel-Aviv University. “Unlike the usual rapid reaction, the neurons responded slowly, fired more weakly and their transmissions dragged on longer than usual.”
Researchers concluded that sleep is detrimental to healthy brain function. In a separate finding, the researchers discovered that slower brain waves accompanied sluggish cellular activity in the same regions of the patients’ brains.
“Slow sleep-like waves disrupted the patients’ brain activity and performance of tasks,” said Fried. “This phenomenon suggests that select regions of the patients‘ brains were dozing, causing mental lapses, while the rest of the brain was awake and running as usual,” said Fried.
“Inadequate sleep exerts a similar influence on our brain as drinking too much,” said Fried. “Yet no legal or medical standards exist for identifying over-tired drivers on the road the same way we target drunk drivers.”
Fried and his colleagues plan to dive more deeply into the benefits of sleep. Future studies aim to unravel the mechanism responsible for the cellular glitches that precede mental lapses. Get enough sleep and keep your brain sharp. You never know when you may need it.
Insomnia is a bigger issue in the United States than most people think. More than a third of all American adults aren’t getting enough sleep. That’s enough to be considered an epidemic. Sleeplessness doesn’t just make you yawn; it has a significant effect on obesity, diabetes, blood circulation, muscle health, heart health, the immune system, and cognitive behavior.[1]
Because of our sleep crisis, more people than ever before have resorted to sleeping pills. In 2015, Americans spent an estimated $41 billion on sleep aids. A 2013 study concluded that nearly nine million Americans use sleeping pills, and that figure continues to rise.[2] This is cause for concern as sleep aids can have severe health consequences. They may lead to dependence, addiction, and a number of negative side effects.[3, 4] Fortunately, there’s an all natural (and au naturale) trick you can try to sleep better tonight.
Simply sleeping naked has a host of health benefits including better sleep, balanced mood, better sex life, weight loss, and sexual health for both men and women.
1. Sleeping Naked Gives You Better Quality Sleep
Temperature has a tremendous effect on your sleep patterns and quality. While your body temperature is usually somewhere around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, studies have found cooler ambient temperatures support better sleep. A slight drop in room temperature signals your body that it’s bedtime, causing your brain to release a sleep hormone called melatonin. An ideal room temperature for sleeping is around 65° F.[5, 6]
Ambient temperature, pajamas, sheets, blankets, down comforters, the body heat of a sleeping partner, and the family cat dozing on your feet can all add up to make things uncomfortably warm, causing you to wake up. Shedding your pajamas and sleeping in the buff is a fantastic way to cool yourself down and enjoy your rest. Since nudity is free, it’s also significantly cheaper than cranking up the AC.
2. Napping Nude Supports Your Mood
Chronic insomnia drastically increases the risk of anxiety and depression.[7] Even partial sleeplessness can put you in a cranky mood. Fortunately, a good night’s sleep can quite literally clear your mind. We’ve always known that sleep helps support brain health, but only recently have we begun to understand why.
During your waking hours, your brain tissue gradually accumulates beta-amyloid, a protein that is toxic to nerve cells. When you sleep, your body signals the glial cells in your brain to open up and flush away these toxic proteins. With the better sleep you’ll get from going au naturale, you should be able to drain your brain and feel refreshed the next morning.[8, 9]
3. Sleeping Stark Naked Sparks Your Sex Life
Frequent nudity leading to more frequent sex may seem like a no-brainer. However, there’s a little more to it than just easier access. Skin to skin contact triggers your pituitary gland to release oxytocin. Often called “the love hormone,” oxytocin promotes feelings of attachment and emotional closeness. In other words, sleeping naked will put you in the mood for love more often.[10]
4. Going Commando Promotes Sperm Count
Not only does sleeping nude help with the aforementioned increase in sex, it can help improve sperm count as well. The ideal temperature for sperm production is just a few degrees cooler than body temperature. Tight undergarments leave the testes too hot. A 2016 study investigated the effects underwear choice had on men’s sexual health. It found that men who slept sans undies had a higher sperm count and better sperm quality than those that wore boxers or briefs.[11]
5. Nudity Supports Vaginal Health
Sleeping naked isn’t only important to men’s health, women can get the benefits of sleeping in the buff as well. The vagina is a resilient, self-cleaning organ, and sleeping nude helps it maintain balance and regulate PH levels. Constricting clothing traps heat and moisture. Warm, moist conditions encourage the growth of yeast and bacteria, possibly leading to vaginitis. Fresh air is the enemy of infection. Letting things air out by leaving your body uncovered at night can help prevent yeast infections and leave you feeling fresh.[12, 13]
6. Lose Weight by Losing Your Pajamas
No, you probably won’t be able to just sleep yourself slim, but when combined with a healthy diet and regular exercise, proper sleep can help support metabolism and encourage weight loss.[14]
Sleep deprivation can wreak havoc on your hunger hormones, leading to weight gain and obesity. Your hunger hormones are leptin and ghrelin. Leptin decreases your appetite, while ghrelin increases it. Your body produces leptin naturally while in the stages of deep sleep. Fitful sleep prevents your body from producing an adequate supply of leptin, while overproducing ghrelin.
This imbalance in your hormone levels leads to an abnormally elevated feeling of hunger, causing you to eat more than you should. A study by the University of Wisconsin confirms that poor sleep patterns are closely associated with high Body Mass Index (BMI) and obesity across all ages. Stripping before bed allows you to get better sleep and normalize your hunger hormone levels.
7. Sleeping Bare Helps Skin and Hair
Beauty rest is absolutely a real thing. Cortisol is a steroid hormone that your body produces in response to stress and low blood sugar. Studies have found that missing sleep can also cause a surge in cortisol levels. Unfortunately, elevated cortisol levels suppress growth hormone and disrupt your system, damaging hair growth and degrading skin. Keeping your cortisol levels low with the right sleep schedule will help keep your hair strong and your skin beautiful.[15, 16, 17]
Try It Tonight
Proper sleep is critical to your overall health. Sleeping nude won’t cure all sleep disorders, but it could help you rest a little better. It’s fun and free in more ways than one. Give it a try tonight and see if you feel the difference.
References (18)
“1 In 3 Adults Don’t Get Enough Sleep.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. US Department of Health and Human Services, n.d. Web. 10 Aug. 2017.
Rudman, Daniel, Axel G. Feller, Hoskote S. Nagraj, Gregory A. Gergans, Pardee Y. Lalitha, Allen F. Goldberg, Robert A. Schlenker, Lester Cohn, Inge W. Rudman, and Dale E. Mattson. “Effects of Human Growth Hormone in Men over 60 Years Old.” New England Journal of Medicine 323.1 (1990): 1-6. Web. 10 Aug. 2017.
According to the CDC, there’s a public health epidemic you need to be on the lookout for. It’s not contagious, but has spread due to the North American lifestyle. You may have suffered from it yourself, without even realizing you were part of the population at risk.
Blamed for automotive accidents, industrial disasters and occupational errors (including ones by those chronically sleep deprived health care workers) lack of sleep effects more than 35% of adults in our country each day. Each year, according to the National Department of Transportation, drowsy driving is responsible for 1,550 deaths and 40,000 injuries in the United States.
The trouble is, most of us push sleep to the back burner. We have so many things to do. Just getting through the demands of work, family life, chores, and a bit of leisure leaves little time for much else, sleep seems to draw the short straw. Add prepping to the equation and well, you get the drift: burning the candle at both ends becomes the norm rather than the exception.
But, out of all of your obligations, sleep is not the thing you should skimp on.
“Sleep is not a luxury – it is a biological necessity.”
I am not sure who said that first, but I do know that it is true. I merely have to reflect back upon my own life to know that the lack of sleep will result in diminished mental acuity, crankiness and even reduced physical strength and mobility.
Because of this lowered capacity when you’re deprived of Zzzsss, I would like to suggest that we add sleep to our set of survival skills.
Why? Well, under ordinary circumstances sleep has restorative and rejuvenating benefits. Add a dash of stress to the mix (and what could be more stressful than a natural or man-made disaster or crisis?) and we will need all of the strength we can muster just to get by.
What are the benefits of sleep?
I could fill volumes with the various benefits of sleep but for now, let me touch upon the highlights.
1. Sleep restores the body. Every part of the body benefits from sleep. Our body’s ability to rebuild itself at the cellular level depends on the quiet period commonly known as deep sleep (or non-REM sleep) to restore itself from the effects of stress, toxins, contaminated air, physical activity, and other maladies we are exposed to on a daily basis.
2. Sleep reduces stress. Have you ever gone to bed a bundle of knots, unable to talk to someone without barking, and unable to think clearly because you are worried about this or that? And then voila! You wake up the next day with a clear mind and gentle demeanor ready to face the day in a positive manner. What you have experienced is the release of calming hormones (serotonin and melatonin) that help us relax and overcome the stress hormones that have accumulated in our bodies during the course of the day.
3. Sleep reduces illness. During the sleep cycle, our bodies are in rest mode with not much to do at a physical level. During this rest mode, our immune system goes into high gear, fighting off the germs and bacteria that can lead to illness and disease. According to WebMD, a chronic lack of sleep has been associated with colds, influenza, diabetes, heart disease, mental health concerns, and obesity.
4. Sleep improves memory. Like magic, our brain keeps functioning during sleep, sorting out the events of the day and categorizing them into slots that can be retrieved later. Have you ever felt there was so much going on in your head that you could not think? Abstract, I know, but what has happened is that current events have not yet been stored as links in the memory portion of your brain. Luckily, sleeping will process these events and store them as bits of information that can later be recalled when needed.
5. Sleep increases physical and mental acuity and increases reflex response. A well-rested body has the ability to respond to hazards with maximum physical strength and accuracy. But even more important, having a rested body allows us to perform daily tasks in a more safe manner.
Case in point: have you ever driven a car while sleepy only to find yourself weaving in the roadway? Your concentration was diminished, right? Even worse, your ability to react to road hazards was greatly reduced. Now put yourself in a survival situation where you must defend your homestead and your family from intruders that are after your stuff. You will need all of your wits about you since failure to react may jeopardize not only your belongings, but your life. For the prepper, this should be of utmost concern.
6. Sleep helps you maintain a positive outlook. As bad as things may be, they are always better after getting a good night’s rest. Adequate sleep helps circumvent depression and gives you the energy to get up and go even when all motivation has “got up and went”. Decision-making becomes easier, as does thinking and problem solving in an imaginative and productive manner. These are skills that are lifesaving when dealing with survival in normal times, let alone times of crisis.
7. Sleep is the great healer. If you do become ill or injured, sleep becomes even more imperative. As I mentioned above, our cells regenerate during the deepest stages of sleep, and while our bodies are at rest, our immune system is at its busiest. The best thing a sick or injured person can do is sleep as much as possible to allow his body to heal and restore itself.
How much sleep is enough to become a well-rested prepper?
Good question and there’s no single answer.
The recommended average is between 7 and 9 hours per night. But my experience is that this number can vary, depending on the particular way your body is wired as well as the circumstances in your life at any given moment in time. For example, it is not unusual to need 10 or more hours of sleep when you are sick or under high levels of stress. On the other hand, some perfectly healthy people may need upwards of 9 hours of sleep each day, while others require as little as 6 hours of sleep. Add stress to the mix and, well, like I said, the perfect amount of sleep becomes elusive to predict.
I think the best thing to do is to experiment for awhile by going to bed when tired – not when the TV show is over, the last bill has been paid, or when your partner or spouse chooses to snooze. Then, if you can, eliminate the alarm clock and wake up naturally. Do this for awhile and soon you will learn what works best for you. If you wake up feeling refreshed, you have rested the proper amount of time. Groggy and foggy in the head? That can be a sign of both too much or too little sleep.
By experimenting with your bedtimes and wake-up times, you will learn what constitutes the right amount of sleep for you – the amount that leaves you feeling well rested and energized to face the day with enthusiasm and gusto.
How can you improve your sleep?
Sometimes it can be hard to turn your brain off at night. You mull through the events of the day, you remember the dishes in the sink, you worry about the kids, or you think about the bills. There are many natural ways to improve both the quality and quantity of your sleep. Lisa Egan, of Ready Nutrition, supplied the following tips in an article:
Establish consistent sleep and wake times – even on the weekends
Create a comfortable and inviting sleep environment – your bedroom should be calming, cool (65 degrees is optimal, but no warmer than 75 degrees), and dark
Create a bedtime routine – turn off electronic devices, take a relaxing bath or read a book (not IN bed), or listen to soothing music
Avoid using your computer or watching TV while in bed
Finish eating 2-3 hours before you go to bed
Exercise regularly (but not for a few hours before bed – it may keep you awake if done too close to bedtime)
Avoid caffeine too close to bedtime
She continues to suggest that if you have lain there for 30 minutes without being able to fall asleep, you should get up and do something in another room for a while before trying further to sleep. This prevents the anxiety that will make sleep even more elusive.
Egan also lists the following foods that may help you to get a good night’s sleep:
Kiwi
Dark leafy greens
Bananas
Nuts
Seeds
Citrus fruit
Tomatoes
Whole Grains
Dairy products
As well, certain herbal teas are recommended to reduce stress and aid in sleep.
“Herbal remedies for sleep can be as varied as the reasons you are up at night. However, some of my favorites include: valerian root for general sleeplessness, skullcap for trouble sleeping due to irritability or stress, lemon balm and chamomile which are child-safe options. Passion flower can help when you just can’t get drowsy.”
The Final Word
The many benefits of sleep should not be lost on the prepper. As a skill – and as a way of life – adequate sleep should be embraced and practiced now while times are stable.
And for those who use lack of sleep as proof that they are so very important that they have no time to get adequate ZZZ’s?
I say phooey on them. When the SHTF, the well-rested prepper will prevail.
Enjoy your next adventure through common sense and thoughtful preparation!
Nobody questions the importance of getting enough sleep. At minimum, it’s essential for rejuvenating the mind and revitalizing the body. But, what is enough? And what does it look like? Many people find they wake during the night and wonder if they’re suffering from a sleep disorder or other health issue. While that could be totally possible, it’s also possible that sleep may not be an all-night thing. In fact, historical records, centuries-old literature, and ancient references to sleep are all revealing a whole new way we should be looking at how we slumber.
Segmented Sleep: More Normal Than You Realize
If waking up during the night is a frequent “problem” for you, you might wonder if you’re suffering from insomnia or sleep apnea. “Segmented sleep” is a seemingly irregular sleep pattern that may not be a disorder at all, but a natural biological response that we, in modern times, have forgotten.
English scholar Roger Ekirch cemented the idea that our ancestors used to naturally “practice” segmented sleep, using their middle-of-the-night waking hours to pray, meditate, or finish chores around the home. [1] Roger Ekirch found references to “first sleep” and “second sleep” in literature, legal documents, and even letters written before the Industrial Revolution. The in-between hour or hours were usually spent in prayer, and many find it to be one of the most relaxing periods. This may be because this middle period between first sleep and second sleep is around midnight where the brain produces prolactin, a hormone that supports a feeling of relaxation.
Before Reaching for That Sleeping Pill, Consider This
Our natural biorhythms are governed by exposure to light and darkness. Before the introduction of the lightbulb, almost everyone scheduled their day around the rising and setting of the sun. When the sun rose in the morning, so did humans, and when the sun hit the horizon in the evening, we more than likely went to sleep around the same time. Our brain produces serotonin in response to sunlight, and this neurotransmitter provides an energetic, wakeful feeling. [2] In contrast, when we’re exposed to darkness–meaning no artificial light whatsoever–our brain produces sleep-regulating melatonin. Computers, television screens, smartphones, tablets, and every other source of light in the evening hours is artificially extending our waking hours and interfering with our neurochemistry.
Because of this, it is possible that the practice of segmented sleep naturally fell away from public knowledge. We stay up longer, produce serotonin when we’re not supposed to, and eat less-than-ideal food. All of which could be the reason why we usually sleep throughout the night without waking and view this as normal. Even most medical professionals and sleep specialists have never heard of segmented sleep and aren’t trained to handle this natural occurrence. So if this is happening to you, do a little more research into segmented sleep and its possible benefits before you reach for a sleeping pill. You may be more in tune with your ancestral rhythms than most people.
Do you wake up in the middle of the night? What do you do during that time? We’d love to hear your thoughts and insight!
With over 25 million sufferers, sleep apnea is on the rise in the U.S. [1] The disease can put you at risk for many health issues, so it’s crucial you keep it in check. Some people who suffer from sleep apnea don’t even know they have it; it’s only when health concerns pop up do most people learn they’re suffering from this far-too-common sleep disorder.
5 Ways Sleep Apnea Affects Your Health
Sleep apnea is a serious condition that may be associated with obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and even hearing loss. If you catch it early, you could be saving yourself from a host of medical issues later on. Here are 5 reasons to take action now if you’re suffering from sleep apnea.
Sleep Apnea Leads to Hearing Loss
A recent study suggests there could be a link between sleep apnea and hearing loss. [2] Most of the participants were not under treatment for sleep apnea, so make sure you’re on top of a plan to control it. If your ears could talk, they might just thank you.
Sleep Apnea Weakens Your Bones
Bone turnover is a process that replaces old bone with new growth, essential for maintaining bone health. Normally with this process there aren’t any problems, but when bone mass is lost, osteoporosis can occur. Sleep apnea, according to recent research, could be a missing link in some causes of osteoporosis. [3] While it sounds farfetched, the idea is catching on. It could be because “sleep duration and quality, oxygen levels, inflammation” and other health issues impact bone metabolism.
Sleep Apnea Affects Your Fitness Levels
Sleep apnea could even be making it more difficult to do the fitness activities you love. A recent study suggests “predicted peak oxygen uptake, a measure of aerobic physical fitness, was significantly lower in people with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea.” [4] Since exercising for weight loss is one thing that can help sleep apnea, this news is troubling, to say the least. [5]
Sleep Apnea Speeds Up Kidney Disease
Many sleep apnea sufferers also have type 2 diabetes, a disease marked by too much sugar in the blood. [6] Sometimes, those with type 2 diabetes can develop chronic kidney disease (CKD), which means the kidneys aren’t working as well. In the case of CKD, sleep apnea could even “accelerate kidney function decline,” leading to weaker and weaker kidneys. [7]
Sleep Apnea Raises Blood Pressure
Because sleep apnea can increase your risk for heart disease and stroke, this one’s very important. [8] One recent study suggests sleep apnea could raise your blood pressure even if taking blood pressure medications. [9] If you have high blood pressure and think you might have sleep apnea, make it a point to talk with your doctor.
One Final Thought
An important thing to remember is that the disease can also have a mental toll, weakening blood flow to the brain and possibly leading to brain damage. [10] Again, if sleep apnea is affecting you, don’t ignore it. Get a sleep study done, and, if deemed appropriate, consider a CPAP machine. There’s recent evidence that suggests airway pressure therapy (usually a CPAP machine) over time can actually reverse the brain damage caused by sleep apnea. [11]
What do you currently do for your sleep apnea? Tell us about it in the comments.
Staying up late or even all night can be fun — sometimes. You’re at a party that goes long and nobody wants to leave. Or you have a new baby in your house. Or you’re binge-watching Netflix. Or you just can’t stop working on a craft project.
Occasional all-nighters are a fact of life, but sleep deprivation can be harmful, especially during emergencies. Frequent all-nighters (or insomnia) can bring serious, long-term health consequences, even for teenagers.
The body “recharges its batteries” during sleep. Long-term sleep deprivation can promote and accelerate cognitive conditions like Alzheimer’s. If you’re getting less than six hours of sleep per night, your brain cannot detoxify the buildup of harmful proteins (called amyloid-beta) so your liver can flush them out. Over time, the buildup of these proteins can cause deterioration of the brain’s mental faculties, bringing on Alzheimer’s, and increasing the risk for dementia.
Sleep deprivation also can cause a number of physical and psychological problems. In the short term, you may be cranky, snapping at people and having abnormally highly emotional reactions. This can cause problems with family members as well as coworkers. You’ll look tired. Your judgment and self-control will suffer. Long-term sleep deprivation can bring on anxiety and depression.
The reaction time of a sleep-deprived person can be equal to a drunk person, without alcohol. The risk of a car accident or other devastating event increases. It’s not just you that becomes groggy; your cells will, too. You also might gain weight.
You may have an occasional deadline-sensitive project. Working when you start getting tired means you’ll be less productive.
If you’re having trouble sleeping, it’s time get your body back in order so that it can sleep at least 8 hours again.
Try some of these tips:
Have a regular bedtime and wake-up time. This will keep your circadian rhythm working like it should.
Get regular exposure to natural sunlight during the day. If you work in an office, factory or other enclosed place, then take a walk outside at lunchtime or during a break.
Keep your bedroom completely dark, or as close to dark as you can. Even light from a digital alarm clock can activate your pineal gland and make it think it’s daylight, thus disrupting sleep. Turn the clock’s face away from you and turn off any other lights.
Practice regular rituals, like reading, that tell your body that it’s sleep time.
Limit/eliminate the use of electronic devices an hour before bed. If you must use your smartphone or tablet, then use the setting that gives you a “night mode.” This will change the screen from the disrupting “blue light” to a warmer light. Additional apps are also available that go beyond the built-in functions.
Take a warm bath/shower an hour or two before bed. This drops your core body temperature when you finish, signaling the body to start going to sleep.
If you get up during the night, don’t turn on a light or check the clock. Using a low-wattage yellow, orange or red bulb in night lights prevents the disruption melatonin production (like white or blue light will).
With a few changes to your nightly routine, you’ll be sleeping like a baby again. Your body – and your brain – will thank you.
What are your tricks for getting a good night’s sleep? Share your suggestions in the section below:
Chickens are arguably the most efficient livestock you can own. They take up little space, are easy to care for, and produce both meat and eggs. However, feeding them can still be expensive, especially if you rely on pricier organic feeds for your flock. With egg prices remaining near ten-year lows, feeding your chickens as economically as possible is especially important right now.
Fortunately, there are several steps that you can take to keep your feed costs manageable. And while you may not eliminate your trips to the hardware store for another bag of layer pellets or cracked corn, you can certainly reduce the number of trips you have to take this year. Here are four great tips for lowering feed costs with the chickens you raise.
1. Range free and far
If chickens are penned up, they are completely reliant on the food you provide them. But if you let them roam free, they will be able to forage and eat grasses, seeds and any hapless bugs that come their way. Free-ranging your chickens will enable them to get much of the nutrients they need, and will help make the feed you purchase go a long way. Many people believe that eggs from free-range chickens taste better, too.
You also can set the chickens on your garden beds in the fall, and let them devour dead vegetables, plants and any bugs that are setting up shop there. The key with free-ranging your chickens is ensuring they are protected from predators (and themselves, since some chickens are prone to wandering) with good fencing. If you are uncomfortable with letting your chickens roam completely free, then you can compromise and set them in a chicken tractor that you move around your homestead every few days.
2. From table to coop
Hopefully you are accustomed to composting your table scraps, and an additional trip to the chicken run with a pale of leftovers is no big deal. If not, you can still start feeding your chickens table scraps today.
Chickens can eat most of the things that we eat, although there are some foods that should be avoided. Your birds will make good use of the leftovers and food waste that you otherwise would compost or throw away. Food items like cooked vegetables, grains, breads and meats (cut into small pieces) make great feed for your chickens. Simply keep a food-safe plastic pale in your kitchen, add the scraps to it as you prepare or finish meals, and then feed them to the flock.
3. Grow bugs
It’s no secret that chickens love to eat bugs; throw a grasshopper in front of a few hungry hens and watch what happens! However, many people don’t realize that bugs are full of protein, and some bugs are easy to grow as a food source for your birds.
One easy-to-grow food source bug is the lowly mealworm. Mealworms are the larva of the mealworm beetle; chickens love to eat them, they are loaded with protein, and they make a great food for your layer flock. Raise them in plastic containers or old aquariums, and keep an ever-replenishing supply of mealworms on hand. So purchase a mealworm starter culture, and start growing them today.
4. Cull older birds
One of the most effective ways to reduce the cost of raising chickens, especially if you are focused on laying hens, is to cull the older birds. Most chickens’ egg-laying capacity declines precipitously after two years; keeping them around after that does little more than add to your feed costs.
Birds that reach two years or so should be destined for the stew pot. Alternatively, you could sell them or give them away on Craigslist to people interested in chickens as pets. You also should ensure that you limit the number of roosters you have on hand, if any; unless you are using different roosters for a breeding program to fertilize eggs, having more than one doesn’t make much sense for a cost-conscious homesteader.
How do you feed your chickens “on the cheap”? Share your tips in the section below:
