The average adult requires about seven to nine hours of sleep. It allows time for your body to heal itself and rejuvenate for a new day.  If you are getting less sleep but find yourself needing naps, coffee, or other stimulants to keep you up during the day, read on.

When you are sleep deprived, a roller coaster of negative effects occur in your body.  Your blood pressure increases, which spikes up your risk of stroke and heart disease. Levels of insulin resistance also increase, causing blood sugar levels to go up higher than normal, therefore leading to higher chances of diabetes. Your production of antibodies go into decline, making your immune system more susceptible to illness, allergies, and feeling overall like crap. With less sleep, you demonstrate poor memory, slower reaction time (which explains a lot of car accidents due to lack of sleep), and decreased cognitive ability. Occupational and Environmental Medicine once did a study in 2000 that showed people who have not slept for 17-19 hours demonstrate the same motor and cognitive skills of a person who has a blood alcoholic content of 0.05%, with a decrease in alertness by 77%, response speed by up to 15% and reaction time by 200%.


If that doesn’t scare you enough, that is just the beginning.  When your blood pressure goes up, your levels of cortisol also go up.  Cortisol is a hormone that instigates the stress response.  So here you are, sleepy, and you are stressed for no reason but the fact that you are sleepy.  Your body is trying to keep you stressed so you stay awake.  If you think that’s good, think again.  Being constantly in stress mode, you actually make your body agitated and unable to function normally.  Therefore your  metabolism goes down and you start gaining weight.  Studies have shown that increases in cortisol levels demonstrate an increase in abdominal fat and overall weight gain.

So why do you need your beauty sleep? Not because for beauty’s sake.  Your health depends on it.  A beautiful snob is gorgeous inside and out.  Here is how you can get better sleep.

Get a routine. Have a consistent sleeping schedule, even on the weekends.  To help you get to sleep easier, try reading a light book or magazine before bed or listen to soft music.

Don’t worry, be sleepy. When you are worried, you end up having horrible sleep.  Your body just can’t get into the deep sleep it needs to rejuvenate.  Make time before bed a key time to just be at peace and quiet.  Try relaxation techniques also.  Forward bending yoga poses, such as the child’s pose, is great.

Turn off the tube.  In fact, don’t have a TV in your room.  The light from the TV can make your body’s natural clock think it’s earlier than it is, making sleep difficult.  TV programming is usually stimulating, so it only keeps your body awake instead of calming it down.

Eat well. Avoid heavy and spicy meals before bed.  Also don’t drink so many fluids right before you sleep, or expect visits to the toilet in the middle of the night, which messes up your sleeping patterns.  Liquids definitely include alcohol and caffeine, which both end up interfering with your sleep.  Foods that help you sleep include whole-grain, low-sugar cereals, granolas, and bread with peanut butter or some turkey.  A banana helps and even some low-fat milk or yogurt.

Make your room a place to sleep.  Make sure your bed is large, soft and welcoming.  Invest in cozy comforters and super soft sheets.  Eliminate unnecessary noise.  If neighbors keep you up, you can turn on a fan to make some sort of white noise to block them out.  Keep your room dark by turning off the lights and using your window blinds effectively to block out street lights.  Keep your room at a comfortable temperature and make sure you have enough ventilation.

Lastly, exercise regularly. Morning and afternoon exercise is considered better, as evening exercise may stimulate the body.  However, any exercise is good, so fit it in to give your body a “thanks” for all it’s doing for you during the day.  Check out our older article regarding catching some more zzz’s.

Your body is your temple.  Treat it well, and it will do the same for you.  Happy sleeping!

Special thanks to a friend who helped provide some useful research for this article.

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