Core of Fitness and Health - Sleep

We control about 70% of our own health in the daily choices we make. A foundational healthy habit that we basically control nearly 100% ever day is how much sleep we get at night. Needing rest and sleep is even a biblical principle as seen in Genesis 2: 1-2 or Mark 4:38. Study after study continually comes back showing that we need seven to eight hours of sleep each night. Also it is best to go to bed prior to 11:00 pm each night. The reason we need the seven to eight hours is that our body requires that we go through five to six complete sleep cycles each usually lasting around 60 to 90 minutes. During sleep our body does much of its recovery through the regulation of releasing important hormones to control brain and body functions. This proper control helps boost the immune system making us less susceptible to disease and illness. Also it will improve brain function by reducing a chemical called cortisol.


Cortisol is released, as part of a stress response in the body, which is why when you are over stressed you do not always function at your best. Cortisol actually disrupts the neurotransmitter balance in the brain. So some of us think we just need more caffeine to improve our alertness when we lack sleep, but unfortunately caffeine actually increases stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol.

With consistent lack of sleep you actually increase your risk of Type 2 diabetes, increase clumsiness, increase risk for accidents, increase risk of disease and decrease your sex drive. Actually those who consistently get less than seven hours of sleep may shorten their life span by eight to ten years. All that time we think we are saving by staying awake longer we are actually losing on the other end of our life and not able to enjoy our current time as much.  Also studies have shown that lack of sleep triggers chemical responses in the brain to increase our appetite. And unfortunately many of these food choices when we are up late at night are usually not the best.

I have talked with many patients about this issue and its importance to help them recover most optimally from their injury or surgery. Many say they do just fine with less than six hours. The problem is they do not understand and have never experienced how much better they will do with sticking to a core health principle of getting seven to eight hours of sleep. So one of those core lessons is to sleep more like a baby.  I will talk more about the core priciple of eating right in my next post.