How Diet & Fitness Help You Sleep

If you’ve been keeping up with our blog, or if you’ve been paying attention to the latest health articles on the Web, you know how important sleep is—how almost everything can be linked back to sleep. You can imagine how bummed out we are to hear that according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, otherwise known as the CDC, thirty percent of us are sleeping a sad average of no more than six hours a night. That’s 40.6 million Americans not getting enough sleep! The National Sleep Foundation tells us that the recommended amount of sleep is seven to nine hours a night. Apparently, anything less than that opens the door to an increased risk of health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, depression, substance abuse, and even an increase in appetite and the risk for future weight gain or obesity. At a recent meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, a new and unpublished study shared that a lack of sleep could impact diet by boosting our cravings for less healthy foods and by hindering our decision-making ability when it counts—like when we’re up against fatty and calorie-filled snacks.

As alarming as all of this may be, we’re actually here to give you some good news that will most likely help! There are several things that you can do to help you get the sleep you need. And to avoid all of those nasty complications that come with sleep deprivation. All of these tips tie back to eating well and staying active.

Exercise keeps your muscles, bones, and heart strong and in shape to conquer the day. It may also help you sleep! Previous studies have shown that participating in an exercise training program has moderately positive effects on sleep quality in middle-aged and older adults. So for all you parents and grandparents out there, stay active for a good night’s sleep! We recommend that you exercise earlier in the day. After your workout, your body needs a few hours to cool down. A cool body sleeps better, so be sure to give your body enough time to cool down so that you can get the sleep you need.

If you’re dieting, you might be staying away from carbs. But carbohydrate-rich foods, in moderation, give you the energy you need during the day and hit your sleep sweet spot at night. Tryptophan, an amino acid found in lots of carbohydrate-rich foods, creates serotonin in your body. This is the neurotransmitter that helps you wind down after a long day. Try a steady dose of carbs like oatmeal and other whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy foods. These options will not only help you get to sleep, but they’re healthy for you too! Remember to keep you dinners and bedtime snacks small. Large, late meals can adversely affect sleep!

Be cautious with caffeine! This stimulant of the central nervous system is notorious for delaying sleepiness and is known to cause sleep disturbances for those of you who do manage to doze off after a cup of coffee. This is because caffeine inhibits some sleep-promoting hormones in your body. Caffeine also stays in the body for several hours, so you should steer clear of the coffee at least several hours before bedtime.

Another beverage to keep an eye on is alcohol. Alcoholic beverages not only encourage binging on food, but it promotes a restless sleep and boosts daytime fatigue. And we don’t even have to discuss the likelihood of hangovers.

The bottom line is that eating healthy and staying active could help you with any sleep problems you may be experiencing at night. We think it’s worth a try. At the very least, you’ll be living a healthy lifestyle!

The Link between Sleep Apnea & Diabetes

As many of you may know, sleep apnea is known to cause fragmented sleep and intermittent hypoxia, otherwise known as moments of oxygen starvation. Researchers are now telling us that these symptoms of sleep apnea are associated with the development of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease—among other things…

A professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore states that seventy to eighty percent of patients with Type 2 diabetes are also victims of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). This revelation can be explained by the fact that the on-and-off breathing from apneas and hypopneas not only starves the sleeper of oxygen, but it also places stress on their metabolic balance. This imbalance can stimulate the production of excessive adrenaline which can increase their resistance to insulin. Diabetes is then encouraged to advance.

Sleep apnea has a link not just with diabetes, but cancer too. Those moments of intermittent hypoxia—when your body is literally starved of the oxygen it needs multiple times every night—can set off a cellular process, otherwise known as mitochondrial dysfunction, which is significant in the onset of cancer. In other words, the lack of oxygen your body gets because of sleep apnea could eventually lead to cancer.

It’s no secret that OSA must be successfully treated not just for healthy energy levels and quality of sleep, but for the patient’s long term health as well. Sleep apnea is linked to so many more complications like heart disease, heart failure, a rise in blood pressure, and even stroke. If you or someone you love has sleep apnea, be sure to get the proper treatment right away in order to avoid any long term health effects.

Sleep Apnea and Other Diseases

            Being the most common sleep disorder, sleep apnea is something we all know we shouldn’t be messing with. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) alone poses a huge obstacle to healthy living: it disrupts sleep. While some can’t even bear the idea of not getting a full night’s rest, loss of beauty sleep isn’t the only thing that sleep apnea is guilty of. There are deadly links between sleep apnea and heart disease, and OSA and diabetes.

            When one looks more deeply into sleep apnea, it causes so much more than just a loss of sleep. Hypertension, arrhythmias, congestive heart failure (CHF), stroke, and sudden cardiac death are all linked to this sleep disorder. The risk of stroke and sudden cardiac death is increased with sleep apnea. Arrhythmias and sleep apnea go hand in hand. A patient with arrhythmias is more likely to have to deal with sleep apnea than a patient without arrhythmias. A patient with severe sleep apnea is 4.3 times more likely to develop significant ventricular arrhythmia than someone who gets the privilege of sleeping soundly throughout the night. An article from a CHF clinic inTorontogave alarming statistics. Half to sixty percent of their CHF patients suffered from sleep apnea as well. In those CHF patients, the struggle with OSA increases the mortality rate by three to four times. Twelve percent of the CHF patients without sleep apnea died. However, twice as many patients with sleep apnea—twenty four percent—died as well. Of all those patients, zero percent of those with treated sleep apnea lived to fight another day. The study showed that the development of cardiomyopathy and CHF in severe OSA patients would likely be avoided with long term CPAP treatment. OSA patients treated with CPAP were reported to experience a seventeen percent lower incidence of cardiovascular events than those who did not receive treatment. While sleep apnea and heart disease appear to go hand in hand, there are treatments and solutions to help ensure that loss of sleep is the only thing one will have to worry about.

            Not only is this sleep disorder a heart breaker, but those with sleep apnea and diabetes have a lot more to worry about than not getting a full night’s rest. Patients that suffer from type 2 diabetes and OSA are at a higher risk for severe retinopathy. This can lead to loss of sight. Retinopathy occurs when the blood vessels in the retina of the eye are blocked or are leaky. This keeps light from getting to the retina and can ultimately damage vision. Neuropathy and other foot problems can come up as well, which can lead to amputation. Neuropathy is nerve damage that can cause long term complications of diabetes. This can lead to foot ulcers and slow healing wounds which can give way to infection. In the worst case scenario, the infection would lead to amputation.

            In conclusion, sleep apnea is so much more than just loss of sleep. Heart disease, arrhythmias, hypertension, CHF, stroke, sudden cardiac death, retinopathy, neuropathy, blindness, amputation, and handicap placard—the list goes on and on! Sleep apnea is no laughing matter. And if you or a loved one suffers from this sleep disorder, be sure to get the proper treatment before you find yourself a victim of the myriad of side effects and you’re wandering around blind with one foot.