Struggle to Prioritize Sleep? I’ve Got Some News for You

My biggest health-related struggle is sleep. Can you relate? It’s like… I LOVE sleeping but every night I just put it off as long as possible.

Once the kids are in bed, I should just grab a cup of tea, wind down, and go to bed. But instead, I see the next couple hours as my time to be productive. Finally – it’s quiet, no one needs anything (other than my cat Otto who always needs attention), and I can just get sh** done!

Like so many people, I wore my workaholic tendencies as a badge of honor. But I've always known deep down that, pushed too far, it's a liability.

Still, no matter what I did, I couldn't bump it up on my priority list. So I read some articles about the negative effects of poor sleep to “scare” me into prioritizing it. And scare me, it did!

There was nothing shocking that I learned, but it was enough to wake me up (pun intended) to the realities of what I was doing to myself – my brain, my body composition, my overall health.

I’ll share some info from two articles in particular. First, from the journal Science Signaling, called “Sleep Loss is a Metabolic Disorder” (ominous, right?).

The researchers argue that we need to totally reframe sleep loss. It’s so much more than just feeling tired and unproductive. It’s a fundamental disruption of your body's energy management system. They found that when we lose sleep, our most metabolically active cells (esp our brain cells) enter a state of "negative energy balance."

In response, your brain initiates a “survival protocol.” It starts to ration energy by shutting down processes that aren’t essential for survival. This includes functions like forming new memories and building connections between neurons. This leaves us with difficulty concentrating and that well-known brain fog.

The article even notes the similarities between these effects and characteristics of neurodegenerative diseases! This cellular “panic” is what triggers the intense cravings for high-calorie foods and the increased likelihood of storing fat after a single(!) poor night's sleep.

Ok, but listen to this: In a landmark study, participants followed the same calorie-restricted diet under two conditions: 8.5 hours vs. 5.5 hours of sleep per night for two weeks. Total weight loss was similar, about 6.5 lbs. With adequate sleep, more than half the weight lost was fat… and with restricted sleep, only 25% of the weight lost was fat! Much of what was lost was muscle. Hence the title of the article, "Insufficient sleep undermines dietary efforts to reduce adiposity."

Now, this is actually good news!

Whether or not you're someone who struggles to get good quality and quantity of sleep, this is empowering! Use this knowledge! Sleep (and this really includes all rest and recovery) is a foundation – a pillar – of metabolic health. Really knowing and appreciating that made it easier for me to finally go to freaking bed before 11:30pm.

I hope this deeper understanding helps you make that choice a little easier tonight, too.

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