Fox Reno looked into the factors that don’t keep you awake, but can sabotage your sleep in more subtle ways, so the hours you spend in bed don’t refresh and revitalize you.  They found seven possibilities — here’s some of what they discovered:

You sleep poorly and wake with a bad taste in your mouth:  “Morning mouth” can be a signal of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) or asymptomatic heartburn.  This causes your body to partially awaken from sleep.

You toss and turn or wake up often to use the bathroom:  Nocturia is the official name for this.  As people get older, they can become less able to hold fluids for long periods because of a decline in antidiuretic hormones.

Your jaw clicks, pops, or feels sore, or your teeth are wearing down:  Teeth grinding, known as bruxism, is a subconscious neuromuscular activity. Bruxism often goes on without your being aware of it.

You get a full night’s sleep but feel groggy all the time or get sleepy while driving:   This indicates circadian rhythm problems — getting out of sync with night and day. Habits such as irregular sleep patterns, staying up late under bright lights, working a shift schedule, using computers and other devices in bed, or having too much light in the room while you sleep can disrupt your natural cycle.

To read the rest of their list, you can click on the link below.

Eating fat won’t make you fat. Too many calories can, but most “low-fat” or “fat-free” foods actually have just as many calories as their full-fat versions.

Yahoo Health has collected a list of 20 bad habits that can actually add to your weight.  Here are ten of them:

Eating “low-fat”:  Low-fat or fat-free foods replace harmless fats with low-performing carbohydrates that digest quickly, causing a sugar rush and, immediately afterward, rebound hunger.

Sleeping too little or too much: Dieters who sleep five hours or less put on 2 and a half times more belly fat, while those who sleep more than eight hours pack on only slightly less than that.

Drinking soda — even diet soda:  Drinking one to two sodas per day increases your chances of being overweight or obese by nearly 33 percent. And diet soda is no better.

Eating too quickly: It takes 20 minutes for your stomach to tell your brain that it’s had enough.

Watching too much TV:  A study found that overweight participants who reduced their TV time by just 50 percent burned an additional 119 calories a day on average.

Eating off larger plates:  One study found that when given an option, a whopping 98.6 percent of obese individuals opt for larger plates.

Taking big bites:  Research shows that people who take large bites of food consume 52 percent more calories in one sitting.

Not drinking enough water:  Adequate water intake is essential for all your body’s functions, and the more you drink, the better your chances of staying thin

Eating too late:  A recent study found that those who ate after 8 PM took in the most daily calories and had the highest BMIs.

Drinking fruity beverages:  All juice is high sugar, and the ones that use viscous syrups made mostly from high fructose corn syrup and thickening agents are even worse.

To see the rest of their list, you can click on the link below.

A recent study evaluated the effects of valerian extract taken nightly on the improvement of sleep quality in postmenopausal women.  Somewhere around 50 percent of postmenopausal women experience sleep disturbances, such as insomnia.

Study participants consisted of 100 postmenopausal women who were experiencing insomnia. They were randomly divided into two groups, and received either 530 mg of concentrated valerian extract or a placebo twice a day for 4 weeks.

According to the study, as reported by Green Med Info:

“A statistically significant change was reported in the quality of sleep of the intervention group in comparison with the placebo group … Also, 30 percent of the participants in the intervention group and 4 percent in the placebo group showed an improvement in the quality of sleep … Findings from this study add support to the reported effectiveness of valerian in the clinical management of insomnia.”

Most of us at one point or another, has wanted to get a chiseled midsection. Most of us have given up on the dream of having “ripped” six pack abs. But you don’t have too.

There are many reasons to build your abdominals and reduce your body fat.

Below are three.

1. You look and feel good

   How you look and how you feel about your body can have a big impact on your psyche. When you feel good about your body, that feeling good spills over into other areas of your life.

   Mind, body, and soul are all connected. Feeling good is a prerequisite for going out and having good flow back to you. So when you feel good about your body, it helps you become more successful in other areas of your life; as long as you’re not too vain and hyper focused on your waistline.

2. Your spine is more stable and pain free

   When you build your ab muscles, it’s like developing an internal corset that holds your gut in. When you tighten your “Inner Weight Belt,” you create more stabilization for your spine, vertebrae and discs. We have had dozens of clients vastly improve, and many totally eliminate back pain, simply by developing stronger abdominal muscles.

3. You gain the ability to become more athletic, doing functional activities.

   Having a strong, athletic abdominal wall is very important for optimal body movement. This is very important at any time of your life but especially in your 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Being able to work, play, and move is a big part of aging gracefully. Having pain or limited range of motion in your core can be very challenging.

One big misconception that many of people have about building a strong, sexy midsection is that all you have to do is sit-ups. The more sit ups you can do; the better your abs will look. This is called “Spot Reducing”. You can build up an incredible abdominal wall with the best exercise program on earth; but if you do not bring your overall body fat level down, you will not see your abs.

The truth is, it is impossible to reduce your mid-section by just doing abdominal exercises.

For tight abs you must also reduce overall body fat. To accomplish this, you need to focus on:

Food – Nutrition

Make sure to eat unprocessed foods; organic when possible. If it is made in a plant, stay away; if it comes from a plant, eat it. Remember the axiom, “Lean, Green, and Marine.” Lean grass-fed red meats, green colorful leafy veggies, and fish, are all good foods to include in your nutrition program.

However, pay very careful attention to the types of fish you consume, as a vast majority of fish have become so polluted that the damage they can incur far outweighs their benefit. For more information about the best and worst of the bunch, please review this previous article.

These days, I strongly recommend you substitute much of your fish intake with a high quality, animal-based omega-3 supplement instead. My highest recommendation goes to krill oil. 

But eating good quality unprocessed foods may not be enough for most people.

In order to reach your true fitness and fat loss potential you must eventually work you way up to eating 5-6 small meals per day.

When you eat small meals (with protein and carbs together) more often throughout the day, you boost your body’s metabolism.

When you eat only once or twice a day (which is very common today because most people are in a hurry) you are sending a message to your body that food is scarce. Therefore it is going to slow down the rate at which you are burning calories.

Exercise- Resistance and Cardio

One of the most time-efficient ways to burn more calories is to gain more muscle. Because for every pound of additional muscle you gain, your body will burn an additional 50-70 calories per day.

So, if you gain 10 lbs. of muscle, you will burn 500 -700 more calories per day than you did before. And that is just to carry around that muscle with your daily activities (you even burn more calories at night when you sleep). So, in order to burn more calories, you must increase your physical activity level.

You have the best chance of gaining the most amount of muscle in major areas like legs, buns, chest, and back. Therefore a resistance program that is designed to hit all these major muscle groups is crucial.

A nice mix for an intelligent routine that can be woven into a lifestyle would be to do two 30-minute interval cardio sessions (preferably first thing in the morning) and two or three 60 minute resistance sessions per week.

Lifestyle Choices

Also important in bringing your overall body fat level down is choices you make outside of your work outs and meals. Like getting enough rest.

Since you will be training relatively intensely, you need more sleep to help in recovery. You see; you are actually tearing your body down while you work out. Your muscles and your energy systems rebuild and recover away from the work outs. Work out too much and you will limit your muscle growth and lower your immune system.

Also, it is a must to avoid using alcohol, tobacco, and other types of drugs. You’ll want to limit your intake of caffeine and stay away from fat burning pills and ephedrine. These types of supplements and drugs are only a short term help toward fat loss and are very harmful to your system.

Lowering your stress levels through meditation, deep breathing, prayer, Meridian Tapping Techniques, and laughing can help you reach your true fat loss potential.

Tips on how to work abdominals

Make sure to make your movements slow and shorten the range of motion on your exercises. The old-fashioned sit ups do not isolate your ab muscle very well at all, whereas very slow crunches (limited range of motion) work very well.

Your abdominal muscles need more variety than other muscle groups. Make sure to hit your abdominals from all three sides, each week. Crunches / sit ups will focus on your upper abs; knee-ups and leg raises will focus on your lower abs, and punches, twists and side bridges will focus on side obliques.

Try doing two sets of three different exercises in each abdominal work out.

Work your abs two or three times per week at most. Like other muscle groups, if you work them out effectively they will be slightly sore the next day. This is a sign that they need to rest and recover before you exercise them again.

Also make sure that you use a wide variety of abdominal exercises.

You may only be able to use an effective ab exercise for two or three work outs before your body gets used to it. That is not to say you can’t use it again later, but you will want to use new ones for a few weeks.

For many videos on unique, effective abdominal exercises, please see: fitness.mercola.com

You Do Have the Power to Change!!

Your Healthy Lifestyle Coach,

Darin

Yet another study has reinforced knowledge of the value of sleep. Research now suggests that sleeping longer can markedly improve physical performance.

Stanford University’s male basketball team was asked to sleep for 10 hours a night for around six weeks. They found that their shooting accuracy improved by 9 percent.

According to BBC News:

“During the study period, players stopped drinking coffee and alcohol. They were also asked to take daytime naps when travel prevented them from getting 10 hours of night-time sleep … The study found that the players ran faster timed sprints (16.2 seconds at the start of the study compared with 15.5 seconds at the end) … and their fatigue levels decreased.  The athletes also reported improved performance during competitive basketball games.”

ABC News has collected a set of 9 suggestions for those having trouble falling asleep at night.  Here are a few of them:

Reduce Caffeine Intake:  You should be caffeine-free by 2 PM; caffeine has a half-life of up to eight hours.

Have a Comfortable Bed:  Sometimes just buying a new mattress can mean a better night’s rest.

Sleep in a Cool Room:  People sleep best when the room is between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

Monitor the Amount of Light in Your Room:  Light resets your biological clock and can trick your brain into thinking it’s morning.

To read the rest of their tips, you can click on the link below.

Modern technology can now be employed to help you sleep.  White Noise, for example, is an iPhone app that comes with a large menu of sleep-aiding noises.

Other methods include:

• The Marpac Sound Screen 980A, which creates white noise mechanically.
• A variety of noise-masking devices such as those available from the Ear Plug Superstore – like noise-canceling headphones, that use microphones to detect patterns of ambient sound and create an “anti-noise” signal, and the SnoreMasker Pro, which combines an earplug with white noise.
• Etymotic EB-15 earplugs, about $500 a pair. These plugs have a tiny acoustic chip which only quiet sounds to pass through.

Hive Health Media has assembled a number of reasons why you should consider sleep a necessity, not a luxury. Here are some of them:

• Sleep Improves Concentration:  An all-nighter might not help you ace that exam.

• Sleep Acts as a Stress Reducer:  If you’re stressed, the worst thing you could do is skip sleep.

• More Sleep Means Better Decisions:  When you’re sleep-deprived, it can be difficult to make even simple decisions.

• Sleep Reduces Your Risk of Obesity:  The less you sleep, the more weight you’ll put on.

• Sleep Boosts Your Immune System:  Your body needs rest to fight off illnesses and infections.

To read the rest of their reasons, click on the link below.

The neurobiology of sleep is actually quite simple.  You have in your brain, right in the middle a bit above your eyes, an area called the superchiasmatic nucleus. This set of about 10,000 neurons that runs your circadian rhythms.

Without light stimulus, your  superchiasmatic nucleus tends to fire in a rhythmic pattern in a cycle of a bit more than 24 hours. Light stimulus keeps it correlated with your natural light/dark cycles.

Psychology Today reports:

“Light hits the retina of our eyeballs, which then sends a signal up through our optic nerve directly to the superchiasmatic nucleus.  In the superchiasmatic nucleus of the brain, two proteins are bound together, which is called a dimer.  This dimer is made in response to the light and is called CLOCK+BMAL1 … leading eventually to the creation of a protein complex called PER/CRY … Throughout the night, when no new PERs or CRYs are made, the dimers already in the cytoplasm slowly degrade, until light comes again and more new ones are made. Thus the cycle of life and light and dark. That, in a nutshell, is the circadian rhythm.”

In addition, melatonin is secreted in response to dark, and the superchiasmatic nucleus has melatonin receptors that signal it to settle down for the night. Melatonin appears to sharpen the natural response to light and dark. Without proper melatonin signaling, light and dark signals to sleep or wake up become attenuated

A new study suggests that letting young children watch violent TV programs may interfere with their sleep.  The study found that watching violent TV programs during the day was associated with increased sleep problems in children ages 3 to 5.

Watching TV after 7:00 PM was linked with increased sleep problems whether the shows were violent or not.

According to MSNBC:

“Doctors should advise parents to limit late-night TV time and violent programs in general for their kids, the researchers said. Such rules, they added, may be more achievable today than prohibiting TV altogether for young kids.”

A new study suggests that letting young children watch violent TV programs may interfere with their sleep.  The study found that watching violent TV programs during the day was associated with increased sleep problems in children ages 3 to 5.

Watching TV after 7:00 PM was linked with increased sleep problems whether the shows were violent or not.

According to MSNBC:

“Doctors should advise parents to limit late-night TV time and violent programs in general for their kids, the researchers said. Such rules, they added, may be more achievable today than prohibiting TV altogether for young kids.”

A new study suggests that letting young children watch violent TV programs may interfere with their sleep.  The study found that watching violent TV programs during the day was associated with increased sleep problems in children ages 3 to 5.

Watching TV after 7:00 PM was linked with increased sleep problems whether the shows were violent or not.

According to MSNBC:

“Doctors should advise parents to limit late-night TV time and violent programs in general for their kids, the researchers said. Such rules, they added, may be more achievable today than prohibiting TV altogether for young kids.”

Ambien (zolpidem) is notorious for its side effects. Green Med Info has collected a number of studies that demonstrate why this drug is poisoning you to sleep.

Research shows that the effects of Ambien can include:

• Amnesia

• Compulsive activity

• Sleepwalking

• Infection risk

• Hallucinations

• Depression

According to one study linked on the site:

“… [S]ide effects are not uncommon with zolpidem use. We report a series of cases in which the patients developed delirium, nightmares and hallucinations during treatment with zolpidem.”

And it can lead to many other problems, as well.  For more information, you can click on the link below.

Babies who sleep in bed with adults, or in unsafe ways, are at a higher risk of death than had previously been thought.

Nurse Jennifer Combs reviewed a sample of 45 baby deaths, and found that not only had 9 officially died from sleep-related deaths, but  6 were sleep-related that had been called something else. That means one in three babies dead from unsafe sleep, when the standard estimate has been one in five.

The Los Angeles Times reports:

“Babies had been smothered by pillows, blankets or soft items while asleep in adult beds or their cribs, or by adults rolling on top of them. Babies also died after being put to sleep on their stomachs, which raises the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. This happened in families from all walks of life”.

Insufficient sleep can drastically reduces a healthy young man’s testosterone levels, according to a new study.  Researchers found that testosterone levels dropped in men who slept less than five hours a night for one week.

Low testosterone comes with a host of negative consequences for young men; the hormone is is critical for building strength and muscle mass, and bone density.  Low testosterone levels are associated with reduced wellbeing and vigor.

Eurekalert reports:

“At least 15 percent of the adult working population in the U.S. gets less than 5 hours of sleep a night, and suffers many adverse health effects because of it. This study found that skipping sleep reduces a young man’s testosterone levels by the same amount as aging 10 to 15 years.”

The possible link between late-night eating and weight gain has been debated for many years in the medical community. One recent study has added support to the claim that eating late does have an effect on weight.

In the study, researchers followed people’s sleeping and eating patterns over the course of a week. About half the subjects tended to go to bed late. These “late sleepers” had higher body mass indexes, consumed more calories, and slept fewer hours, which has also been linked to weight gain.

However, according to the New York Times:

“… [E]ven after adjusting for these and other variables, the scientists discovered that eating after 8 p.m. was associated with a higher body mass index, suggesting that late-evening calories are, for some reason, more hazardous to your weight.”

The article linked below may require a subscription to read. It might, however, be possible to read it in its entirety by means of a web search.

Women who get more than 10 hours of sleep a night might be increasing their risk of incident stroke. A study of almost 70,000 women found those who had slept 10 or more hours a night had a 63 percent increased risk of stroke.

Researchers were unable to determine what the underlying biological mechanism might be that caused this effect.

ABC News reports:

[The researchers are] performing similar research in a large cohort of males, though no current research existed measuring the same outcome … [O]ther research indicated a bell-curve relationship for men in other cardiovascular diseases — such as coronary heart disease — where men were at increased risk in both lower and higher hours of sleep.”

Many late-shift workers succumb to falling asleep on the job. In four recent incidents, for example, air-traffic control tower workers fell asleep while on their shift. This has prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to give air traffic controllers an extra hour off between shifts, but some experts don’t believe that will be enough of a solution.

Your circadian rhythms are designed to use the night-time hours to prepare your body for daytime activity. And losing sleep at this time has an effect.  Sleep issues faced by individuals who work non-traditional hours are so common that there’s even a name for it — Shift Work Sleep Disorder. Symptoms can include insomnia, excessive sleepiness, difficulty concentrating, headaches and a lack of energy.

HRE Online reports:

“Shift workers working the night shift sleep less than day workers and become progressively more sleep-deprived over several days … The best treatment for workers is … ‘sleep hygiene’ which means little more than a regular shift of sleep.”

Scientists have found that children with chronic sleep problems are at increased risk for developing a mental illness later in life. Recent studies show that children with difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep are more likely to eventually suffer from depression and anxiety disorders and to abuse alcohol and drugs.

Psychiatrists and psychologists hope that by addressing sleep problems in childhood, later mental illness can be prevented.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

“There’s a lot parents can do to encourage healthy sleep, including setting a regular bedtime and banning TV watching, Facebook posting and texting in the half hour or so before lights out. Clinicians also have developed effective treatments for poor sleep and are experimenting with some new approaches that teach kids how to reduce the frequency and strength of anxious thoughts that can crop up at night. In general, doctors do not recommend using medication to help kids sleep.”

Viewing this article may require a subscription. However, it may be possible to access it directly using a web search.

An inadequate amount of sleep has been associated with many ailments, including obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Now colon cancer can also be added to the list.

A study found that people who average less than six hours of sleep per night had an almost 50 percent increase in the risk of colorectal adenomas. Adenomas are precursors to cancer tumors that can turn malignant if left untreated.

Eurekalert reports:

“Although why fewer hours of sleep may lead to colon cancer is unknown … some of theories include that less sleep may mean less production of melatonin, a natural hormone that in animals has been linked to DNA repair, or that insulin resistance may underlie the link between sleep disturbance and cancer development.”

The amount of sleep you get can impact your mental health in later life. Sleeping too little or too long disrupts how you think, and can age your brain by up to seven years.

Getting the incorrect amount of sleep was shown in a study to increase the speed of cognitive decline, affecting abilities such as reasoning and vocabulary. The researchers warned that mental decline could also trigger a decline in physical function, and even early death.

The Daily Mail reports:

“Sleep deprivation and sleepiness have adverse effects on performance, response times, errors of commission, and attention or concentration. Furthermore, sleep duration has been found to be associated with a wide range of quality of life measures, such as social functioning, mental and physical health, and early death.”

Your preferred sleep position could be giving you back and neck pain, stomach troubles, or even be aging you prematurely. CNN has listed both the best positions for your body, and the ones to avoid.

The Best: Back position

Sleeping on your back prevents neck and back pain, reduces acid reflux, minimizes wrinkles, and maintains perky breasts. However, it is a bad position in terms of snoring.

Next Best: Side position

Sleeping on your side also prevents neck and back pain and reduces acid reflux, and it also reduces snoring less. It’s the best position for sleeping during pregnancy, if you sleep on your left side. However, it’s bad for your skin and your breasts.

Not Ideal: Fetal position

It’s good for snoring less and sleeping during pregnancy, but it’s not so good for neck and back pain, minimizing wrinkles, or maintaining your breasts.

The Worst: Stomach position

It’s good for easing snoring, but it’s bad for everything else. The pose puts pressure on your joints and muscles, which can irritate nerves and lead to pain, numbness, and tingling.

Snorers are often told to sleep on their sides rather than on their backs. This is because if you are lying on your side, the base of your tongue will not collapse into the back of your throat, obstructing breathing.

However, for some snorers, changing sleep position may not make a difference. There are two types of snorers — those who snore when sleeping on their backs, and those who snore in every position.

According to the New York Times:

“… [W]eight plays a major role. In one large study, published in 1997, patients who snored or had breathing abnormalities only while sleeping on their backs were typically thinner, while their nonpositional counterparts usually were heavier … But that study also found that patients who were overweight saw reductions in the severity of their apnea when they lost weight.”

Crazy Art Ideas, the website linked below, contains a number of facts about sleep you might not ever have heard of.  For example:

• Men dream about other men 70 percent of the time; women dream about men and women equally

• A quarter of married couples sleep in separate beds

• You can only dream about faces you have already seen, whether you are aware of this or not

• Koalas sleep 22 hours a day; giraffes sleep less than 2 hours a day

• 12 percent of people dream only in black and white — although that number was higher before the invention of color TV

To learn more amazing sleep facts, click on the link below.

You can double your chances of reaching your target weight if you get between six and eight hours sleep a night. Any more, and you will become too inactive. Any less, and your stress and food cravings will increase. A study showed that people trying to lose at least 10 pounds were more likely to reach their goal if they had lower stress levels and slept moderately.

According to the Telegraph:

“Nearly 500 obese adults with an average age of 55 took part in the study … Researchers found that the successful dieters were more likely to report that they had slept between six and eight hours each night.”

In related news, new research shows that each of your organs contains cells with their own circadian-clock genes. These genes help regulate bodily processes such as digestion, ensuring that they operate with maximum efficiency at certain times of day. This means that when your circadian clock is thrown off, such as by jet lag or shift work, it can throw off these processes, contributing over time to weight gain, depression, and heart and liver problems.

Not getting enough sleep can result in short-term euphoria, but that’s not a benefit — it can result in poor decision making and risky behavior.

A study showed that the pleasure centers in the brains of volunteers got a jump-start after a missed night’s sleep. However, the same neural pathway that triggers euphoria can also lead to risk-taking.

According to Psych Central:

“The findings emphasize the need for people in critical professions and circumstances not to skip out on sleep … [B]rain scans of the sleepless individuals revealed stronger activity in the mesolimbic pathway, a brain circuit driven by dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with positive feelings, motivation, addiction, cravings, sex drive and decision-making.”

People who are sleep-deprived eat close to 300 calories a day more than they do when they are well-rested. Ice cream is one of the most common foods people eat when tired.

Researchers recruited 26 normal-weight men and women who routinely slept between seven and nine hours a night, then divided them into two groups. Half slept four hours a night for six nights. The other half slept for nine hours a night for six nights. On the last two days, they were allowed to eat as much as they wanted from food they chose themselves.

According to USA Today:

“Participants consumed an average of 296 calories more when they were sleep-deprived compared with when they were well-rested … This confirms other research that short sleep duration is associated with eating more and could lead to obesity and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease”.

Insufficient sleep not only can affect the memory and daily performance, but studies have now shown that lack of sleep can impair the ability to drive an automobile.  People are more at risk to make mistakes on the job, have trouble concentrating, and causing car crashes when sleep deprived.  The National Sleep Foundation suggests the average person to sleep seven to nine hours each night.  A consistent sleep schedule is essential as well as limiting exercise and other stimulating activities close to bedtime.

The U.S. Department of Transportation reports that drowsiness, including nodding off while driving, is responsible for 1,550 deaths and 40,000 injuries each year.  When the Center for Disease Control and Prevention surveyed 75,000 drivers in 12 states, results declared that 35 percent slept less than seven hour in a night, 48 percent snored, and 37.9 percent had fallen asleep at least once during the day, while 4.7 percent admitted to falling asleep behind the wheel.  Results also proved drivers ages 25 to 35 are more prone to nod off while driving and men are more prone to fall asleep while driving than women do.

According to ABC News, Dr. Allan Pack, director of the Center for Sleep at University of Pennsylvania reports:

“Most of us believe that there are a lot more fall asleep crashes than reported… [I]t’s probably not reported accurately because a number of states don’t even having a ‘falling asleep while driving’ tick in the box when reporting a car crash… [P]eople believe that if they cut back on their sleep there is no real consequence. Everyone knows the dangers of alcohol, but I don’t think people understand the dangers of drowsy driving.”

Scientists have discovered that sleep is not only important for organizing and uniting memories within the brain but for the construction of new ideas and creativity.  Humans connect to the most emotional part of a memory.  While the brain configures its memories as the body sleeps, it also gathers the emotional and relevant aspect of the memory and files it for inspiring, imaginative thoughts for use once awake.

Scientists’ research has determined that both the brain’s memory consolidation region and emotion region are active and working while the individual sleeps.  Thus, in theory, this is responsible for the fresh ideas when waking.

In Eurekalert, Jessica D. Payne of the University of Notre Dame reports:

“Sleep is making memories stronger… [I]n our fast-paced society, one of the first things to go is our sleep… [W]e can get away with less sleep, but it has a profound effect on our cognitive abilities.”

New studies show a direct connection between obesity and insufficient sleep.  Children with inadequate nightly rest are at higher risk for obesity than those who are getting the proper amount of sleep.  If a child has likelihood to be obese, proper sleep will help protect him or her against future risk.

For one week, a study in Louisville, KY gave 308 children, ages ranging from 4 to 10 years old, a bracelet to monitor their sleep.  Results found that that the children with the least amount of sleep were 4.2 times more likely to have obesity.

Moreover Dr. Phyllis C. Zee, the director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital reports:

“There is growing evidence for a link between sleep duration and childhood obesity… [P]erhaps even more important than sleep duration is the effect of day to day variability of sleep wake timing on weight regulation.”