Sleep
Sleep is a biological necessity like food, water, air. I didn’t always treat it like that.
I used to take it for granted, assuming it would always be there when I made time for it.
I never pulled an all nighter in college, grad school or a junior high slumber party.
I can tell you the number of times I have stayed up all night in my life- 3. All of which were due to extreme circumstances. One was due to childbirth.
For years I would get ready for bed, and wake up the next morning, that was how it worked. I never understood ads for insomnia meds. Since 99% of the time I would just go to sleep until I was 30.
What happened that year? I had a baby and my beloved sleep was taken away from me and I became obsessed with it.
Much like a scorned ex-girlfriend, I did not to away quietly.
• The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, believe that insufficient sleep is now a public health epidemic.
• According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), sleep is essential for a person’s health and wellbeing. Yet, it is estimated that 50-70 million U.S. adults have a sleep or wakefulness disorder which can affect daily functioning, such as driving, and overall mental health and long-term well- being
• Studies show that poor sleep leads to an increase in appetite, fat production and weight gain.
• It is really important to note, this is not just a consequence of consistent or long-term sleep
deprivation: hunger and appetite increases occur after just one night of reduced sleep.
• Studies have shown those who sleep for less than seven hours a night are likely to have a higher BMI than those who regularly have a good night’s sleep. The disruption of our ‘hunger hormones’ makes us more likely to eat irregularly, snack between meals, season our food excessively and eat fewer vegetables – none of which contribute to a well-balanced diet.
So I was exhausted, starving, yet eating all day, on the verge of crying constantly and not functioning for squat, all because of sleep?
Couldn’t I just pound coffee?
Or what that the chronic exhaustion talking?
What about when my husband care home?
I could “catch up” on sleep right?
In my trolling of my ex sleep, I had to relearn everything, don’t worry in a few small tweaks we can all get back on track.
“Sleep is the best meditation”- Dalai Lama
Until tomorrow,
Erin
Erin Wathen
As a Holistic Health Coach, it is Erin’s big hairy audacious goal is to change the dialogue around how we look at weight loss. It is not a matter of being it Ketosis or Food Swaps but the feelings we have that we are avoiding by overeating. Why are so many of us not tackling the real issues we have? It is easier and safer to obsess over the latest diet fad. Whether it be with our job, or our Mom, boyfriend, politics… until we address how we manage our feelings in the world, we are not going to.
