When sleep is sound, health & happiness abound

The World Sleep Day is celebrated on the Friday of the second week of March, to create awareness about the importance of a good sleep and problems associated due to the lack of it. It is annual event organized by the World Sleep Day Committee of the World Association of Sleep Medicine(WASM) since 2008. This year’s slogan is ‘When sleep is sound health and happiness abound’. Well, this slogan is true to every bit in its essence. The importance of a good night’s sleep cannot be stressed enough. The groggy and drowsy feeling due to lack of sleep can ruin your entire day not only mentally but also physically.

Increasing stress and continuously changing lifestyle is responsible for the lack of sleep in many young adults nowadays. Society somehow lacks awareness about sleep problems, their medicines and its social aspects.
There are various day to day problems that are associated with sleep rather lack of it. Problems with inability to concentrate, depression, fatigue and hallucinations are often linked with the lack of good sleep.

But, new research shows that many of us are unaware are the simple yet important things that are associated with sleep like:

1. Elevated levels of free fatty acids, pre-diabetic condition: While examining the impact of sleep loss on 24-hour fatty acid levels in the blood, a study published in the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, revealed that insufficient sleep may hamper fat metabolism and reduce the ability of insulin to regulate blood sugars. The researchers found that after three nights of getting only four hours of sleep, blood levels of fatty acids — that usually peak and then recede overnight — remained elevated from about 4 a.m. to 9 a.m.

2. Unexplained weight gain: A study presented at ENDO 2015, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in San Diego, claims that losing as little as 30 minutes of sleep daily can cause weight gain. The findings suggest that people who accumulate sleep debt during weekdays and make up for lost sleep over the weekend may risk metabolic disruption, which may promote the onset of Type 2 diabetes.

3. Academic success if children: Sound sleep in school-aged children is linked to better performance in mathematics, languages and so in future academic success, revealed a study published in the journal Sleep Medicine.

4. Weight gain in children: Researchers have found that children who sleep less tend to eat more which increases the risk of obesity and related health problems later in life. The study in the International Journal of Obesity found that 16 month-old children who slept for less than 10 hours a day consumed around 10 percent more calories on average than children who slept for more than 13 hours.

5. Improved motor skills: A good night’s sleep is associated with better cognition and improved motor skills. According to scientists at University of Montreal, the regions of the brain below the cortex play an important role as we train our bodies’ movements and, critically, they interact more effectively after a night of sleep.

Lack of sleep and insomnia are conditions that can easily be tackled. Changing a few lifestyle and dietary habits can help you get a sound sleep. Here are some foods that you should include in the diet to make sure that you sleep well:

Dairy products: Dairy products are rich in amino acid called tryptophan that plays an important role in inducing sleep. They are also rich in Calcium that has been associated with disturbed sleep patterns and lack of deep (REM) sleep.

Oats: Oats are a good natural source of melatonin, which is often taken as a sleep aid due to its ability to help regulate the body’s internal clock.

Bananas: Bananas are not only rich in calcium and magnesium but also contain tryptophan that is a sleep inducer. They make excellent evening snacks and hence help one sleep better.

Cherries: Cherries are rich in melatonin and hence are better than natural supplements to induce sleep.

Originally published on www.thehealthsite.com