Sleep Deprivation

I don't really sleep and it doesn't seem to affect me. Twenty hour days are awesome because I can do everything I want to do - or so I thought. Last night I got into bed before 11 PM but I didn't fall asleep until 2:30 AM. My parents' stupid ass new neighbors installed backyard lighting that makes it look like my bedroom window overlooks the Vegas strip. I was not pleased.

After tossing, turning, trying to read, and cursing the neighbors back to their old neighborhood, I finally fell asleep. Although I woke up before 9, I couldn't bring myself to get out of bed. It's a good thing I was signed up for Carolyn Mellace's 10:15 class and not the earlier one.

I felt sluggish and achy, but Carolyn's sick playlist (think AC/DC, Aerosmith, and disco) and her Energizer Bunny energy kicked my ass into gear. It wasn't the best ride of my life, but I got a solid workout in and I'm glad I went.

I bought Robb Wolf's, author of The Paleo Solution, ebundle last night and was reading that sleep is more important than diet and exercise. Say what? That completely blows my lifestyle out of the water. Robb says that you need to sleep in a completely dark room, use blackout shades, and cover up all LED lights. I sleep with a sleep mask and I usually have a pillow blocking the time on the TV, but completely dark? I was recently complaining that the lack of natural sunlight in my apartment has made it harder for me to wake up.

Once I get back to work, I am going to try for a regular bedtime and 8 to 9 hours of sleep a night. I've never needed this much sleep before, but it's possible that I haven't tapped into my true potential because I sleep so little (and tend to go out and drink until the wee hours of the morning.)

Get in Bed or You'll Get Fat

No, sexual activity still doesn't qualify as your daily cardio, although I have yet to test this out with a heart rate monitor. To avoid getting fat, you need to get in bed and get more sleep. Sleep affects your weight.

The amount of sleep you get influences the production of the hormones leptin and ghrelin in your body. Leptin is the hormone that tells your brain that it is full. The less sleep you get, the less leptin your body produces. Ghrelin tells your body it is hungry. The less sleep you get, the more ghrelin your body produces. See the problem? When you're tired your body thinks it's hungry and keeps wanting more.

When I am sleep-deprived I can eat all day and not feel satisfied. I usually don't even notice until my pants start cutting of my circulation.  I almost never overeat on Mondays (unless I've had a Sunday Funday), but by Thursday I'm starving hours before lunch. Fridays are bad to begin with, and if I've gone out the night before, I can pretty much guarantee that I will eat three lunches.

So I challenge you to go to bed 45 minutes earlier every night. I struggle with this because Agent Hotchner's sexy grimace keeps me up watching Criminal Minds reruns, but I am going to work on that. If you keep a food journal, like I do, look for correlations between more sleep and better food choices.