Surprising Benefits Of Sleep

(CARLSBAD, CA) - You’ve heard the term beauty sleep, but recent research is teaching us that a good night’s sleep does much more than improve our appearance in the morning. Sleep is being credited with helping to prevent heart disease, obesity, cancer and diabetes, as well as improve immunity and enhancing our ability to both concentrate and learn.

A report from the Harvard University Nurses’ Health Study found that women who consistently slept just six hours a night had an 18 percent greater risk for a heart attack than women who slept eight hours per night. Those who slept five or fewer hours a night had a 39 percent greater risk!

Researchers at Columbia University report that adults who sleep less than seven hours a night have an increased risk of obesity also. The risk ranged from 23 percent for six-hour-a-night sleepers to 73 percent for individuals who slept only two to four hours. Experts note that sleep deprivation lowers the level of leptin, a protein that suppresses appetite, and raises grehlin, which makes you want to eat.

Still another study conducted at Stanford University reports that a good night’s sleep may aid cancer patients. Melatonin, a hormone known to have antioxidant properties that can protect cells from cancer, is produced during sleep.

Sleep deprivation, on the other hand, appears to raise your risk of diabetes by impairing metabolism and disrupting the body’s ability to process glucose. When healthy young adults received only four hours of sleep for six consecutive nights, some had blood glucose levels equal to those of diabetics. In other research, healthy men and women who averaged six hours of sleep or less per night needed 30 percent more insulin than people who got adequate sleep (eight hours a night) to keep their blood sugar levels normal.

Immunity is another area in which sleep exercises great influence. A University of California, San Diego, study found a significant reduction in immune capabilities in 42 healthy men who were deprived of just part of a single night’s sleep.

Finally, countless studies have directly linked sleep deprivation to a decline in cognitive ability on tasks that require decision making, short-term memory and mathematical processing, and few would argue that fatigue affects your motor skills and slows your reaction time. In fact, study participants who went 17 to 19 hours without sleep performed on par with or worse than individuals with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05 percent.

Talk about a wake up call! With nearly one in three people averaging fewer than seven hours sleep per night, it’s time to reevaluate our habits and priorities and put the following sleep tips into practice:

— go to bed and get up at the same approximate times each day.

— abstain from caffeine and alcohol several hours before bedtime.

— establish a bedtime ritual that allows you to unwind and prepare for sleep.

— avoid spicy foods close to bedtime.

— don’t fall asleep with the television on.

— make sure your bedroom is cool, dark and quiet.

 — exercise regularly.

Jazzercise CEO Judi Sheppard Missett says exercise is a great way to reduce stress, relax and improve the quality of your sleep.  Just be sure to avoid vigorous exercise within an hour or two of bedtime.  Try the following knee lift/lunge to get your heart rate up while you strengthen your leg and hip muscles and improve your balance.

Stand tall with your feet hip width apart, and your knees and toes pointing forward.  Pick your left foot up and extend it back into a lunge, reaching your arms overhead at the same time.  Pull your arms in toward your waist as you lift your knee waist high and balance briefly on your right leg.  Repeat slowly 10 to 15 times before switching the movements to your right leg.  As your balance improves, you can speed up the movements to increase the cardiovascular challenge.

Jazzercise, created by Judi Sheppard Missett, is the world's leading dance-fitness program with more than 6,800 instructors teaching 30,000 classes weekly in the U.S. and around the globe. Since 1969, millions of people of all ages and fitness levels have reaped the benefits of this comprehensive program, designed to enhance cardiovascular endurance, strength, and flexibility. For more information on Jazzercise go to jazzercise.com or call (800)FIT-IS-IT or (760)476-1750.

Courtesy of Jazzercise, Inc. - jazzercise.com

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