I used to have a Nike t-shirt that was my very favorite to work out in. It was purple and listed about twenty things on it's back that one should do to achieve good health. One of those things was sleep. I remember liking that line and assumed that it must be true if the folks at Nike deemed it worthy of a t-shirt. At the time, getting enough sleep wasn't really a huge challenge and I usually clocked eight or nine hours in dreamland every night.
I started thinking about that shirt the other day when I was in the shower. There is definitely something to it. I know that when I am tired, I crave empty, yummy carbs to perk me up. Unfortunately, after the perk there is a drop and then I crave more empty, yummy carbs.
There is so much attention on carbs, calories, fiber, protein, exercise and even water but what about sleep? I did a little research and found that one night of sleep deprivation (less than six hours) impairs the body's ability to utilize glucose. This is the key hallmark of Type 2 Diabetes. Wow. Sleep deprivation also increases stress hormones, inflammation and a myriad of other things.
I know that since the hubs and I have become heavier, we don't sleep as well. We (he) snore and probably have some sleep apnea issues. We are both tired much of the time.
Keeping all this in mind, I'm thinking no treadmill ..... more sleep. Maybe I'll even try napping in the name of weight loss!
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