In 2017 The Observer released an article titled “Sleep should be prescribed”: what those late nights out could be costing you. In the article, sleep scientist Matthew Walker explained the harmful effects of lack of sleep. Killer cells attack the cancer cells in your body and after a night of under six hours sleep, these cells drop by 70 percent. Just one bad night of sleep has already increased your chances of getting cancer. Driving after a night of less than five hours of sleep makes you 4.3 times more likely to crash. Many nights of little to no sleep is linked to cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, obesity and poor mental health. Sleep is a necessity for survival. So why do so many of us have trouble sleeping?
Walker cites light and technology in the article as reasons we can’t sleep and also said anxiety “plays a part,” because as a society we are, “lonelier, more depressed.” Alcohol and caffeine also negatively impact sleep. As it turns out, a lot of what you eat and when you eat it impacts sleep. Inadequate sleep decreases leptin, which tells your body you are full, and increases ghrelin which tells your body you are hungry.
Dr. Farley runs the Farley Neuro-Biomedicine Health System. Part of how he helps clients is by telling them what they should and shouldn’t be eating and how that helps their health. He stresses eating six times a day and having a meal 30 minutes before you go to sleep and within 30 minutes of waking up to fight blood sugar spikes.
“All of your neurotransmitters are dependent on stable blood sugar,” said Farley. When you don’t eat before bed and soon after waking up, you make your blood sugar unstable. This leads to your body releasing cortisol, the stress hormone. Cortisol going up means melatonin going down. Low melatonin means a hard time falling asleep.
“Lack of sleep is a major physical stressor,” said Farley, “Every cell in your body can only heal when you shut down the system and you sleep.”
A person needs four to five 90 minute sleep cycles to achieve all the benefits of sleep. Not sleeping properly, not eating properly, and spikes in blood sugar are all stressors on the body. All three are weakening your body at once. Fixing your sleep may not be as simple as setting a bedtime routine and sticking to it. You may need a meal routine as well. Dr. Farley explained that the meal you eat before going to sleep should not be a carbohydrate and to stay away from fruit before bed. Instead, eat proteins. Snacks such as peanut butter on celery are better to eat before bed.
“Your sleep will influence your ability to manage life because if you’re not getting enough sleep it acts as a physical stressor on you and it breaks you down,”said Farley. According to Farley, lack of sleep is “almost as damaging as major mental emotional stress.”
Professor Shamsi Monfared teaches in Ithaca College’s department of exercise and sport sciences. She said that when an athlete has trouble sleeping, their mental coaches may teach athletes to reframe their perception and consider competing through lack of sleep as a challenge. But when lack of sleep is chronic, there are physiological and cognitive repercussions like fatigue and mental exhaustion.
“Lack of sleep could hurt their cognitive skills, for example anticipation, decision making, working memory and attention,” said Monfared. This isn’t just exclusive to athletes, however. The average person’s cognitive skills, whether they are active or not, faces the same consequences.
Bridge the Gap 