As a midlife wellness coach who is practically the get-more-sleep-police I was horrified to realize there was nary a post here on the subject. Starting now that’s going to change and my hope is that you’ll benefit by putting some of the how-to tips to work for you. I’m also hoping to do a Power Hour call with Dr. Marcia Lindsey. whom I was recently introduced to and who is known as the Sleep Diva .
Let’s start with a fact that shocked me.
According to John Medina in the book Brain Rules, “when people become sleep deprived, their ability to utilize the food they consume falls by about 1/3. The ability to make insulin and to extract energy from glucose begins to fail miserably.”
Ouch, we certainly don’t need another contributing factor to metabolic disorder or diabetes. Not to mention, when you are tired you don’t make good food choices and often times reach for carbs to boost the serotonin missing in the brain. More carbs, more insulin resistance.
And lack of sleep leads to an excess of circulating cortisol, a stress hormone. Get this, “Cortisol has been shown to reduce muscle mass, increase bone loss and osteoporosis, interfere with the generation of new skin cells, increase fat accumulation around the waist and hips, and reduce memory and learning abilities.”
Holy you know what! You might want to read that again, too much circulating cortisol is evil and it is produced in response to not only lack of sleep but to chronic stress that is not released from the body.
Bottom line boomers? If you don’t sleep well find out how you can improve your nocturnal hours. If you have chronic stress–an unhealthy relationship, an overly demanding job or boss, a health challenge–you owe it to yourself to get those things handled. Make it a priority so you can be around and living with a vengeance for all the things you have yet to do.
If you never buy this book–though I think everyone should– you must go to website for Dr. John Medina’s new book to learn a few astonishing things about our brains. The book is being represented to the world by Pear Press
and they are genius at the marketing of it.
The book, Brain Rules, 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School, offers the latest brain research as it relates to the tasks we perform every day. In many instances we do not have the right environment–may work stations and almost all school classrooms and the expected behavior at both–nor are we making it easy for our brains to give us the results we want.
The book is accompanied by a DVD for interactive learning–one of the best ways to get the brain fully engaged is to use more of the senses. The website is full of the take away points and fun facts described in greater detail in the book. Among many fascinating concepts such as vision trumps all the other senses,and the brain is happiest thinking when we are moving, there is great news for us midlifers.
Medina writes, “some regions of the adult brain stay as malleable as a baby’s brain, so we can grow new connections, strengthen existing connections, and even create new neurons, allowing all of us to be lifelong learners.” The importance of curiosity,” John says, is “the greatest brain rule.”
I’m going to close by giving you a taste of Dr. Medina and a short bit of brain science on one of our favorite past times. Use the link below to watch 2 minutes of some scary science uncovered during his research, it just might save a life.
