Posted on 10/10/2005 11:14:46 AM PDT by Pragmatic_View
Beyond leaving people bleary-eyed, clutching a Starbucks cup and dozing off at afternoon meetings, failing to get enough sleep or sleeping at odd hours heightens the risk for a variety of major illnesses, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity, recent studies indicate.
Physiologic studies suggest that a sleep deficit may put the body into a state of high alert, increasing the production of stress hormones and driving up blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes. Moreover, people who are sleep-deprived have elevated levels of substances in the blood that indicate a heightened state of inflammation in the body, which has also recently emerged as a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes.
The analysis of a nationally representative sample of nearly 10,000 adults found that those between the ages of 32 and 49 who sleep less than seven hours a night are significantly more likely to be obese.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Yuppers. to even include prescrip sleep aids. Still was up and awake in 4 hours. Sure as heck surprised the doc. LOL!
Melatonin is supposed to be helpful for normal sleep. It's good for you in general and nonaddictive.
You can get it in any vitamin store. You might consider trying it, if you haven't already, or at least read up on it.
Been there done that. No help.
Actually, cat naps do ok for me. :-)
Ive tried a few different prescription meds. None really worked... Ive just learned to live with it now. :o)
MM
Very interesting. I didn't realize that books have already been written about the benefits of sleep for your health.
Question... isn't Melatonin a hormone?
ironic topic, eh?
:-)
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