Better eating and better sleep are interrelated aspects that not only affect our health but the overall quality of our well-being. On the other hand, sleep deprivation leads to vices like poor diet in the form of increased uptake of high energy foods. This scenario negatively affects our overall health.
People who have better eating habits are in a better position to lose weight thereby staying healthy. If you maintain a healthy diet, you can also enjoy peaceful sleep since the body has all the nutrients it requires for proper functioning.
Poor eating habits also adversely impact your regular sleeping pattern since the body will be lacking other vital components.
Why Good Nutrition Matters to Health
Proper nutrition is the mainstay of quality health among different individuals from all walks of life. Research shows that your diet affects your sleep in several ways and this in turn also impacts on your wellbeing.
Consumption of large quantities of sugar can lead to a condition known as sleep arousal according to research from Columbia University. This is an undesired intrusion that pulls you out of your deep sleep without actually awakening you. This kind of arousal makes you feel weak since it pulls you back to a lighter state of rest.
When you experience sleep arousals, it becomes difficult to restore healthy sleep, and this can affect your sleeping patterns in several ways. This condition of half-awakening during sleep is also prevalent among people who eat large quantities of refined foods like pasta, white bread as well as carbs.
Causes of Sleep Arousals
The leading cause of sleep arousals according to research is that foods with high sugar content delay the release of melatonin. This is a hormone that is responsible for controlling the sleep-wake cycle in all human beings. The release of melatonin hormone helps you to achieve deep and quality sleep.
However, people who eat less junk food with little sugar content are safe from the condition of sleep arousals. You can beat the challenge of sleep arousals by eating foods with high fiber content. This type of leads you to deep sleep since fiber can slow down the process of digestion such that your body fully relaxes.
Digestion is a process that takes you into deep sleep especially when you are relaxing in bed at night. That is why people often take a nap in the afternoon after a meal. The body needs to relax after a good meal, but this may not be the same after eating sweet foods.
The Significance of Better Sleep
The average sleep time should take about 7-9 hours per night. We benefit a lot from sleeping for more extended periods in our lives since a recent study shows that this might lower our desire for junk foodstuffs. When you get sufficient sleep, your passion for a balanced diet significantly increases, and the quality of health also improves.
According to Doctor Leslie Heinberg, the research indicates that people who sleep for more extended periods are in a better position to shed some weight as a result of a reduction in their intake of sugar and other foods with high-fat content. These two types of food are significant contributors to the problem of obesity among people who consume high volumes of junk foods.
The other element about sleep extension is that it dampens the hedonic signals that are responsible for driving for food intake. When you have quality sleep, the hormone in question controls the level of food intake. This action leads to the creation of a delicate balance between the food you consume and the amount required by the body at a given period.
How deep sleep restores energy and body tissues
Deep sleep is essential because it helps to restore the physical energy of the body. Sleep extension is also crucial to your health since it also helps in the restoration of mental power this affects the standard functions of other organs of the body. The performance of different activities by people who experience short nights of sleep is relatively lower compared to individuals who sleep for a more extended period.
A good sleep of about seven hours or more is essential for your health since it helps to strengthen your immune system while at the same time recharging all the energy stores within the body. After a deep sleep, you wake feeling fresh and ready to perform various tasks. Usually, when you retire to bed during the night, you feel exhausted, but when you wake up, you feel strong again.
Quality sleep helps in the development of bones and muscles such that our bodies can perform different tasks in fulfillment of our needs. The body also restores damaged tissues during sleep time so that it can continue to function normally. When the body gets sufficient sleep time, it can heal some of the minor ailments without resorting to medication.
Other Benefits of Quality Sleep
Better sleep is not only beneficial in the sense of weight loss, but it also helps to improve mood. Elements such as mood swinging and irritability usually result from poor sleep, and these can affect the way you relate to others. Being social beings, we are all expected to show love to others, but this may not be the case if you exhibit signs of stress-related attitude due to lack of proper sleep.
Behavior change is necessary since it brings about numerous positive outcomes. Your level of safety also improves if you enjoy peace of mind that usually derives from a sound sleep. Your mind needs to be alert when driving or performing any other tasks that require concentration, and this helps you to stay out of danger.
A peaceful mind is also right for your wellbeing since it helps you to be productive. This situation may not be possible among individuals suffering from stress-related ailments emanating from the poor state of mind due to sleep deprivation. People with stress hardly concentrate, and this negatively affects their level of production.
Benefits of Better Sleep in Young People
Research shows that the growth of young people takes place during sleep time. For instance, infants spend around 16 hours a day asleep, and this is very normal during different stages of their development. Any disturbances to the sleeping patterns of young people can affect their development.
Other young people particularly adolescents also have their sleeping patterns, and these have a bearing on their growth and development. The youth prefer to sleep late and wake up late in the morning. Quality sleep is essential among these young people so that their growth cycle is not disturbed.
Impacts of Sleep Deprivation
Sleep deficiency is detrimental to our health in that we tend to crave for foods that have high energy content so that we can stay awake for more extended periods. In most cases, these high energy giving foods have high sugar and fat content, and they also have side effects on your health.
Various researches have indicated that foods that are higher in fats and sugar significantly contribute to overweight. The problem of obesity is prevalent among many people especially in the USA, and this is an issue of concern. The effect of obesity impacts negatively on the health of different people in many ways.
According to this research, the aspect of sleep deprivation contributes to obesity in that it helps to alter the hormones that regulate own appetite thereby increasing high-calorie intake. In the US in particular, many people continue to experience a decline in sleep duration, and this contributes to a continual rise in cases of obesity.
Obese people are prone to diseases like heart problems, and these can be fatal if no action is taken to shed some weight. The other issue is that certain body organs of individuals with obesity do not function normally. Due to overweight, the affected people may not be able to perform basic exercises to maintain good health.
Poor quality sleep leads to an increase in the risk of cases like stroke among the elderly. Stroke can lead to paralysis of the other parts of the body, and this affects its overall performance in different activities. In some cases, a stroke can lead to death, and this scenario is undesired.
Understanding the link between poor sleep and a steep rise in cases of obesity among the affected group of people is a cause for concern in the public health sector. The issue of quality health is everyone’s responsibility.
Therefore, effort should be made to ensure that all people have adequate knowledge about the significance of good sleep and a better diet. When you are experiencing sleeping problems, it is better to find methods that can drive you into good sleeping habits like reading and meditation.
Before you go to bed, you can try to read something since this can help you to have an excellent sleep. Meditation is also useful for your mind since it helps you to focus on definite ideas that can help you get peace of mind. People with negative thoughts usually fail to have quality sleep, and this can affect their diet as well.
How Poor Sleep Causes Poor Quality Diet
Research shows that sleep deprivation leads to brain neuronal activation and triggers a desire for unhealthy foods. Poor sleeping can be said to influence reward eating behavior among different individuals. The problem arises mainly due to the choice of food that usually fails to meet a proper diet.
Poor sleep is terrible for overall health in that it affects your eating habits as well as the preference of food. Due to lack of sleep, your body will crave for high-calorie junk food since they give you more energy. However, this type of food causes other problems like overweight.
In other words, poor sleep affects the choice of food that we consume during different periods. The problem that arises in this scenario is that the food we tend to desire in response to sleep deprivation does not meet the expectations of a proper and balanced diet. Thus, a healthier diet is essential to people who often experience sleep disruptions for their bodies to function normally.
In most cases, the problem with high intake of energy giving foods is that they lack some of the components that constitute a balanced diet. The body requires components such as fiber that enhance proper digestion of food, but these are not present in high energy giving foods. As a result, the body experiences weight gain which in turn leads to obesity.
People who are obese are prone to various diseases that can impact negatively on their wellbeing in the long run. Prevention of this problem can be done by resorting to sleeping more extended periods while at the same time eating a healthier diet. Your body will be able to shed some weight so that it can function normally.
Apart from enhancing weight loss, good sleep also helps the body to relax, and it gets rid of undesired elements through detoxification that can only take place during this period. The mind also refreshes during this period, and it prepares the body for other tasks when you wake up. When you have peace of mind, and you are stress-free, and there are high chances of living a healthy life.
Better sleep and better nutrition are two interrelated components that can guarantee quality health to different individuals. When you experience deep sleep, your body adopts a healthy eating habit comprising of a balanced diet, and this is good for your overall health.
On the other hand, when you experience lousy sleep, your diet somehow becomes poor since your body will crave for high energy giving foods. Such kind of food is rich in fat and sugar content, and these components are responsible for causing overweight which is not suitable for your health.
Therefore, if you want to live a healthy life, you should always try to create an excellent balance between quality nutrition and sound sleep.
Source: abc11.com