Why Sleep Is So Important

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  0:02  
So in some cases, not only is your own health at risk, but depending on what you do, you could be risking other people's lives as well. And you could be doing something as simple as driving your kids to school. And just being exhausted. There are so many car accidents that happen because people are just tired. And Mistakes happen in people's jobs just because they're really exhausted. So these are things even outside of your own health. 

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All right, let the shenanigans begin. Silly. Sleep is vital. Now, I think everyone realizes kind of subconsciously that sleep is really important. But I don't think, you know, in some cases, the subconscious knowledge of that is enough to change some of the habits that are hurtful and harmful to us when it comes to sleep. So sleep is an essential pillar. How many nights do you get seven to eight hours of sleep? Not too many people are gonna say, oh, yeah, every day, I'm getting that kind of sleep, I have to be honest, it's not all the time that I'm able to get seven to eight hours of sleep to, you know, on the regular, I get about six, but my goal is always seven. And here's why. There were times that I was working so many hours that the mana sleep that I could squeeze in and still keep my commitment to exercise my own food prep. And you know, just taking care of my life and my son and my family. It was really difficult to get five hours. And so I was probably living on about four. But what happened, I realized I started to develop inflammation and my knees and elbows. I started not to feel as good sick, I was tired all the time I had headaches, ice started putting on weight. And that was kind of odd for me and getting heavier, my blood pressure went up, my blood sugar went up. And I started looking at the patterns that I was having. So when I'm looking at my food that was relatively the same. Looking at my exercise was relatively the same I made time for it. But what happened, what I realized that it was a lot more stressed, and it was hard for me to manage that. And without that sleep component. So it impacted my stress levels hugely. And it made it really difficult for me to keep my commitments. So what winds up happening is I wind up needing two or three days off, where I had to call someone and just to cover my shifts, because there was just no way I can continue to help people. You know, when you're standing when you're on your feet and you're literally sleep in you're trying to help someone that is recovering from a surgery. You know, I think it's tricky. I think there are jobs that a lot of us have, that we really need to be at our best. And going through the paces or doing your job where you may have other people's lives in your hand. Is is something I of course would not recommend that anyone do. And so that's another reason that sleep is really important. So in some cases He says not only is your own health at risk, but depending on what you do, you could be risking other people's lives as well. And you could be doing something as simple as driving your kids to school. And just being exhausted. There are so many car accidents that happen because people are just tired. The mistakes happen in people's jobs just because they're really exhausted. So these are things even outside of your own health. So just coming back to your own health, sleep is crazy important. Because of situations that I went through with spike in blood pressure's Blake in blood sugar, and huge spike in stress. You know, you don't want to be snap, you don't want to be snapping at people, you know, you don't want to put yourself in a situation that that stuff is happening. And so if you've ever met someone, or know someone who's really kind of crazy grumpy. Think of it, it may be because they just haven't been getting enough rest. So one of the things you might want to do is find your most grumpy, grumpy friend, and try to gently ask how much sleep they get. And I'll bet you that they're not getting very much sleep, I bet you they're getting less than six hours asleep. You know, I bet they're getting less than six hours. Now another thing, not all sleep is the same. Because the sleep that really matters, is when we get into a nice deep REM sleep. And you know what, because REM sleep is the sleep that you get into where you're having like really vivid dreams. So when you get into that really deep dream state, it's really, you know, you know, you're in that time, so you want to spend enough time in that deep sleep. And not most of us unfortunately, don't. But that's going to be, you know, that's a goal for us is to spend more time in a really deep REM sleep. Now, what does getting really good REM sleep do for your mind and your body. So getting really good REM sleep, it really does help your brain to store information, it kind of locks in our memory. So when we're sleeping really good there things that happen during the day, things that we have to remember. So if you're studying, or if you have a job that you have to have recall of information, getting that proper rest actually helps your memory to perform better. And you lock in new data when you're well rested. So it's really important that you think of that if you're a student, or if you know, retaining knowledge is something that's really important for you. You know, another thing that happens during the time that you sleep is your body gets rid of all the toxins. So it takes that time. And it gets rid of bad cells, it gets rid of the toxins that are in your system in your body takes that time to deep clean itself. You know, so each night you sleep, if you've eaten, exercised, had plenty of water, your body then has the tools to use that time that you sleep to get rid of the toxins that are in your system. You know, you store the information in your brain, nerve cells will communicate and reorganize, you know, all these things support really healthy brain function. And, you know, I have a friend of mine, and we have these conversations all the time. And we're always talking about what's the most important organ in the body. And the conversation, it always comes back to Brain because the brain tells your nervous system wants to do and controls all the other organs and muscles and everything else in your body. So if you're not getting the rest that you need, then your brain is not going to be able to properly function and a it's like your CPU, your primary computer. What's running your body now is

not going to be at its best. You're going to have challenges with that. And you can see it when you look at people that are sleep deprived, you're going to see that their energy level, their hormone challenges, they're going to store a lot more fat. They're more susceptible to different kinds of cancers, because you remember, when we sleep and we get rid of the toxins, they're gone. But if you're not getting good rest, those toxins remain. So some of the bad cells remain. And if they're cancerous, then they grow. And so, again, sleep puts it all together. You know, so these things happen, when you don't get enough sleep. I find that most of the people that I work with, that have had a difficult time, losing weight, one of the biggest challenges that they have is reorganizing their life so that he can get rest, and what their concern usually is reorganizing their life so they can get exercise. Because they're like, oh my god, I'm so busy, I can't squeeze in the exercise. But at that same token, they're not squeezing in really good rest. And some of them are like, Well, I'm embedded leaves for nine hours. But they're in bed, too, there's a difference between being in bed for nine hours. And sleeping for seven, you can be in bed, watching Netflix, or playing on social media, or doing things like that, that are gonna keep you up. But that is not sleep. So when we factor in, you know, your body doing what it needs to do while you sleep, if you're watching Netflix, in bed, or be spending time on social media, that's not REM sleep. So the you're not getting the benefits by just being in bed, you really do need to be in bed and get really sleep. So in my opinion, it's important to probably remove some of the things some of those things out of your bedroom. So it doesn't distract you from getting the rest that you really need. You know, it's hard for people to actually go, you know, I'm not gonna have my phone in my room, or not gonna have my television in my room. But it's, if you're not getting really good sleep, those would be two recommendations that I would put at the top of the list for you to consider doing differently. You know, because some people that have a difficult time sleeping, it has a lot to do with them getting caught up in social media, or watching television. And now that's just our culture. So when we're binging some series, and we're not getting the sleep that we need, you know, really look at that, because it's going to tie into your blood pressure, it's going to tie in to your blood sugar levels, it's going to tie in to your challenges with losing weight. So these things are all connected. And so remember, when you think why aren't I losing weight? One of the first things should come into your head is, well, am I getting enough sleep? Am I getting enough at Deep REM sleep? I suggest that that be one of the first questions that you ask yourself. And I say this because when people are trying to find time for exercise, what I recommend they do is not try and find time. But first make the right time to get the proper rest. And then you will have in have and be able to make the time to get the proper exercise. Because until you're well rested, and your brain is able to function to prioritize things for you. It's difficult to make other commitments and keep them and the key to successfully reducing your blood pressure or successfully produced reducing your blood sugar has a lot to do with being able to keep commitments that you make to yourself. And the key to really being able to make and keep your own personal commitments has a lot to do with sleep. So if you're not well rested, again, this is a huge deal to helping you to be successful. Not only when it comes to weight loss, but virtually anything else that you're doing now What I suggest to improve that sleep, is really get a really great bedtime routine, together. Go to bed at a certain time. These are the things that you make happen, you don't try and make happen. Because when you you know, when we're trying to do something, it's a big difference than when we're doing something. So decide what you want to do, or what you have to do to arrange your schedule so that you can get the sleep that you need. Now, not just be in bed, kind of want to clarify that. But to actually be sleep. And if for some reason, you can't get the rest that you need, and you do everything else, I strongly recommend you talk to your health care provider, because there may be an option there that they can get something for you or make another recommendation to help you to get to sleep. because sleep is that important. So if you're not able to find either a sleep specialist, there are great sleep specialists out there that actually coach you through steps to help you to do a lot of these things like move distractions away from you, when when it's time for you to go to bed, you know, make sure that you're doing things or some you know, maybe drinking warm milk, that the sleep coaches are fantastic. And they have strategies that can that really work that will help you to get into a nice, deep REM sleep. Because chronic insomnia is tied to stress. And it comes from let's think of it, we all have work, we all have school we have, you know, health. And if we're not sleeping, we're gonna have some serious health challenges. We all have financial challenges. And, you know, we all have family, unless the stork dropped you off somewhere, we all have family. And so with those things come stress. And when we're stressed, our brain can be really active at night, you know, making it really difficult to sleep. So be mindful of that. And being on top of that. And understanding that once you get really good stress, I mean good sleep, it's going to put you in a much better situation to begin to manage your stress, stress, because deaths in the family do happen. friends die, loved ones get illnesses, divorce jobs get lost and mean, life happens. And sleep is one of those things that actually help us to deal with those life circumstances that are coming at us all the time. And that are going to create really crazy stress for us. So I recommend getting really good rest. By planning it. Don't wait and don't play it by ear. don't figure it out. You know, there are things that you can do and to begin to do today so that you can get better rest and get into really good, healthy sleeping habits. And if you need help with that there are great sleep coaches out there. And you can also go to your primary and see if they have recommendations, and even a sleep aid to get you started. You know, I think medical sleep aids in my opinion, aren't good for long time use. But if you've not been getting good rest for so long. I mean in in needing to get some rest. You know, I recommend that you really talk with a medical professional, your primary and see if they have recommendations for you because it can at least give you that window to be able to start setting up your sleep schedule differently.

Which is vitally important. Don't let it just continue to continue to do what to do when in thinking that it's okay and you got it under control. Genuinely, if you're not getting at least six to seven hours a night. There are some challenges. And you may not be aware of the challenges at the moment, but they exist. And I give people the story. So if you think of sleep as your time in the oven, and that sounds kind of weird at this point, but pitcher, this pitcher, you're baking a cake. And you put all the best ingredients into this amazing batter. And in our case, the ingredients are going to be your exercise, your great nutrition, your stress reduction strategies, and plenty of water. So you're well hydrated, you put all those great ingredients together. And you want to make a cake from it. And so what you do is you take that cake, and you put it in the oven, and in your case, going in the oven is your sleep. So even if we have the best ingredients together, and we don't put it in the oven long enough, it's not going to turn out right? You know. And in our case, the same thing, even if you're doing things that are great. If you don't take that time to sleep enough, you're not going to get the payoff from the great things that you're doing. So your blood pressure still may remain high. And you'll know because you'll see the numbers. And so what I think is really important is you'll see that you'll see you'll know what's going on with your weight, you'll know what's going on with your body fat. And there are different metrics that you can keep an eye on to help you see whether or not your sleep is working for you. And in your sleep is helping all pull everything together the way it should. So it's really important that you pay attention to that. So pay attention to your sleep, come up with a really great schedule so that you can get amazing, amazing rest. And remember, not just rest by laying in the bed, but real REM sleep in there is a difference. So I thank you for taking the time and listen into these interesting points about sleep and how essential it is to get sleep to achieve anything when it comes to your fitness goals. And I want you to make sure you check out next week because we're gonna really dive into blood pressure. There is a lot about blood blood pressure that it's important to know, particularly if you have a goal to improve your health, your body fat. You want to do some interesting things with your body and change and do some transformational things with your body aid you definitely want to listen to everything about your blood pressure, which we're going to be talking about next week. So thanks for listening to Your Health Moment. 

Thank you so much for listening to another episode of Your Health Moment. Learning what tools will help you to live a life you love is so important. And I encourage you to check out some of the other episodes. If you're ready to take the next step for your health. I'd love to have that conversation. Head over to www.iamdrfiitness.com or go to my Instagram @iamdrfitness and that spelled I am Dr. Fitness to get in touch with me and we will put together a plan that starts right where you are today. My name is Dr. Fitness. And I will see you next time on Your Health moment.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai