Sleep-An Integral Part of Healthy Living

Sleep Peacefully & Wake Up Brimming with Energy

The day starts with energy and positivity when an individual experiences a good night’s sleep. Youngsters have prioritized adequate sleep hours at the bottom of the list owing to today’s lifestyle practices and distractions. This has greatly reduced their sleeping hours and affected quality of sleep too. Research has come up with numerous advantages linked with a good night’s sleep and there is yet another study that has found a clear link between sleep and nutrition. Sleep and sugar consumption are inversely proportional to each other according to this study.

The team involved 42 healthy participants who were sleeping for less than 7 hours daily. They were given an electronic device that required attachment to the wrist while sleeping and the team also requested the participants to note down their sleep and wake timings in 7-day sleep diaries alongside their food consumption. After this, each of the participants was randomly split into either of the two groups-sleep extension group (21 participants) and control group (21 participants). Participants included in the sleep extension group were given a sleep consultation session to improve their sleep timings by 1-1.5 hours every night. The second group were not given any advice and were made to sleep as per their regular schedule.

After 30 days the research team found that members of the sleep extension group increased their time in bed by 55 min, sleep period by 47 minutes and sleep duration by 21 minutes. All these helped members of this group meet the daily requirements of between 7 and 9 hours of sleep. Such a difference was not prevalent in the control group but participants in the other group reported decline in quality of sleep. That could be because the participants were in bed for a longer time without sleeping. Individuals who were given advice on sleeping also exhibited decreased sugar consumption compared to control group. Fat and carbohydrate consumption levels were also much reduced but not seen as significantly as sugar levels.

This study shows the clear relationship between sleep and nutrition by means of sugar consumption levels. Hence, sleep not only improves cognition and activeness but also plays an integral role in affecting our nutrition too. Sleep for at least 7-8 hours every night, go to bed without a smartphone and above all, ensure to get quality sleep. It is also essential to go to bed and wakeup at the same time every day to maintain your circadian rhythm which is crucial for a fit body and a healthy mind. Read more about circadian rhythm and how this can affect a person’s health from the website www.firsteatright.com.