Is Sleep Disruption Dragging You Down?
Is Sleep Disruption Dragging You Down
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The pandemic has made it easy to be lax in the name of binge-watching and no morning commute. “Maybe we stay up a little bit later, and we may sleep in a little bit,” Aggarwal says. “These disruptions in circadian rhythm can also put you at risk for weight gain. If you don't get enough quality sleep, you're more likely to gain weight. And if you are overweight, you're more likely to not sleep well.”
Is your sleep influencing your eating? A up to age 76 found that lower-quality sleep was linked to greater food intake and poor diet. Conversely, a study in Nutrients found that a diet high in healthier fare was associated with higher sleep quality and fewer sleep disturbances. Eating more fruits, vegetables and legumes did the trick.
Do you fall outside six and nine? Getting fewer than six or more than nine hours of sleep daily is a red flag and a sign of an underlying sleep disorder, like insomnia or apnea. More red flags: not feeling rested when you wake up, daytime sleepiness and irritability. The good (and bad) news: You're not alone. We sleep about 27 minutes less per decade from midlife until age 80.
Do you now need a pill to sleep better? Occasional help from an over-the-counter sleep aid or melatonin is fine, but if you're taking it more than once a week, you're doing yourself , Aggarwal says. You may have some underlying sleep issue you aren't addressing, and those products aren't designed for chronic, long-term use. That's true even for “natural” remedies like melatonin.
Is Sleep Disruption Dragging You Down
The pandemic may be disrupting your nighttime routines
Maskot/Getty Images The past year of quarantine has led to insomnia and sleeplessness for many. A 2020 study of pandemic data from China and Italy found in the general population throughout the crisis, from to poor sleep hygiene (too much screen time before bed, for example). That can do more than drag us down; it can directly relate to cardiovascular disease, says Brooke Aggarwal, assistant professor of medical sciences in the cardiology division of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University.Your Post-COVID Health Checklist
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The key question
Am I getting through the day without fatigue? If you're falling short on quality and consistency of sleep, it's going to show up in the way you feel throughout the day. Test yourself: Bedtime consistency Each morning write down what time you fell asleep the night before, whether you woke up in the night, what time you woke up and whether you woke up with the aid of an alarm. Then, whenever you make an entry into your food journal, rate how much energy you feel on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being “Ready to climb Everest” and 1 being “Ready to fall down.” Patterns to look for: Are you on a routine? Aggarwal defines a “” as falling asleep and waking up within the same 45- to 60-minute window each day. Anything outside of that raises your risk of hypertension and diabetes.The pandemic has made it easy to be lax in the name of binge-watching and no morning commute. “Maybe we stay up a little bit later, and we may sleep in a little bit,” Aggarwal says. “These disruptions in circadian rhythm can also put you at risk for weight gain. If you don't get enough quality sleep, you're more likely to gain weight. And if you are overweight, you're more likely to not sleep well.”
Is your sleep influencing your eating? A up to age 76 found that lower-quality sleep was linked to greater food intake and poor diet. Conversely, a study in Nutrients found that a diet high in healthier fare was associated with higher sleep quality and fewer sleep disturbances. Eating more fruits, vegetables and legumes did the trick.
Do you fall outside six and nine? Getting fewer than six or more than nine hours of sleep daily is a red flag and a sign of an underlying sleep disorder, like insomnia or apnea. More red flags: not feeling rested when you wake up, daytime sleepiness and irritability. The good (and bad) news: You're not alone. We sleep about 27 minutes less per decade from midlife until age 80.
Do you now need a pill to sleep better? Occasional help from an over-the-counter sleep aid or melatonin is fine, but if you're taking it more than once a week, you're doing yourself , Aggarwal says. You may have some underlying sleep issue you aren't addressing, and those products aren't designed for chronic, long-term use. That's true even for “natural” remedies like melatonin.