Sayonara sleepless nights

I am exhausted! It's the happy kind of tired though - I had my girls here my daughters and my grand daughters and a good friend - didn't get a lot of sleep but enjoyed them sooo much - then the day after they left my son and his wife have arrived...I think I may need to sleep into the New Year.

So, even though its been fun...I am not as young as I once was and this is reaaaaaaaally taking its toll on me. (Not that I would change even one of these visits to include more sleep because I don't get to see any of them as much as I want)

I know that sleep deprivation can cause a great many things to happen (and let me state its not that one time staying up late -- or even the 2 weeks of no sleep I will have had from having company over...well mostly lol)

Did you know that lack of sleep can cause a weakened immune system, blood pressure to rise, depression and anxiety, moodiness, type 2 diabetes, and weight gain? Yowch!

For the weight gain its all about hormone responses - lack of sleep causes stress in the body (because hey it's not functioning at its best with no sleep) - which increases cortisol - cortisol causes your body to store fat instead of burn it, it lowers leptin which tells your body when you have had enough to eat - which can lead to over - eating annnd can raise levels of ghrelin which is an appetite stimulant also causing your body to want more food more food more food!

Remember last week we were talking about tracking -- I keep track of my sleep (so gee, this week I know how pathetic that has been) and have been looking at my bodies reactions to food this last week...definitely something there with this science stuff! (Sooo not a science girl -- my husband however, would totally be able to geek out over this information)

So, I will go into sleep and sleep habits next week, but this week was just about the information that it can cause issues (or a whole subscription) with your body if this is a continual chronic thing -- with the over eating -- hate to say that can happen after just one night -- that is why listening and paying attention (journal will show trends) to what your body is telling you...its a pretty smart thing and can give you more information for whats going on in YOUR body.

So -- try to get those ZzzzZZZZs in -- its as important as going to the gym and eating right -- it all plays a part -- and say sayonara to sleepless nights