Contact to join music classes by Pt. Ajay Jha at 001-9175472265 or 718-659-4017 (USA) 8383093623 (India). Classes available for Indian classical vocal, Bhajans, Ghazals, Tabla, Harmonium, Keyboard, Violin & Banjo. Email:- SMSQUEENS@YAHOO.COM
Yoga and Meditation Are Becoming Mainstream Story at-a-glance – Strength training is foundational for optimal health, especially as you get older. It’s not just about keeping your musculature strong; resistance training also benefits your heart, metabolism, cognition and mental health Recent research shows less than an hour of strength training per week can reduce your risk for heart attack and stroke anywhere from 40 to 70 percent These cardiovascular benefits were independent of aerobic exercises such as walking and running; strength training alone will lower your risk of heart attack and stroke, even if you don’t meet the recommended guidelines for aerobic activity Less than one hour of resistance training per week also lowers your risk of metabolic syndrome by 29 percent and high cholesterol by 32 percent, independently of aerobic exercise Strength training also benefits your brain. In fact, there’s a strong link between muscle strength — especially leg strength — and cognitive health
Strength training is foundational for good health, especially as you get older. Importantly, lifting weights is not just about keeping your musculature strong; it has a number of other health benefits that at first glance may seem unrelated, including improved metabolism, cognition and mental health.
Strength training is also important for heart health, and recent research 1 , 2 shows less than an hour of strength training per week can reduce your risk for heart attack and stroke anywhere from 40 to 70 percent. Weightlifting Protects Against Heart Attack and Stroke
The study 3 in question, which had a mean follow-up of 5.4 and 10.5 years, analyzed data from nearly 13,000 adults taking part in the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, looking at three health outcomes: Nonfatal cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke All cardiovascular events, including death All-cause mortality
Strength training reduced the risk for all three. According to the authors: 4
“Compared with no resistance exercise, weekly resistance exercise frequencies of one, two, three times or total amount of one to 59 minutes were associated with approximately 40 to 70 percent decreased risk of total cardiovascular disease events, independent of aerobic exercise.
However, there was no significant risk reduction for higher weekly resistance exercise of more than four times or ≥60 minutes.”
The fact that the cardiovascular benefits of weightlifting were independent of aerobic exercises such as walking and running means strength training is sufficient in and of itself. It alone will lower your risk of heart attack and stroke, even if you don’t meet the recommended guidelines for aerobic activity.
(The recommends 5 at least 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise each week, 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity, or a combination of both.) Weight Training Is Cardiovascular Exercise
It’s worth remembering that cardiovascular exercise involves any physical exertion during which your heart and respiratory rates accelerate. While most people equate cardiovascular exercise with aerobic exercises such as running or cycling, fitness experts note you cannot fully access your cardiovascular system unless you’re performing mechanical work with your muscles.
So, strength training is in fact a cardiovascular workout. Overall, in this particular study 6 resistance exercise was found to influence cardiovascular event risks in two ways, as it: Had a direct U-shape association with cardiovascular disease risk Indirectly lowered cardiovascular disease risk by decreasing body mass index
It’s also noteworthy that even small amounts of strength training can have significant benefits. As noted by Duck-chul Lee, associate professor of kinesiology and one of the study’s authors: 7
“People may think they need to spend a lot of time lifting weights, but just two sets of bench presses that take less than five minutes could be effective … The results are encouraging, but will people make weightlifting part of their lifestyle? Will they do it and stick with it? That’s the million-dollar question.”
Interestingly, your grip strength has also been shown to be predictive of your heart attack and stroke risk . In one study, 8 there was a 17 percent increased risk of cardiovascular death, a 7 percent increased risk of heart attack and a 9 percent increased risk of stroke for every 11-pound decrease in grip strength. In fact, grip strength was a stronger predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality than systolic blood pressure. Strength Training Also Lowers Risk for Metabolic Syndrome
Lee’s team has also analyzed the relationship between weight training and metabolic syndrome 9 (a risk factor that raises your risk for Type 2 diabetes , heart disease and stroke) and high cholesterol. 10
Again, less than one hour of resistance training per week lowered the risk of both — metabolic syndrome by 29 percent and high cholesterol by 32 percent — and again these reductions were independent of any other aerobic exercise. Lee commented on the results, saying: 11
“Muscle is the power plant to burn calories. Building muscle helps move your joints and bones, but also there are metabolic benefits. I don’t think this is well appreciated. If you build muscle, even if you’re not aerobically active, you burn more energy because you have more muscle. This also helps prevent obesity and provide long-term benefits on various health outcomes.” Leg Strength Linked to Cognitive Health
Strength training also benefits your brain. In fact, there’s a strong link between muscle strength — especially leg strength — and cognitive health. This fascinating link was again demonstrated in a recent study 12 , 13 published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, which shows that neurological health is as dependent on signals from your large leg muscles as it is on signals from your brain to your muscles.
In other words, it’s a two-way street, and neither “lane” is more important than the other. As noted by the authors:
“… [P]atients affected by chronic movement-limiting pathologies face impairment in muscle and/or brain performance … Severe movement limitation can influence not only the motor and metabolic systems but also the nervous system, altering neurogenesis and the interaction between motoneurons and muscle cells …
The overall results support the existence of a link between reduction of exercise and muscle disuse and metabolism in the brain and thus represent valuable new information that could clarify how circumstances such as the absence of load and the lack of movement that occurs in people with some neurological diseases, may affect the properties of NSCs and contribute to the negative manifestations of these conditions.”
According to the press release, 14 this finding “fundamentally alters brain and nervous system medicine — giving doctors new clues as to why patients with motor neuron disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal muscular atrophy and other neurological diseases often rapidly decline when their movement becomes limited.”
In other words, whenever you’re unable to perform load-bearing exercises, you not only lose muscle mass due to muscle atrophy, but your body chemistry is impacted in such a way that your nervous system and brain also begin to deteriorate.
In this study, neural stem cells — undifferentiated stem cells that can develop into both neurons and other brain cells — declined by a whopping 70 percent in mice who were prevented from using their hind legs for 28 days, compared to unhindered controls. This suggests weight-bearing exercise signals the brain to produce healthy neural cells.
What’s more, by not using the leg muscles, two genes were adversely impacted. One of them, known as CDK5Rap1, plays an important role in mitochondrial health and function , which is yet another important reason for getting weight-bearing exercise.
Another, perhaps key, factor that helps explain the link between muscle strength and brain health is related to how exercise affects brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) , a remarkable rejuvenator found in both your muscles and your brain.
In your brain, BDNF helps preserve existing brain cells, 15 activates brain stem cells to convert into new neurons (neurogenesis) and promotes actual brain growth, especially in the hippocampus area, a region associated with memory. Other Studies Demonstrating Muscle-Brain Link
Many other studies have confirmed this intriguing muscle-brain link, including the following:
• Walking boosts hippocampal volume — In a 2011 study, 16 seniors who walked 30 to 45 minutes, three days per week for one year, increased the volume of their hippocampus by 2 percent. Typically, your hippocampus tends to shrink with age. The results prompted the authors to claim exercise is “one of the most promising nonpharmaceutical treatments to improve brain health.”
• Leg strength maintains cognitive function — A 2016 study 17 in the journal Gerontology found that working your leg muscles helps maintain cognitive function as you get older. According to the authors, simply walking more could help maintain brain function well into old age.
The study followed 324 female twins, aged 43 to 73, for a decade. Cognitive function such as learning and memory was tested at the outset and at the conclusion of the study. Interestingly, leg strength was found to be a better predictor for brain health than any other lifestyle factor they reviewed.
Consistently, the twin with the greatest leg strength maintained higher cognitive functioning over time compared to her weaker twin. The stronger of the pair also experienced fewer age-related brain changes over time.
• Leg workout enhances memory — A Georgia Tech study 18 (featured in the video above) found that 20 minutes of strength training enhanced long-term memory by about 10 percent.
• Resistance training reduces age-related brain shrinkage — Resistance training also helps reduce shrinkage of white brain matter, thereby improving your cognition. In one study, elderly sedentary women taking part in a 12-week strength exercise program improved their cognitive ability by 19 percent. 19 Weight Training Benefits Your Health in Numerous Ways
Aside from protecting and improving heart and brain health, strength training has also been shown to:
Improve your insulin sensitivity — Mark Peterson, assistant professor of physical medicine at the University of Michigan, notes: “Muscle is very metabolically active, and it uses glucose, or blood sugar, for energy.” 20 Thus muscle activity reduces your risk of insulin resistance.
Reduce your risk of metabolic syndrome — This cluster of conditions includes a large waist circumference, high triglycerides, high blood pressure and high blood sugar, which raises your risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Research shows working with weights for just under an hour per week can cut your risk of metabolic syndrome by 29 percent. 21 , 22 Other research has found a twice-weekly resistance training program improved insulin sensitivity and reduced abdominal fat in older men who had already developed Type 2 diabetes, without any dietary changes. 23
Lower inflammation — Resistance training lowers inflammation in your body, a hallmark of most chronic disease, especially heart disease and cancer.
Improve mental health — In a meta-analysis of 16 previously published studies evaluating the effect of strength training on anxiety, the data demonstrated resistance training was associated with a reduction in symptoms of anxiety, whether or not the participant had a diagnosis of a mental health disorder. 24
Reduce your risk of sarcopenia — Strength training helps prevent the natural loss of skeletal muscle that occurs with advancing age, called sarcopenia. This is an important factor in the loss of independence and functional decline. In one study, 25 researchers demonstrated strength training reversed muscle atrophy in 70-year-old participants.
Reduce your risk of osteoporosis — As it improves your muscle mass, strength training also reduces your risk of osteoporotic changes to your bone and thus prevents broken hips, wrists or vertebrae from calcium loss and thinning.
Improve mobility and reduce your risk of falling — Bone and muscle loss are compounded by a sedentary lifestyle, increasing your risk of loss of mobility. Weak muscles in combination with a brittle bone structure are a recipe for crippling and disabling falls.
Boost your metabolism — Increased muscle mass also boosts your metabolism and helps you to lose or maintain your weight.
Prevent joint damage — Inactivity and muscle loss increases the potential damage to large joints, leading to arthritic changes and pain, while strength training helps prevent these changes. 26
Reduce perimenopausal symptoms in women — Symptoms of perimenopause , including anxiety and depression, mood swings, irregular periods, weight gain and brain fog, are reduced with strength training. In part these changes are the result of increasing production of testosterone, typically thought of as a male sex hormone.
During menopause, natural levels of testosterone may drop by as much as 50 percent. 27 Although women should not take testosterone supplementation, improving your natural production using strength training is a safe way to address perimenopausal symptoms. Important Cautions if You Are New to Strength Training
Before you get started, I advise you to take a moment to evaluate your level of readiness for strength training by considering some important cautions. Check with your doctor first if you: Are a senior citizen who previously has not been physically active Are currently dealing with a serious illness Have a chronic condition, such as low-back pain or a bad knee
It’s best to warm up your muscles before launching into strength training because cold muscles are more prone to injury than warm ones. Five to 10 minutes of brisk walking or another aerobic activity can help warm your muscles.
As you do each set of repetitions, listen to your body. If you experience pain, stop the exercise immediately. You might try again by changing your posture or position or using less weight. Using proper technique is an important aspect of strength training. Not only will good technique help you avoid injuries, but it will also ensure you achieve maximum benefits from the workout.
Another technique you can try is blood flow restriction training or Kaatsu training. It involves performing strength training exercises while restricting venous blood flow (but not arterial flow) to the extremity being worked.
A significant benefit of the method is that you can do strength exercises using just 30 to 50 percent of the weight you’d normally use while still reaping maximum benefits.
By restricting blood flow to the muscle, lactic acid and other waste products build up, giving you the same benefit as heavy lifting but without the dangers associated with heavy weights. For this reason, it’s a great strategy for the elderly and those who are recuperating from an injury.
If you are brand-new to weight training and feel unsure about how to approach it, take a class or watch a video. Another option is to work with a personal trainer to learn the correct form and technique for the types of strength training of interest to you. 0
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Supplements To Use to BE MORE MUSCULAR | Men’s Health and Fitness | Best Result | Mayank Bhattacharya
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In this episode of Men’s Essentials, Mayank shares his current supplement stack optimal for gaining strength and muscle.
Enjoy!
The post Supplements I Use to BE MORE MUSCULAR | Men’s Health and Fitness | Best Result | Mayank Bhattacharya appeared first on Denny Boy’s Interesting Blog.
Vitamin and mineral use is a way to feel better quickly. These supplements are necessary as we just don’t get enough of certain nutrients through diet alone. Whether you need vitamin D over the winter or vitamin C during a cold, the tips and tricks below will help you figure it all out.
Men require different vitamins and minerals than women. A daily vitamin for men should have higher concentrations of B12 and B6. Another helpful vitamin to prevent hair loss is vitamin H. Along with folic acid, vitamin H will help regenerate cells and reduce the signs of aging. Vitamin E and lycopene are also beneficial for male prostrate health.
Do not use tea or coffee to wash down your vitamins and minerals. These beverages may inhibit the absorption of certain minerals. Tea has been proven to decrease the amount of iron the body absorbs. While coffee has not been shown to have the same effects, it would be best not to take any chances.
To reduce the chances of heart disease, boost your vision and keep your skin from aging prematurely, try vitamin A. It can be toxic if taken in very large amounts, so be sure to stick with the recommended daily dose of 2300 International Units (IU). Some good places to get Vitamin A are squash, carrots, and dark leafy greens.
It is not a good idea to just buy a bottle of the cheapest vitamin/mineral supplement you can find on the shelf. Many of these supplements are made with chemical substitutes of the natural nutrient you need. Before you invest your money in any supplement, do your research so you can make a wise decision.
Take your vitamins in the way that’s right for you. While the best way to get vitamins and minerals is through food, you may have to take a supplement. If you struggle swallowing pills, you could find smaller or chewable pills to take. You can also use the powders that mix with water.
If you are trying to grow out your hair or nails, consider adding a Biotin supplement. While it won’t make your hair or nails grow faster, it will make them stronger and more resistant to breakage. In fact, Biotin is often recommended to chemotherapy patients to help them regrow the hair that they lost during treatment.
If you are a smoker, you should avoid taking any supplements that contain carotene. There have been numerous studies done that show carotene can increase the risk of lung cancer. Since cigarettes can add to this risk, it would be best if you avoided taking carotene if you are planning to continue smoking.
Have you ever noticed that despite working out, taking your bodybuilding supplements and eating healthy that you tend to get sick more frequently than others who don’t break their back to promote a healthy body? Try adding more of the essential vitamins to your supplement doses. You are burning far more fuel than others thus more deficient in these vitamins and minerals so you need to consume more than the average person.
When you aren’t feeling well, you have to seek help, and you have done so today. These great tips and tricks will truly guide you down the path to great health. In order to benefit from the time you have spent reading today, draft a plan to buy what you need and do it!
The post Vitamin And Mineral Information You Did Not Know About appeared first on Denny Boy’s Interesting Blog.
It’s been an eventful month at Music Therapy Connections! My co-owner Katey and I started a new season of the Creative Business Breakdown, went on our inaugural “boss vacation” to Clearwater Beach, and launched a brand new program for music therapy business owners. Whew…what a whirlwind!
We returned from Florida feeling rested, inspired, and super excited to welcome fellow MT bosses into the Music Therapy CEO Project. Katey and I created a video to explain exactly what this program is all about, and what it entails:
The Music Therapy CEO Project is all about moving to the next level in your entrepreneurial journey, no matter what stage of business ownership you’re at currently. We’re teaching everything we know and have learned through experience about what it takes to have a CEO mentality and leadership style, including the steps to get there and then how to thrive in that role.
This program is comprised of a 5-credit CMTE course, along with an entire year of guidance and resources to help you apply what you learn during the course. Each month, you’ll receive videos, worksheets, sample documents, and other materials designed to help you continue to grow your business, improve your CEO mindset, embrace your role as a visionary, and strengthen your team, no matter how large or small.
Oh, and you also receive a 40% discount on ALL of the resources we’ve created for music therapists (including songbooks, digital resources for clinical application, and CMTE courses). This discount can be utilized by your entire team for the full year of enrollment.
Now through Friday, November 30, you can enroll as a charter member of the Music Therapy CEO Project and receive access to the course and entire year of resources for just $197.
If you’re a music therapy business owner, I hope you’ll make this investment in your professional development and business by joining us inside!
The post The Music Therapy CEO Project appeared first on Listen & Learn Music.
Original source: https://listenlearnmusic.com/2018/11/music-therapy-ceo-project.html
Can Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) Help Reduce Alzheimer’s? Story at-a-glance – An estimated 70 million American adults have a sleep disorder, the most common of which is insomnia — the inability to fall asleep, or waking up one or more times during the night Even if you’re doing everything else right, if you’re not sleeping enough, or not sleeping well, many of the benefits of your healthy lifestyle will be lost Middle-aged men who sleep five hours or less per night have twice the risk of having a major cardiovascular event compared to men who sleep at least seven to eight hours per night A sleep-induction method developed by the U.S. military claims to have a 96 percent success rate after six weeks of consistent implementation. The method centers around preparing your mind and body for sleep by deeply relaxing for about two minutes There’s evidence showing EMF exposure reduces melatonin production just like blue light from cellphones, tablets and computers do, making it particularly important to eliminate EMFs in your bedroom
An estimated 70 million American adults have a sleep disorder, the most common of which is insomnia 1 — the inability to fall asleep, or waking up one or more times during the night. If you’re in this category, despair not, because the list of strategies to improve your sleep is long.
While most sleep problems are tied to lifestyle choices such as spending too much time indoors during daylight hours, and/or excessive use of technology and chronic exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs), which will require you to make (perhaps significant) changes to your lifestyle, a number of tips and tricks can be useful in the short term.
A method developed by the U.S. military, revealed in the 1981 book, “Relax and Win: Championship Performance,” claims to have a 96 percent success rate after six weeks of consistent implementation. Military Method Preps Your Body for Sleep
The method centers around preparing your mind and body for sleep by deeply relaxing for about two minutes. The following summary of the process was recently published in the Evening Standard: 2
1. Relax your whole face, including your tongue, jaw and the muscles around your eyes
2. Drop your shoulders and relax your arms
3. Relax your chest as you breathe out
4. Relax your legs, from your thighs to your feet
5. Relax and clear your mind, then picture yourself in one of the following scenarios:
a. You’re lying in a canoe on a calm lake with nothing but blue sky above you
b. You’re snuggled in a black velvet hammock in a pitch-black room
c. Simply repeat “Don’t think, don’t think, don’t think” for 10 seconds 21 Additional Strategies to Help You Fall Asleep Faster
I’ve written numerous articles over the years, detailing all sorts of tips and tricks to help you fall asleep faster and improve the quality of your sleep. For an extensive listing of suggestions, see “ Sleep — Why You Need It and 50 Ways to Improve It .”
Medical News Today also recently published a list of “21 Ways to Fall Asleep Naturally,” which included the following: 3
1. Create a consistent sleeping pattern by going to bed and getting up at the same time throughout the week, including on weekends
2. Make sure your bedroom is as dark as possible. If you don’t have blackout shades, use an eye mask
3. Avoid taking naps during the day or too close to bedtime
4. Exercise regularly
5. Minimize cellphone use and use of other blue light-emitting devices
6. Read a book to relax before bed
7. Avoid caffeine and other stimulants at least four hours before bed
8. Meditate or practice mindfulness on a daily basis
9. “Count sheep” by slowly counting downward from 100 to zero
10. Avoid eating at least three hours before bedtime
11. Lower the temperature in your bedroom; an ideal temperature for sleeping is around 65 degrees F.
12. Use aromatherapy; lavender is relaxing and may help induce sleep
13. Find your most comfortable sleeping position. While the article suggests side sleeping, I would suggest you try sleeping in a neutral position — on your back with a pillow supporting your neck, not your head. For more information, see Dr. Peter Martone’s article on “ The Best Position for Sleep ”
14. Listen to relaxing music before bed
15. Don’t wait to use the bathroom; while it may seem distracting to get out of bed to pee, trying to hold it will simply disrupt your sleep later
16. Take a hot shower or bath before bed
17. Avoid e-books, as the blue light from the screen will impede melatonin release
18. Try a melatonin supplement. Another, perhaps even more effective alternative is 5-HTP, which is a precursor to both serotonin and melatonin. I believe this is a superior approach to using melatonin. In one study, an amino acid preparation containing both GABA (a calming neurotransmitter) and 5-HTP reduced time to fall asleep, increased the duration of sleep and improved sleep quality 4
19. Invest in a comfortable mattress. To this, I would add the suggestion to look for a chemical-free mattress to avoid exposure to flame retardant chemicals
20. Minimize noise; use ear plugs if environmental noise is unavoidable
21. Avoid alcohol Avoid Nighttime EMF to Improve Sleep Quality
While avoiding cellphones and other devices with electronic screens (including e-readers) is important to protect your melatonin production, another factor that can have a significant impact on your sleep quality is EMFs emitted from your home wiring.
There’s actually evidence showing EMF exposure reduces melatonin production 5 just like blue light from cellphones, tablets and computers do, making it particularly important to eliminate EMFs in your bedroom.
EMF exposure also triggers neuronal changes that affect memory and your ability to learn, 6 and harms your body’s mitochondria by producing excessive oxidative damage, so “marinating” in EMFs all night, every night, can cause or contribute to virtually any chronic ailment, including premature aging.
One of the easiest ways to avoid or radically limit your nighttime electric field exposure from the wiring in your room is to pull the circuit breaker to your bedroom before going to bed. Alternatively, have an electrician install a remote breaker for convenience, which is what I’ve done.
This will virtually eliminate electric fields in your bedroom, unless you have adjacent rooms with wiring in them, in which case you will need to measure the electric fields with a meter after you shut off the power to see if it goes into the lowest range. Another really important step is to turn off your Wi-Fi at night. Ideally, hard wire your home so you have no Wi-Fi 24/7 in your home. Lack of Sleep Raises Your Risk for Heart Disease and More
A review of hundreds of sleep studies concluded that, as a general rule, most adults need somewhere between seven and nine hours — or right around eight hours — of sleep per night to maintain good health .
Regularly getting less than seven hours per night has been scientifically linked to a wide array of health problems, ranging from weight gain 7 to an increased risk for cancer. Most recently, researchers again confirmed that lack of sleep can over time take a significant toll on your long-term heart health. 8 , 9 As reported by Medical Xpress: 10
“Middle-aged men who sleep five hours or less per night have twice the risk of developing a major cardiovascular event during the following two decades than men who sleep seven to eight hours …
Study author Ms. Moa Bengtsson, of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, said: ‘For people with busy lives, sleeping may feel like a waste of time but our study suggests that short sleep could be linked with future cardiovascular disease.
In our study, the magnitude of increased cardiovascular risk associated with insufficient sleep is similar to that of smoking or having diabetes at age 50.’”
Men who got only five hours or less per night were also more likely to smoke, be inactive and overweight, have high blood pressure and diabetes. Other studies have shown insufficient sleep and/or poor quality sleep can increase your risk for:
Accidents at work and on the road — Getting less than six hours of sleep leaves you cognitively impaired. In 2013, drowsy drivers caused 72,000 car accidents in which 800 Americans were killed and 44,000 were injured. 11
Even a single night of sleeping only four to six hours can impact your ability to think clearly the next day.
Diabetes — One 2015 study 12 linked “excessive daytime sleepiness” with a 56 percent increased risk for Type 2 diabetes .
Depression — More than half of people diagnosed with depression also struggle with insomnia. While it was long thought that insomnia was a symptom of depression, it now seems that insomnia may precede depression in some cases. 13
Your amygdala, one of your brain’s centerpiece regions for generating strong emotional reactions, including negative ones, becomes about 60 percent more reactive than usual when you’ve slept poorly or insufficiently, resulting in increased emotional intensity and volatility.
Impaired memory formation and increased risk of memory loss 14 — Sleep is essential not just for cementing events into long-term memory, but also for making sense of your life. During sleep, your brain pulls together and extracts meaning, while discarding unimportant details. In fact, sleep increases your ability to gain insights that would otherwise remain elusive by about 250 percent.
So, during sleep, part of your brain is busy stabilizing, enhancing and integrating new memories. It’s also extracting rules, and the “gist” of what’s happening in your life. Reduced productivity at work and poor grades in school are other associated side effects of insufficient sleep. Creativity is also diminished.
Impaired sexual function — In one study, 15 women with insomnia who were getting less than the recommended eight hours were found to be less sexually active after menopause. They also reported less sexual satisfaction overall.
Increased risk of pain and pain-related conditions such as fibromyalgia — In one study, poor or insufficient sleep was the strongest predictor for pain in adults over 50. 16
Chronic diseases — Sleep deprivation decreases your immune function, 17 which can have a snowball effect, raising your risk for cardiovascular disease, 18 , 19 Alzheimer’s 20 and cancer, just to name a few.
In the case of cancer, another critical mechanism involved is disrupted melatonin production. Melatonin is a hormone with antioxidant and anticancer activity.
It both inhibits the proliferation of cancer cells and triggers cancer cell apoptosis (self-destruction). Melatonin also interferes with the new blood supply tumors require for their rapid growth (angiogenesis). A number of studies have shown that night shift workers are at heightened risk of cancer for this reason.
Increased risk of dying from any cause — Compared to people without insomnia, the adjusted hazard ratio for all-cause mortality among those with chronic insomnia is 300 percent higher. 21 Sleep and Athletic Performance
While being a sleep coach may sound like a strange career, indeed, they do exist, and are slowly starting to break their way into the world of professional sports. This makes sense, considering the impact sleep can have on your athletic performance, and the fact that many professional athletes travel and have to deal with jet lag to boot. As previously noted by The Atlantic: 22
“Without proper sleep, whether it’s a short-term or long-term deficit, there are substantial effects on mood, mental and cognitive skills, and motor abilities. When it comes to recovery from hard physical efforts, there’s simply no better treatment than sleep, and a lot of it.”
The largest performance drop-offs can be seen among endurance athletes, and sports requiring quick reaction times and reflexes. To determine whether an athlete might gain a competitive edge simply by sleeping more, Stanford researcher Cheri D. Mah reached out to the Stanford Cardinal men’s basketball team.
For two weeks, the players’ athletic performance was assessed after getting their normal amount of sleep. They were fitted with motion-sensing wristbands to determine the actual length of their sleep, which averaged in at a mere 6.5 hours per night.
Next, the players were asked to extend their sleep time as much as possible for five to seven weeks. The players increased their average sleep time by about two hours, to 8.5 hours nightly. By the end of this test, players had improved their free throws by more than 11 percent, and their three-point shots by nearly 14 percent. Sprint drill speeds also improved for every single player on the team. As noted by The Atlantic:
“A 13-percent performance enhancement is the sort of gain that one associates with drugs or years of training — not simply making sure to get tons of sleep. Mah’s research strongly suggests that most athletes would perform much better with more sleep…” Sleep Coaching in the Big Leagues
A 2015 article in The Guardian 23 discusses the impact sleep coach Nick Littlehales, a former golf pro and marketer of bedding, has had on the Manchester United Football Club:
“Littehales scored early points with the manager for his success working with United defender Gary Pallister, whose debilitating back injuries eased once Littlehales discovered the player was sleeping on a mattress that hampered his injury treatment …
Sixteen years later he is a leading figure in the field, having assessed and reconfigured the bedrooms of a legion of international sporting stars as well as working with Chelsea, Real Madrid, England’s national side and a host of Olympians …
Littlehales makes sure sportspeople get the right hotel rooms on the right floor, the right air conditioning and temperature control, plus appropriate lighting and beds … Other important factors are the potential for total blackout from the sun and temperature control …
But the bedding is crucial. ‘If they don’t tick the boxes I’m bringing my own or we’ll try another hotel,’ he says … He says everyone has different physical and mental recovery times but that for elite athletes, five 90-minute sleep cycles a day is optimal … Training schedules are now often tailored around that need and many club training facilities now equipped with sleeping pods…”
Whether you’re a professional athlete or not, sleep is an important yet all too often overlooked factor in health and well-being. If you’re still skimping, thinking you’ve managed to get by OK so far, I urge you to reconsider and give sleep the attention it deserves. You can do everything else right, but if you’re not sleeping enough, or not sleeping well, many of the benefits of your healthy lifestyle will be lost. 0
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