No Rest for the Weary

Lately I've been under an overload of stress and is interfering with my ability to get a good night's sleep. I've always said that I'm an eight hour a night sort of girl, but for the past two weeks six hours is about all I've been achieving. I definitely get deep into REM sleep - oh, the crazy dreams I have had! Somehow I am able to function...but is function enough?

Lack of sleep can have tragic consequences. Think of Michael Jackson. Many of us enjoyed at least some of his music, got all silly trying to do the "Thriller" dance... His death was shocking. Seeing someone who has led such a troubled life crash and burn like that - it is just very, very sad. I can't imagine living in the public eye as he did, being the subject of rumor, innuendo, and scorn, even after being proven innocent in a court of law. It's no surprise that Michael Jackson struggled with getting enough sleep

According to the reports, Diprivan was found in his home. Diprivan is a powerful sedative used to induce general anesthesia in operating rooms. His nurse claims he begged her for the drug and that she did not comply. "He wasn't looking to get high or feel good and sedated from drugs," she said. "This was a person who was not on drugs. This was a person who was seeking help, desperately, to get some sleep, to get some rest." This is a drug approved by the FDA for use in a clinical setting, not in a home. Used in conjunction with other sedatives, it could cause seizures, respiratory depression and cardiac arrest.

If this is what killed him, I find it incredibly tragic that he was just looking to SLEEP. Insomnia is horrible and the man was desperate for some rest. The thought of someone being that desperate for sleep, for relief from stress and anxiety...it's sad on a level that I cannot even put into words.

Heath Ledger died from a toxic combination of prescription drugs, reportedly also trying to fight the demons of anxiety, depression and insomnia. In a New York Times interview published in 2007, Ledger said, "Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night. ... I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going."

A restless mind is painful. Thoughts that keep turning, churning and boiling over without ever allowing rest, day after day, must be an unbearable torment. No wonder sleep deprivation is used a a form of torture. I know when I was suffering from Graves' Disease and suffered from the inability to sleep, I was in agony. Thankfully, I *did* find solace in God. But Michael Jackson... somehow he must have missed that. With all his money, with all his creative energy and amazing talent...he missed finding peace. He missed finding the peace that passes all understanding. That is tragic indeed.

One thing I say repeatedly is this: Success in fitness is like a three-legged stool. The legs on that stool are Nutrition, Exercise and Rest. Which of the three legs is most important? Any one that is missing! A stool isn't going to stand on only two out of three legs, at best it'll wobble a bit at first before crashing but it will fall over.

Lack of sleep wreaks havoc on two major hormones - ghrelin and leptin. Miss out on sleep and you produce too much ghrelin, a hormone that triggers your appetite. At the same time you are producing more ghrelin, you produce less leptin - the hormone that says, "I'm full!" Tired people eat more. (Although currently I have been forgetting to eat thanks to stress. I wonder what that is doing to my ghrelin/leptin levels?)

According to Forbes magazine, sleep is the new sex. We all need it, we all want it, and quite a large number of us are having a hard time getting it! The average American is getting about 6.8 hours of sleep each night and having a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. Since lack of sleep is linked to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease this should be alarming. Americans are buying approximately 2 billion dollars worth of sleeping pills a year - what a wake up call (pun intended)!

So what can we do to get more sleep? These are methods I've used in the past but somehow got myself so tangled up in the moment that I slacked off. This information is not to replace medical advice: if you are struggling with insomnia or extreme fatigue, please see your healthcare professional.

1. Take 500 mg calcium and 250 mg magnesium before bedtime. (A tip from my doctor).

2. Turn off the TV, get away from the computer, start setting the stage for bed one hour before bedtime.

3. Escape in a good book before bedtime, a book that will distract your mind from the stressors and distractions of the day. Positive mental imagery will relax the mind.

4. Progressive muscle relaxation and deep breathing techniques. I have an old series of CDs called "Ten Minutes to Relax." Each CD has 5 or 6 10-minute long relaxation exercises that work wonderfully. I'll be back in the saddle doing these today.

5. Pray and meditate. The Bible says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication make your requests known to God," and "Cast all your anxiety on Him for He cares for you." Studies have shown that regular prayer and meditation is good for the heart and is a helpful sleep aid.

6. Take a nap. If I haven't gotten a good night's sleep, I find that an afternoon nap does wonders to revive me. In fact, that's part of my plan for today!

On a closing note, laughter is always good medicine. Please enjoy this hillarious video called "Case Studies from the Groat Center for Sleep Disorders."