“Dying for a good night’s sleep?” is the headline of T.S. Wiley & Bent Formby Ph.D’s book Lights Outs: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival. I stumbled across this catchy headline on the Stuff We Like page by the Whole9, which features a long list of recommended reading, cookbooks, and documentaries.
The book offers an argument that our current modern lifestyle, relying on artificial light and staying up to 11pm and beyond, misleads our bodies into thinking it’s in a perpetual state of summer. The authors suggest that in a more historic time this would have meant that food was to soon be scarce, coupled with the anticipated inactivity of winter, the body would then begin storing fat and slowing down. Thus leading the authors to claim that our own survival instinct may actually be hurting us as we strive to live with one eye perpetually open.
The authors make references to several published research studies from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which investigate the correlation between prevalent health problems in the U.S. and sleep deprivation. The authors also make claims as to how sleep deprivation can effect how and what we eat during times of extreme fatigue. In part, making us crave carbohydrates and sugar, which the authors argue lead to negative health consequences.
Do I think the book is an NY Times best seller? I’ll let the amazon reviews be the judge of that. I am not know for reading potentially poorly written, pop science books… however the authors did point me in the right direct to find some very interesting research articles. After running a search in the NIH database on sleep deprivation, my search yielded 73,300 results. While I might say that I don’t have time to read all 73,300 articles, I can make time to read the top 5 this weekend.
- The effects of a single night of sleep deprivation on fluency and prefrontal cortex function during divergent thinking.
- Cardiovascular, Inflammatory and Metabolic Consequences of Sleep Deprivation
- Sleep loss exacerbates fatigue, depression, and pain in rheumatoid arthritis.
- Sleep Deprivation Differentially Affects Dopamine Receptor Subtypes in Mouse Striatum
- Sleep deprivation: consequences for students.
Case and point – lack of sleep can cause negative effects on both our physiological and psychological well being. Lack of sleep can often be the reason your feeling low, the reason you want to skip out on our next workout, or the reason you feel a moment of weakness during your Whole30. Don’t let lack of sleep be the reason you don’t perform 100%.
With that being said, I’ve gotta get my beauty sleep! Let me know your thoughts on sleep deprivation or if you have read the book Lights Out.
Original Images: Sleep Banner – theskiny.com; Lights Out – amazon.com