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Sleep Deprivation (continutes to) Stink! Just Like a Diet…
Here is Part 2 of the series “How Sleep Deprivation is Like a Diet.” See Part 1 here.
We left off with number 4, so let’s dive in and finish the list:
You do random things to distract yourself.
When I thought of the idea for this article, I had just started off on a walk through our neighborhood with all three kiddos in tow. You might ask, “Kelly, if you’re so tired, what on earth compelled you to go on a walk?”
It’s because if I stop moving, I WILL FALL ASLEEP. And then I might not get up. And then I will be extra irritable because I almost had what I wanted and it was ripped away from me.
On Thursday afternoons, I am home with both of my boys while my daughter is at school. A few weeks ago, they both miraculously napped for over 2 hours until I had to wake them up to pick her up from school. But could I get any rest in? Nope.
For a few reasons, one being as I have no idea when the baby will wake up. The toddler, fortunately, is a bit more predictable. I knew that it would be so much harder to get out of the house and on time to get my daughter if I tried to catch a cat nap. It’s better to just keep going. So, I folded laundry, unloaded the dishwasher, swept the floor, and caught up on the current season of This is Us in the process, so at least it made it slightly more bearable.
On a diet, when hunger pangs hit and you know you “can’t” eat anything, what do you do? Probably literally anything else. You might brush your teeth or paint your nails or call a friend or clean. (Anything else you’ve done, I’d love to hear – drop in the comments!)
Use of caffeinated beverages.
I live on caffeine. I wear my caffeine molecule necklace nearly every day. The high caffeine intake was commonplace as I completed college, while working as well. It was a necessity during my dietetic internship.
[To become a registered dietitian, after completing a Bachelor’s degree, you must be matched to a dietetic internship, where you complete 1200 of supervised practice. I was matched to Saint Louis University’s internship. So our supervised hours were 8 hour days Tuesday through Friday. Monday we had other projects to do and lectures, etc. We also had graduate classes Monday-Thursday evenings. Definitely a busy, stressful time.]
When I was pregnant with my first daughter, I quit cold turkey (even though research has shown that moderate caffeine is totally safe during most pregnancies – thank goodness for my two later pregnancies).
Then once I started working after she was born, I was bumping up a bit. I had to keep some intake with my son’s pregnancy, though I did switch from coffee to tea. With this last pregnancy, I kept the coffee, but decreased the amount.
Now, to get through a normal day, I brew four cups of coffee in the morning, and might need a diet Dr. Pepper or Starbucks Espresso Double shot to get me through the day. (Not saying that’s healthy – just saying that’s my reality right now.)
In the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, there are reports of the participants drinking up to 80 oz of coffee per day. (They also had unlimited access to chewing gum and would go through dozens of sticks – don’t think that helps much with sleep, though.) Caffeine keeps bodies going that would otherwise just shut down from lack of energy (whether internal energy from sleep or external energy from food).
It messes with hormones.
Our bodies use sleep to reset our brains and our bodies. Hormones are affected when you’re not getting “reset” at night. Those facing chronic sleep deprivation have higher evening levels of cortisol and lower levels of leptin.
Chronically high cortisol levels can increase your risk for heart disease, osteoporosis, insulin resistance (which could lead to diabetes), among other effects.
Leptin is a hormone that leads to satisfaction after eating. If you’re not feeling satisfied because leptin levels are low, you will eat more. To an extent, that makes sense – we’re not getting internal rest and energy, so we need to get energy from somewhere.
I also wonder if this change in hormones is due to hunter-gatherer days. Maybe if we weren’t getting enough or restful sleep, our bodies thought we were in danger – listening for an enemy, so we would need extra energy and higher blood sugar to be able to run or fight if our enemy approached.
Dieting also impacts cortisol, leptin, and ghrelin. Ghrelin is known as the “hunger hormone.” Think of your stomach “ghr-owling.” When calories are restricted, ghrelin increases – so you’re hungrier – and leptin decreases – so you don’t feel satisfied. Both of these make it likely that you’ll eat more.