A lack of quality sleep will affect every major body system and your mind, affecting your future health. Today one-third of adults do not get the recommended amount of sleep. Are you one of them?
Sleep affects every major physiological system. People who only average 5 hours a night have a 65% increase in all-cause mortality. In other words, they have a 65% higher chance of dying for any reason compared to people who get sufficient sleep. Sufficient sleep would be considered 80% of the time you get good quality 7 to 8 hours of sleep. Unfortunately, we cannot push the limits all week and then recover on extra weekend sleep, the damage that is done daily when we shortchange our sleep, is not repaired by weekend binges. Although the binges do feel great! :)
A shortage of sleep will affect our anxiety levels, can cause depression, it will affect our digestive system, and create digestive problems, and we all know that is no fun. A lack of sleep can cause headaches and heart disease. Not getting enough sleep will affect our hormone levels impacting our reproductive process as well as causing weight gain.
Your immune system will be affected. Just one night of four hours of sleep will create a 70% drop-in natural killer cell activity. Killer cells are just what they sound like, they go after and kill the cells that cause illness. This is a huge compromise for our immune system, so if you did not get enough sleep last night be sure to take extra precautions to stay healthy the next day.
In another study where DNA was measured in people when they got 6 hours of sleep compared to when they got 8 hours of sleep, there were 711 genes with distorted activity when they only had 6 hours of sleep. This means a lack of sleep will affect our DNA expression, which will ultimately affect our health.
1.6 billion people participate in an experiment twice a year and we call that Daylight Savings time. When we spring ahead there is a 24% increase in heart attacks and accidents and in the fall when we gain that extra hour there is a 21% decrease. Hmm, that should tell us something!
Are you ready to take some steps to get quality sleep and help your body heal?
Why water?
Water is crucial to wellness, it is needed for every major body function, including emotional wellness and digestion. You may have heard that the gut is your second brain, what does that even mean? That means that your gut microbiome is directing your body and your emotions, and unless you are tuned into this you are probably not aware of the impact. When we are having cravings that might be coming from the microbiome, they need to eat and may make suggestions that are not lining up with your wellness goals. When you are experiencing high levels of stress you probably need to add more water to your routine.
How much water?
We need half of our body weight in ounces of water every day to keep our bodies running smoothly. If you weigh 150 pounds you need 75 ounces each day. If you weigh 200 pounds you need 100 ounces. If you take medications or are dealing with a lot of stress or exercising, you will want to be drinking even more than this formula.
One of the main reasons people don’t drink enough water is that they don't want to use the bathroom so often. Well, yes, you will have to go more often in the beginning, but your body will adjust and begin to use the water properly. One trick is to get some pink Himalayan salt and put a few crystals on your tongue right before drinking the water, this helps the body retain the water and use it properly. Himalayan Pink Salt contains 81 minerals which our bodies need so adding it is a win/win.
'I don’t like the taste of water', is another reason I hear frequently. There are so many healthy options to add flavor your water: sliced cucumbers, lemons, mint, essential oils, vitality drops with electrolytes.
Are you ready to boost your metabolism, nourish your joints and muscles, improve your clarity, your skin and your energy levels?
Join us for a Sip & Shine 7-day challenge to jump start your hydration. Accountability makes the progress so much more fun and easy.
Ahealthynana
