Now I Lay Me Down to...

Sleep.  Sleep is a beautiful thing.  Letting your body go and leaving the world for a few hours.

Before the diet, my sleep patterns were erratic.  I'm what you call a morning person.  5 am visits to the gym.  But, I could also easily be a night owl.  Most days I was the first up and the last to bed.  I was operating on 4 hours of sleep most days.

I've read again and again that sleep impacts weight.  In fact, some articles suggest that sleep impacts weight more than exercise.  And, lack of sleep can be detrimental on ones weight.

In a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology, "women who slept seven hours or more put on less weight over 16 years than women who slept less, even if the other women exercised. Those who slept only six hours a night were 12 percent more likely to put on more than 30 pounds; if the women slept five hours or less, they were 32 percent more likely to gain that much. Other studies have found that lack of sleep impacts hormones that regulate appetite (ghrelin and leptin) and that a higher BMI is proportionally linked to less sleep. One solution is to set the alarm so that you get your full night of sleep and schedule your exercise for later in the day.”

So, there you have it.  Sleep is important.  Meaning, those 4 hours I was getting every night was not doing me any favors.  It's not like I was getting a lot of stuff done.

But, now... since I got in the box, I can barely keep my eyes open past 9 pm.  Sometimes 8 pm.  It's almost as if the diet is dictating this new habit.  It's not like I made a conscious effort to nearly double my sleep each night (which is basically what I have done).  Isn't that great, though?  More sleep is, but not being to stay awake isn't so great.

The other night I was watching a show with the kids and couldn't stay awake.  I fell asleep with them all over me.  It's like my body just can't stay awake anymore and it HAS to sleep.  But, I guess this is good and what I need right now... so I'm going to go with it and sleep away.