Vicious cycle

Scott Schwab:
I started thinking the other day about sleep and how important it is to our health. On average, a person who weighs 150 pounds will burn about 65 calories per hour as they sleep. By applying some math we see how important the hours we sleep become. With the recommended 8 hours of sleep per night, we would burn on average about 520 calories.
What a great way to start our day and be rejuvenated. However, increasing amounts of Americans suffer from lack of sleep and insomnia. It is recorded in the American Health Journal, that adults are staying up later and often times not staying asleep. Even more interesting, I read an article that for the first time, adults are now gaming more than teenagers.
With the wonders of Tevo and net flix and game consuls that put the atari to shame, we are finding more reasons to stay awake and get into our show or our game. Life is not slowing down by any means, and our responsibilities are not being reduced. We are finding more time being put in at our jobs, more societal events, sporting events, children's extra curricular activities, etc. We wonder where the time goes, but it is disappearing before our face.
Sleep however, recharges our battery for the next day. It also has effects with healthy skin, healthy mind, and a healthy heart. As we push our bodies more and more, we begin to notice the affects of aging, stress, and even anxiety. This cycle continues and we find ourselves getting sick for no reason, having trouble doing daily tasks, and having interest in normal tasks. Sound familiar? Maybe we need a 5 hour energy, because "what is your 2:30 feeling like?" Wrong, the last thing you need is extra sugar and caffeine.
Many people are finding difficulty sleeping, because of the amounts of sugar and caffeine that they consume during a day. Though we may not fully realize it, we are putting things in our body that affect our daily routine and ultimately our overall happiness. We must sleep, but how can we do that with gallons of soda and ounces of sugar in our body? It is time to take back our lives, by inserting a little discipline. When it is time to go to bed, shut off the T.V. or game and go up to bed. Additionally, we need to avoid taking things into our bodies that keep us awake.

Here are 10 tips that if implemented can help you find balance and avoid the vicious cycle of sleep deprivation.

1) Early to bed early to rise
2) Avoid caffeine and high amounts of sugar
3) Exercise...It helps prepare your body for sleep
4) Read a book rather than watch T.V. for relaxation
5) Make your evening meal earlier, it takes time for the body to digest
6) Drinking, limit drinking so you are not getting up in the night
7) Eat whole grains and vegetables throughout the day
8) Avoid hours of T.V. watching or game playing, or Internet surfing
9) Get tasks for the day completed and not let them linger into tomorrow
10)Personal hygiene is very important, take a shower, brush teeth, etc.

On a final note, realize that bodies that have more muscle will burn more calories. Lean muscle requires more energy and will burn more calories per hour than fatty cells. Here is a video that points out the benefits of sleep:

How Many Calories Do You Burn Sleeping? -- powered by ehow