Our bodies need sleep. In fact, 6-9 hours of consistent nightly sleep is required for our bodies to function properly. When we lose sleep, we tend to only consider the outward manifestations of the loss and even play them down. Dark circles appear around our eyes. Make-up can easily cover those circles. Or our eyes may appear swollen and puffy eyes. Some frozen cucumber slices will resolve that issue. Feeling drowsy? A few cups of coffee will give us the caffeine jolt needed to get through the day. What about diminished ability to focus? Do we rationalize that the report that is due today may have to wait until tomorrow, because there are just too many distractions?
What we don’t realize, however, is that we are depriving our bodies when we fail to get adequate rest. We hinder its rejuvenative abilities! During sleep, our body begins to repair itself. Hormones are produced and released. Cells are reproduced. Memories are created and formed. Knowledge is stored in the maps of our brain, and healing is regenerated in every organ! The body is able to do all of this because we are not asking it to perform the other demanding physical or mental tasks it has to do when we are awake.
Fight or Flight
Lack of sleep causes increased production of the hormone Cortisol, better known as the “stress hormone”, which is released by the adrenal glands. This is the same hormone that is activated when the body is operating under the “fight or flight” syndrome. The production of this hormone keeps you running efficiently though your body is experiencing the stress of sleep deprivation.
Beware, however, that long term secretions of this hormone– cortisol, result in increased belly fat, which leads to high blood pressure, diabetes, decreased immune function, and inflammatory conditions in the joints such as arthritis.
Deception
Have you ever noticed how hunger increases when you’ve been deprived of sleep? You grab a snack, which is usually carbohydrate based. The sugar causes a quick spike in blood sugar giving you a quick burst of energy that usually drops back down in 30 minutes time, leaving you feeling worse than you did before you ate!
The body thinks it is hungry, but food is not what is really needed; it is really craving sleep. This deception is caused by a second hormone, Ghrelin, which is produced in the gastrointestinal tract and secreted to stimulate appetite, thus signaling the brain that the body is hungry and thereby leading you to eat when you should be sleeping!
Communication
The third hormone to consider when you are not accumulating adequate sleep is Leptin. This hormone is secreted from fat cells and is responsible for telling the brain that we are full and satisfied. Insufficient sleep, however, causes a decrease in production of this hormone, and the brain interprets that the body is not full or satisfied. This is why many sleep-deprived people suffer with obesity and other weight-related issues.
When these three hormones are in balance and operating normally, the body burns calories from the food and converts them into energy. If there is loss of sleep and an over or under production of these hormones, the body is thrown out of balance and begins to crave what it doesn’t really need.
God beautifully and uniquely created us and He knew from the beginning what we would need to function well. That is why he set the standard of rest on the 7th day of creation. “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy“(Exodus 20:11 KJV).
