Good Sleep Slows Aging And Prevents Weight Gain

Sleep is a necessity, not a luxury. When you don’t get enough sleep you might experience:
• stress
• anxiety
• depression
• weight gain
and general poor health including hypertension and diabetes II, loss of motor skills, loss of coping skills, lowered productivity, and a shorter life span. 75% of Americans experience a symptom of insomnia each week.

Sleep expert Dr. James Maas says the human body has limits as to what it can endure without rest, and, sadly, most of us are grossly exceeding those limits. According to Maas, 74% of us sleep less than the recommended 8 hours during the work week – making us moderately to seriously sleep deprived. Sleep loss is cumulative, it can have devastating effects. People who go several days without sleep often experience such detrimental symptoms as hallucinations, delusions of persecution, slowed reflexes, impaired judgment, and feelings of hostility. Dr. Maas says we do not understand the need for sleep and the consequences of sleep deprivation. It is important that as a society we must learn to place value on sleep as much as we value the importance of proper nutrition and exercise.

According to Dr. Maas, if you sleep more on weekends, need an alarm clock, or can easily fall asleep within 5 minutes of going to bed, you are sleep deprived. The process of sleep restores, rejuvenates, and energizes the body and the brain. Maas reports that sleeping has profound effects on your life, in terms of alertness, energy, mood, body weight, perception, memory, thinking, reaction time, productivity, performance, communication skills, creativity, safety and good health.

SLEEP STRATEGIES FOR SLEEP DEPRIVATION
Dr. Maas says there are four “golden rules” for a great night’s sleep and a better tomorrow:
1) Determine your sleep requirement and meet it every night;
2) Maintain a regular sleep/wake schedule;
3) Get continuous, uninterrupted sleep; and
4) Make up for lost sleep (power nap).

Dr. James B. Maas, is the author of the New York Times Best Seller Power Sleep: The Revolutionary Program That Prepares Your Mind for Peak Performance, (HarperCollins 1998). He is Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow, Professor and past chairman of the Department of Psychology at Cornell University. In addition, he is a Recipient of the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Educator Award; and serves as a keynote presenter for major corporations worldwide including the Young Presidents Organization, Marriott, IBM, Apple Computer, Eastman Kodak, etc. He received his B.A. from Williams College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University. Dr. Maas has made television appearances on The 700 Club, NBC Nightly News, ABC’s 20/20, the Today Show, Good Morning America, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. www.powersleep.org

[tags]sleep, sleep and aging, sleep and weight gain, lose weight, slow aging[/tags]