1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,000 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:10,000 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to stop Mom never told you? 3 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: From housetop works dot Com. Hello and welcome to the podcast. 4 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,240 Speaker 1: I'm Kristen and I'm Molly. Molly. How are you feeling today? 5 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:25,799 Speaker 1: We're recording on Monday. Are you well rested from the weekend? 6 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 1: You know, I'm I'm I could probably have a few 7 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:30,160 Speaker 1: more hours to sleep in me. I tend to get 8 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:32,360 Speaker 1: a little off off my schedule on the weekends. Do 9 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:35,520 Speaker 1: you think you sleep more or just just at different times. 10 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:38,199 Speaker 1: I think so that you know, by Sunday night, I'm 11 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 1: not quite ready to go to bed at my normal time. 12 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,520 Speaker 1: I hear you. I had similar problem last night, and 13 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:47,200 Speaker 1: that's why on my way home from work today, I 14 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 1: am going to pick up a sleep mass fancy I 15 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:52,480 Speaker 1: decided to do it. I just I wake up too 16 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 1: many times in the middle of the night, and um, 17 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: I just I need I need a full eight hours 18 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: of sleep uninterrupted. It's affecting your health. I just feel 19 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 1: sluggish during the day. You know. Mom always told me 20 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: to get my get my beauty sleep. I don't like 21 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:08,479 Speaker 1: waking up and having, you know, puffy eyes. And I've 22 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: noticed that there's a week when I don't get enough sleep. 23 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,400 Speaker 1: My skin's not as good, I don't have as much focus. 24 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: So I think that it definitely affects me. Well, Kristen, 25 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,840 Speaker 1: can I ask you something of a personal question? Sure? 26 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: Do you find that those weeks so when you don't 27 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:26,640 Speaker 1: get enough sleep, you might feel a little chubbier, might 28 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 1: gain a pound or two. I think I eat worse 29 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 1: than I normally would if there's a week when I'm 30 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:36,560 Speaker 1: not uh, when I'm not sleeping as much, because I'm 31 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 1: probably just eating out of stress. Well, there actually it 32 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:43,399 Speaker 1: might be a link between a bad night's sleep and 33 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: wake gain. That's right. There's been a lot of research 34 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: recently linking obesity and lack of sleep. And there was 35 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: a study of nine thousand people between nine two and 36 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:57,200 Speaker 1: nine eight four that found that people who average six 37 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: hours of sleep per night or and more likely to 38 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:03,279 Speaker 1: be overweight than people who got seven to nine hours 39 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: of sleep and okay, more likely. That's that's pretty big. 40 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: But Molly checked this out. People in the same study 41 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 1: who are only sleeping five hours a night or more 42 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: likely to be overweight. I know that's pretty pretty frightening 43 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:20,960 Speaker 1: because I think there are definitely a few nights where 44 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: I clock in at five hours, and sometimes you try 45 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,920 Speaker 1: and say, oh, I only need six hours. I'm really 46 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:28,200 Speaker 1: more of a ten hour sleeper. But there's really not 47 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:32,160 Speaker 1: as much um leeway as we might think. Basically, researchers 48 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: are saying that you need seven hours as a minimum, 49 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: except you know, for babies and the elderly, right seven 50 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 1: to nine hours of sleep. And I know that it's 51 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:42,240 Speaker 1: a rare week when I when I hit that number 52 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:45,800 Speaker 1: every single night. Well, you might be hitting new numbers 53 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: on the scale if you don't start hitting your sleep number. 54 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 1: And let me tell you why what Because it misses 55 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 1: with your hormone. Of course, I'll goes back to hormones. 56 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:57,079 Speaker 1: All goes back to hormones, but in this case, these 57 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 1: are hormones that affect both males and females. The hormones 58 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:04,639 Speaker 1: we're talking about are called lepton and greenland, and leptin 59 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:09,639 Speaker 1: is the hormone that triggers our body to turn off 60 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:13,280 Speaker 1: our appetites. Let's if we're eating a big meal. Um, 61 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:15,920 Speaker 1: it kicks in once our stomachs are full and we 62 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: need to put our fork down. So when we go 63 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:21,799 Speaker 1: to sleep, it's really convenient that ore leptin levels rise 64 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: so that we don't wake up in the middle of 65 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: the night starving. Exactly. So if you've have like a 66 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 1: late night and you end up at a place like 67 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: waffle House or I hop in, might because you're not asleeping, 68 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 1: don't have enough lectin to shut that off. So basically, 69 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:35,320 Speaker 1: when you're sleep deprived, you have two little lepton So 70 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: basically your brain is never getting the message that you're full. 71 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:39,760 Speaker 1: You don't have any energy, so you just keep eating 72 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: and eating and eating mindless snacking, mindless snacking. And then 73 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: at the same time, there's another hormone related to eating 74 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: called greenland, and this is basically the hunger hormone. This 75 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:52,280 Speaker 1: signals your body that you need to eat more food 76 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 1: because you don't have enough energy to fulfill your your 77 00:03:55,960 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 1: physical needs, right, and so when you're sleep deprived, you 78 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: have too much of this. So basically left in and greenland, 79 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 1: when they're working right, are sort of like the checks 80 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,520 Speaker 1: and balances system from your appetite. Exactly, one is telling 81 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: you that you're fall and then one will kick start 82 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:09,760 Speaker 1: and be like, oh, you know what we need to 83 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: do soon, right, so if you're not getting enough sleep, 84 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:17,040 Speaker 1: that means that your greenland levels are going to be higher, 85 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 1: which means you're going to be abnormally hungry. And not 86 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 1: only that, it triggers your body to sore. Energy is 87 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:26,480 Speaker 1: fat instead of burning it. And you know Kristen, sleep 88 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 1: deprivation has also been found to increase levels of certain 89 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:33,960 Speaker 1: stress hormones and it might create insolent resistance in people, right, 90 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,480 Speaker 1: and that could lead to weight weighting and also type 91 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:41,440 Speaker 1: two diabetes. Now, the reason why this is a particular 92 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:47,040 Speaker 1: problem for women is because women statistically are twice as 93 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:50,839 Speaker 1: likely to report sleep problems as men. Insomnia is the 94 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:54,120 Speaker 1: number one sleep problem that that women experience, according to 95 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 1: the National Sleep Foundation UM and while sixty of women 96 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:01,560 Speaker 1: report insomnia, only of men do the same thing. Right, 97 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:03,840 Speaker 1: And the same study from the National Sleep Foundation, more 98 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:06,280 Speaker 1: than half of American women say they get a good 99 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:08,919 Speaker 1: night's sleep only a few nights per week. So I 100 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:10,760 Speaker 1: mean that's half the week where you might be at 101 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 1: risk for these higher higher levels of lepton and lower 102 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:16,160 Speaker 1: levels of greenland. And one thing that I found most 103 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:20,159 Speaker 1: interesting about these statistics dealing with with specifically with women 104 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:23,359 Speaker 1: who have sleep problems was the number one category of 105 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 1: women who were having trouble sleeping or stay at home moms. Yeah, 106 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: it's pretty interesting. So this Christian leads me to ask, 107 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 1: is sleep the new diet? Do you have to exercise? 108 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: Do you have to eat right? Can you just sleep 109 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: more and keep your appetite and check? I don't think 110 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:42,120 Speaker 1: that we can ever deny Molly that healthy diet and 111 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:45,159 Speaker 1: exercise is going to be important for being healthy. But 112 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: a number of studies have also found that, um, if 113 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:52,160 Speaker 1: you aren't sleeping enough at the same time, the health 114 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:57,040 Speaker 1: benefits of exercise and good proper eating are basically going 115 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:00,839 Speaker 1: to cancel each other out. For instance, there was a 116 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:03,680 Speaker 1: recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of 117 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: Science that found that slim, healthy adults whom were deprived 118 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:13,800 Speaker 1: of slow wave sleep for only three nights built up 119 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: the same level of insulin resistance as someone who gained 120 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:21,839 Speaker 1: twenty to thirty pounds. So it seems pretty apparent to 121 00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:24,120 Speaker 1: me that we need to focus a lot on how 122 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:28,159 Speaker 1: much sleep we're getting. Well Kristen to play Devil's advocate, 123 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:30,760 Speaker 1: I have found some research that says it might be 124 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:32,839 Speaker 1: um a little the connection might be a little bit 125 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:36,039 Speaker 1: more tenuous than all this previous research is shown, because 126 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:37,920 Speaker 1: remember how you're talking how you wake up a lot 127 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:40,800 Speaker 1: in the night. It turns out it's a lot about 128 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: the quality of sleep you're getting. So when people started 129 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:46,760 Speaker 1: figuring out that there was a connection between sleep and obesity, 130 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:49,400 Speaker 1: they started to look at sleep problems people had, and 131 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:52,120 Speaker 1: a lot of people have sleep apnea, which is when 132 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:54,240 Speaker 1: they stop breathing while they sleep, and that's can happen 133 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 1: like hundreds of times and night, which means that if 134 00:06:56,560 --> 00:06:58,680 Speaker 1: you're getting eight hours of sleep, it only feels like 135 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:01,240 Speaker 1: four because you can't get into the deep levels of sleep, 136 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: so you're still experiencing that slow wave sleep deprivation that 137 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:08,640 Speaker 1: that was reflected in that study that I just talked about, 138 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 1: probably exactly. But do you know what they found in 139 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 1: terms of leptin and those people. You know how we 140 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:16,160 Speaker 1: were talking about how most people who are superprived to 141 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:18,520 Speaker 1: have two little leftin right and lefton is the appetite 142 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:21,360 Speaker 1: suppressing hormone, right, But people who have sleep apne i 143 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 1: have really high levels of leptin, which was really contrary 144 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 1: to what they thought they were going to find. So 145 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:29,160 Speaker 1: what does that mean. It means that leptin maybe more 146 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:32,840 Speaker 1: of an individual saying than than than we might be thinking. 147 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: It can't be just you know, a one size fits 148 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 1: all left in uh solution. Okay, well, um, I will 149 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:44,560 Speaker 1: back that up with UM studies that have also exploring 150 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:47,280 Speaker 1: kind of the gender differences in sleep, looking at why 151 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:50,760 Speaker 1: women have more sleep problems than men. In addition to 152 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 1: we've got these different levels of lefton and greenland hormones, 153 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:57,320 Speaker 1: but also UM scientists think that it might be related 154 00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 1: to levels of trip to fans there atnin and melotonin 155 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 1: um in women and men that could be leading women 156 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:08,400 Speaker 1: to to not have his RESTful sleep. Oh, Kristen, why 157 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:12,200 Speaker 1: does it always come back to hormones? Always hormones? So 158 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:13,920 Speaker 1: I think what we're dealing here with, Kristen, is a 159 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 1: lot of interesting studies that show us that there's this 160 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 1: connection between sleep and OBC and it couldn't hurt to 161 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:23,400 Speaker 1: get more sleep, right, But we also can't give up 162 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: yet our gym memberships or our diet exactly. So that 163 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:32,280 Speaker 1: leads us to, Molly, how do we get more sleep? 164 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:34,679 Speaker 1: How when I turn my light out and put my 165 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:37,319 Speaker 1: new sleep mask on, how am I not going to 166 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:39,560 Speaker 1: wake up? Like eight times in the middle of the night. 167 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:42,679 Speaker 1: Do you exercise before you go to sleep. I am 168 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:45,520 Speaker 1: a night exerciser. I trying to exercise in the morning 169 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:47,960 Speaker 1: and I cannot do it. We'll just make sure you 170 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: finish that work up work out before about three hours 171 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: afore that time. Well, one thing that I've also been 172 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:56,560 Speaker 1: trying to do that's supposed to help with sleeping is 173 00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 1: not spending as much time in bed before I'm actually 174 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:02,000 Speaker 1: ready to go to sleep, because I like to just 175 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 1: lounge around read some for like an hour or so 176 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:07,880 Speaker 1: before going to bed, and supposedly that it is actually 177 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 1: making it harder for me to go to sleep. Yeah, 178 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: I hear. You've got to like build this relationship with 179 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:14,560 Speaker 1: your bed where sleep is only gonna happens in. And 180 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:17,240 Speaker 1: the good news is that for normal people who are 181 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: getting the right amount of sleep, it takes about fifteen 182 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:22,840 Speaker 1: minutes to actually fall asleep. So if you're if you're 183 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:26,520 Speaker 1: hitting the pillow and you're not immediately nodding off, that's 184 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:29,160 Speaker 1: actually a good sign, right, But if it takes you 185 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:30,839 Speaker 1: more than say half an hour or an hour to 186 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:32,680 Speaker 1: fall asleep, you need to get up and do something. 187 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:35,360 Speaker 1: If you keep tossing and turning in bed. It's actually 188 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:38,960 Speaker 1: going to kind of create a negative relationship with your 189 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:42,920 Speaker 1: bed and build up anxiety around falling asleep. So it's 190 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: going to create a negative feedback cycle and you're really 191 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 1: not going to be able to have a RESTful night's sleep. 192 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:53,360 Speaker 1: So Molly, what I recommend if you are a restless 193 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: sleeper you need to get up and and and do 194 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,120 Speaker 1: some things before you fall asleep. You could just go 195 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:02,360 Speaker 1: go out your laptop, put your PC and just go 196 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 1: to how stuff works dot com and read read some 197 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:09,120 Speaker 1: more articles about sleep and hunger and obesity and anything 198 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:14,120 Speaker 1: else that might satisfy your needs. So there's our advice 199 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: from Dr Kristen. Head on over to how stuff works 200 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 1: dot com for more on this and thousands of other topics. 201 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:30,160 Speaker 1: Is it how stuff works dot com brought to you 202 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:33,560 Speaker 1: by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are 203 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:33,800 Speaker 1: you