Author Archives: Cathy Biase

Consider this: We sleep for about 1/3 of our life.  That, my friends, is a significant amount of time!

So, what happens when we sleep?

Have you ever thought about it?

Well I’m here to tell you that there is a world of action going on as we lay supine bridging one day to the next.

Brain Action

While we sleep our brain is working hard to process what we’ve learned during the day. Research also shows that sleep may promote the removal of waste products from brain cells.  Effectively this means that while we sleep our brains are detoxifying.

Detoxifying and Repairing

While we sleep our body is also hard at work detoxifying other areas of our body, as well as repairing it.

Our liver is at its peak detox stage between 1 and 3 am and our lungs around 4am.

And during sleep our body repairs cells, tissues and muscles. It synthesizes proteins and releases hormones.

Immune System

While we sleep our immune system is hard at work defending us.  It releases cytokines (proteins that fight inflammation and infection) as well as antibodies and immune cells that work to fight off harmful germs and infection.

So, as I am sure you can surmise, sleep is not a passive passage of time.  It’s an essential piece of our health puzzle.

Sleep Disruptors

There are many things to take a look at when you are trying to figure out why you may not be getting a good night’s sleep:

• Poor sleep habits like not going to bed at a consistent time each night
• Stress
• Certain medications
• External light
• Room Temperature

And I am going to offer up one more.  A reason not often considered.

Are you consuming enough good quality food each and every day?  If not, this could be a contributing factor to poor sleep.

You need to provide your body with enough of the essential nutrients that it requires to have the energy it needs to perform all of those tasks that I mentioned above.  It’s vital for a restful sleep.

Our activity level, metabolism, body weight and how much we sleep each night are key factors in determining how many calories we burn while we sleep.

You can turn to calculators like https://captaincalculator.com/health/calorie/calories-burned-sleeping-calculator/ to help you determine more precisely how many calories you burn while sleeping but to put things into a bit of perspective here, a person weighing 150lbs may burn 400 calories during 8 hours of sleep while someone who is 185lbs may in the area of 500 calories.

It’s significant isn’t it?

I’m seeing this issue pop up more and more, especially in people who are experimenting with some form of fasting.  Fasting can be a great tool if done properly.  But it is not for everyone and definitely should be discussed with a practitioner who has experience in this area.

So here is a parting tip for you if you are trying to improve your sleep.

Keep a daily food journal.  Record what and how much you eat every day.

What you learn from it may surprise you!

References

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/how-sleep-clears-brain

https://www.healthline.com/health/why-do-we-sleep#restoration

https://www.healthline.com/health/calories-burned-sleeping