Your name:
All About YOU: What's Your Sleep Like?
This Week's Tips
Fill in the blank with the most appropriate comparison. Sleep is like __________.
- Sex, because you can never get too much
- Seat belts, because they help your body come to a stop
- Your favorite TV show, because it's best when it's uninterrupted
- Church, because it's always so quiet and peaceful
The answer is c. The more uninterrupted sleep you get, the better, because that's when your body enjoys the rapid eye movement and slow-wave sleep patterns that are so restorative.
Doctors don't know exactly why, but if you get less sleep than you need, or you don't get enough quality sleep, it increases your arterial aging and the risk of heart attack. Studies show that the optimal amount is 7 to 8 hours a night for men and 6 to 7 hours for women. And those need to be solid hours: It takes about 2.5 hours of straight sleep before it becomes truly restorative.
One risk of not getting enough shut-eye? Putting on pounds. Lack of sleep releases less of the pleasure hormone serotonin in your brain. To compensate, you try to increase those levels with foods like sugar or with harmful substances like tobacco. Ignoring sleep is like ignoring a leak in the roof -- if you do, things will only get worse.
RealAge Benefit:
Getting 6 to 8 hours of sleep per night can make your RealAge as much as 3 years younger.
RealAge Smart Search: Find out how to improve your sleep with these hand-selected results.
Relevant Product Search: Visit Amazon.com for products that can help you sleep better at night.
YOU: The Owner's Manual. Roizen, M. F., Oz, M. C., New York: HarperCollins, 2005.
