There has been many articles written in recent months about how Americans are sleeping less than we used to. Seven to eight hours is the amount that most adults need to fully rejuvenate both body and mind. Yet, one study, reported in the National Geographic news of February 2005, shows that Americans are sleeping a full hour less than we did as recently as twenty to thirty years ago.

This same article reports that the cost of this lack of sleep, in added health care costs, is as much as $15 billion and perhaps as much as $50 billion in lost productivity.

These are staggering amounts of money. But the cost in health and quality of life are immeasurable.

All animals need sleep to repair damage done to our physical systems. Without adequate sleep our immune system becomes compromised and less effective, body temperature can decrease, and blood pressure may even rise. There is also an association between diminished sleep and diabetes.

So, how does this relate to weight management and specifically weight gain? There are two hormones that control appetite in the human body: ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin is made in the GI system and stimulates appetite, while leptin is produced in fat cells and signals to the brain the feeling of fullness. Thus, they work together as a sort of  biological checks and balances.

With sleep loss, ghrelin production increases and leptin decreases. Thus, when we sleep less, we are often dramatically hungrier than we might otherwise be, and it becomes difficult to be sated. This leads to overeating. Too many sleepless nights can lead to weight gain.

So, one way to help keep weight under control is to get a good night’s sleep. It won’t do it by itself of course, but proper sleep will help, along with proper nutrition and exercise, maintain a healthy weight,

More on this later.

Sources: WebMD:  The Dream Diet: Losing Weight While You Sleep (online article)
National Geographic News  Feb 24, 2005 (online article)

Tags: Better Health, Sleep Disorders, Weight Loss

PatientFYI: I want to discuss, briefly, the relationship between gum disease and both heart disease & diabetes.

Medical research has shown there is unquestionably shown that there is a positive link between gum disease and cancer, heart disease and diabetes. read more…

Tags: Find a Dentist, Gum Disease, heart disease, Medical Health, Oral Cancer

Dr. David Grayson: Everyone knows how hard it is to quit smoking. There are countless and myriad ways that people have tried to end their smoking habit.
One such way that many people are successfully able to quit smoking is with hypnosis.

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Tags: end smoking, hypnosis, quit smoking, quit smoking with hypnosis, smoking cessation, stop smoking, stop smoking with hypnosis

Dr. David Grayson: Periodontal (gum) disease is prevalent throughout the adult population in the United States and elsewhere. Untreated, it can lead to pain, swelling, abscesses and eventually tooth loss, and the loss of the supporting bone in the jaws.

More people above the age of 35 lose a tooth from gum disease than they do from cavities or decay. Periodontal disease is the number-one cause of tooth loss. According to the 1996 American Dental Association/Colgate survey, U.S. dentists say gum disease is a more pressing oral health concern than tooth decay by a 2-to-1 margin It is not curable, and should the jawbone deteriorate there is little that can be done to reverse it. It is however, very treatable, both surgically and non surgically.

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Tags: cancer, Diabetes, Gum Disease, heart disease, periododntal disease

Dr. David Grayson: Should you go through the trouble of tooth bleaching? You may think that you do not need this process of tooth whitening. After all, it can be difficult for you to see how yellow and aged your teeth have become in recent years.

Even when you look up close in the mirror, you may not see all of the stains due to smoking, drinking certain beverages and just plain age. However, you can be sure that others see this. Once you have your teeth whitened, you will say to yourself that you should have done this sooner! It can make all of the difference in the world to have your teeth whitened; yet it is neither a difficult nor a costly project when you go to a dentist who practices cosmetic dentistry. A trained cosmetic dentist can show you the shade your teeth are now, and then give you a good idea as to what shade they can be lightened to.

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Tags: Cosmetic Dentistry, teeth bleaching, teeth brightening, teeth lightening, tooth bleaching, tooth lighteneing, tooth whitening