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Sleep-Tight Solutions
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Don't lose sleep over study findings – everyone's sleep needs vary
By Jane Doucet
 Just when you think you’ve read everything that has ever been written about how to get a good night’s sleep, yet another study is published that contradicts previous findings. For example, a report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine reveals that too much sleep (nine hours or more) or too little sleep (five hours or less) increases a person’s risk of heart disease, while another study that appeared in the Archives of General Psychiatry indicates that less sleep means a longer life and nabbing eight hours or more may shave some years off your life.
So what’s the real scoop on sleep? Common sense dictates that if you’re sleep-deprived over an extended period of time, your health will suffer. Studies suggest that sleep loss can affect your short-term memory, immune system, stress hormones, and blood sugar—even your weight.
Fewer zzzzzs, more calories
It’s serious—and potentially scary—stuff. In 2004, researchers at the University of Chicago found that healthy young men who slept only four hours a night for two nights displayed a 24 per cent increase in appetite and had increased cravings for candy and cookies, chips and nuts and bread and pasta. As the men’s sleep times fell, their average weight rose. Investigators believe that sleep loss affects hormones that regulate appetite.
Moreover, sleep loss has been shown to cause impaired glucose tolerance (a pre-diabetic state) after just one week of little shut-eye, report the same researchers. Restoring normal sleep seemed to reverse this effect on insulin sensitivity.
Sleepless and sick?
The research is fascinating, but should we take it to heart—and to bed with us? Well, leaning on the research, and blaming diabetes or heart disease on too many all-nighters, isn't really accurate. "There is little or no evidence to show that sleep loss directly causes any disease, although it can aggravate underlying health conditions or increase the risk of certain diseases," explains Dr. Glendon Sullivan, deputy director of the Atlantic Health Sciences Sleep Centre in Saint John, N.B..
However, we do know that various health conditions, even undiagnosed, can adversely affect sleep. For example, depression, fibromyalgia, and other chronic pain conditions can disrupt sleep or lead to excessive sleepiness. On the flipside, improved sleep can help reduce symptoms, such as chronic pain.
Sizing up your sleep needs
So how do you snooze enough to stay healthy? "Assuming you're healthy, you should follow your body’s signals and sleep naturally. Then no matter what amount you sleep, you are going to live as long as you’re meant to," says Dr. Sullivan.
So if you’re exhausted during the day and your schedule permits, take a nap. "The only way to make up for lost sleep is to sleep," says Dr. Sullivan.
People normally have two preprogrammed physiologic "sleep surges" that occur at around 10 p.m. and between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. "The siesta didn’t come from nowhere," says Dr. Sullivan. "The afternoon sleep surge in is a real indicator of how empty your main sleep tank is. If you find that you’re dipping into an afternoon nap regularly, it’s a sure sign that you’re not getting enough or a good-enough quality sleep at night."
Try this sleep test
Are you getting enough sleep at night? Try Dr. Sullivan's following experiment:
Go to bed when you first feel sleepy at night and wake up on your own—yes, without an alarm clock. "If you get through the day without feeling sleepy and you don’t need an afternoon nap, then you have the formula for the number of hours you need to sleep," he says. "Most people need seven or eight hours to achieve this state."
Of course, if home and work life is too stressful, try booking a getaway to test the theory. "People who are away from a hectic home environment often will crash and have the best sleep they have had in a long time," says Dr. Sullivan.
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