One of the problems with negotiating a disability, especially if one has impaired use of one's limbs is maintaining a healthy lifestyle which will promote well being not only physically but emotionally and psychologically. Foods often play an enormous part in how we feel. What we put in our mouths continually impacts our physical and emotional condition as we progress on the road of life over time. The amount of sleep we receive each night also influences our physical and psychological well being. Sleep and eating habits are tied together and both relate to promoting or distorting our health and wellness.
Less sleep, greater weight gain.
The New York Times and other sources have reported that individuals who receive only 4-5 hours of sleep a night are more prone to weight gain. In a recent study by the University of Colorado, sleep researchers recruited 16 healthy men and women for a two-week experiment tracking sleep, metabolism and eating habits, closely controlling and monitoring the participants' food consumed and strict sleep schedules. The results showed a relationship between weight gain and loss of sleep.
Sugary drinks are deceptive. One or two pack on a tremendous amount of sugar (carbs that turn to fat). In the summer, it is conceivable one can drink 4 or 5 cans during the day to slake one's thirst. |
Candy after dinner is a snack item enjoyed late at night to one's detriment. |
Lack of sleep negatively impacts cell biology.
In a report of another study by University of Chicago researchers, it was noted that lack of sleep alters the biology of fat cells. In this study last fall, researchers tracked the changes that occurred when participants' sleep was lowered to just 4.5 hours from 8.5 hours of sleep. Participants continued for 4 nights of deprived sleep. Researchers found that their fat cells were less sensitive to insulin, a metabolic change associated with both diabetes and obesity. According to Matthew Brady, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and senior author on the study, the profound effects of sleep deprivation amongst the subjects were surprising. “Metabolically, lack of sleep aged fat cells about 20 years. These subjects were in their low 20s but it’s as if they were now middle-aged in terms of their response."
Obesity is related not only to overeating and snacking late at night, but not getting enough hours of sleep. |
My friend, a nurse practitioner with a Masters Degree whom I met in the Ph.D. program at NYU was well informed in alternative medical practice, homeopathy, therapeutic touch healing and nutrition. She said that the right amount of sleep was a necessary imperative as a mechanism of the body's immune system healing and rehabilitation. She said the kidneys and other organs that removed toxins from the body in the elimination processes worked more efficiently when the body was in its sleep and rest state. When individuals receive less sleep than the immune system requires to repair and heal itself and for the kidneys to remove toxins, the negative impact is cumulative and profound.
Our culture promotes sleep deprivation & poor eating routines.
With our fast-paced culture, everyone is subject to sleep deprivation and unhealthy eating. Oftentimes, we don't organize quality meals which take time to arrange: there is the planning of meals, preparing of lists and then the shopping. The more elaborate and healthful the meals, oftentimes, the more complicated the trips to various venues which have a better variety of fresh produce, sustainable fish and locally sourced meats and dairy. Processed convenience foods are much easier to negotiate. They are also loaded with preservatives and chemical additives like MSG (a hidden additive taste enhancer which is highly addictive and noxious.) The tendency to compromise home made meals for the convenience of take out because one is getting home late and is too tired to prepare a meal for the family or oneself becomes a standard habit. Chips, muffins, pretzels a burger and fries are everpresent to lure us as convenient substitutes to snatch when we are hungry and pressed for time.
The food industry encourages snacking and poor eating habits.
The food industry knows that convenience rules in a busy life. It has capitalized on this, making sure to load convenience foods, take out and snacks with plenty of sugar, salt and fat to addict us and keep us coming back for more. Coupled with sleep deprivation where individuals indulge in late night snacking on non-quality foods, what evolves is disastrous. It is an unhealthy lifestyle of overeating the wrong foods, becoming addicted to them, aging one's fat cells and lowering their resistance to insulin, thereby increasing the likelihood of diabetes and obesity over time. This cycle that promotes ill health, is a condition that is worrisome for the disabled who above all should be getting plenty of sleep and eating quality healthy food.
Fruit is a great snack. It is filling, sweet and nutritious. |
This vegetable dish is low in calories and healthy. The dish in the upper left hand corner, crabmeat and vegetables is also more nutritious than ordering the nacho platter above. |
What to do?
- Get 8 hours of sleep or as close to that as possible, nightly. Your body will love you for it.
- Avoid processed foods, snacks and take out. If you must have those chips, give yourself a day when you reward yourself, just one day. i.e. 1 bag of chips on Saturday, pizza or a burger once a week, etc.
- Try to sit down for your meals with family, friends and even by yourself if everyone is out. (You know what to eat that is healthy, right?) If you do the meal preparing, make it an enjoyable pleasure to arrange meal planning and/or shopping as a gift to yourself.
- Try to avoid all processed convenience foods, meaning anything in a package, box or can.
- Think positively. You love yourself and want the best for yourself; you are worth it to take time out to prepare home made meals and to get the proper amounts of sleep. It will save on doctor's bills in the long run.
- For snacks: avoid salted chips for a week. Your taste buds will adjust and you won't crave them. Instead snack on 1-2% nonfat dairy, yogurt and fresh fruit, i.e. mangoes, papaya, strawberries, etc. Icelandic style skyr yogurt is protein rich, filling and healthy.
- Drink plenty of water and add fresh lemon juice from a live lemon. Add maple syrup (organic B, honey, or agave to sweeten it...or brown sugar.) It dulls your urge to snack and you are probably thirsty, anyway. Oftentimes we confuse hunger with thirst.