Lack of Sleep and Obesity

Another one of those research programs, probably done and redone a million times, has come to the conclusion that sleep deprivation leads to obesity. Come on!!! I could have told you that without costing the tax payers umpteen thousands of dollars.

Depression causes sleep disturbances such as too much or too little. If you are depressed there's a good chance you'll overeat to compensate for what you lack in your personal life. I'm not a brain surgeon (or a research person) but I can tell you that sleepless nights, caused by depression, can produce a chubby sufferer.

I can't quite put together why a person who no longer is depressed still has sleep problems and is still chubby (I'm being kind to myself with that description). I haven't suffered from depression for more than eight years...with a brief period three years ago when my husband was dying. I'm still overweight and, though there are long periods when I sleep well, there are also too many nights when sleep is sporadic.

Regardless of how many hours sleep I get, I usually get up between 6 and 7 A.M. My days are always filled with things to do and I enjoy jumping from one project to another. On days when I haven't slept well I often nap for about an hour at 4 or 5 P.M. This, of course, upsets my sleep cycle for that night. It can become a vicious circle that's difficult to escape.

I know people who go to bed and are asleep within minutes and then sleep until morning. They don't seem to have much more energy than I do but they aren't as emotionally flexible when they don't get their 8 hours sleep, either. I, on the other hand, can draw 4 hours sleep and still function the next day with little consequences. Maybe that comes from 40 years practice.

It is still a pleasant feeling to get a good night's sleep and then wake refreshed in the morning. When it happens to me I don't take it for granted but relish the experience. For me, it's an all too rare occurrence.