Are You Sleep Deprived?

Sleep deprivation may be sabotaging your recovery goals without you even knowing it. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one-third of people aren’t getting enough rest. Most of us would assume that sleep deprivation occurs when we only get two or three hours of sleep a night, but in reality, your body can react negatively when you miss as little as 30 minutes from the total that your body needs. This doesn’t just affect your mental clarity, but it also impacts your body’s willingness to recover.

When you’re rehabilitating from an injury, combating inflammation through diet is a crucial part of the process. Believe it or not, sleep plays an integral role with food. Cortisol is a stress hormone that has a significant effect on your appetite and fat retention. The less sleep you get, the more cortisol your body produces, causing you to retain fat. Also, this imbalance will cause your appetite to spike drastically, which often accompanies cravings for unhealthy food. In other words, your body will want to eat fat and store it.

Ghrelin and leptin are also hormones that deviate from the norm when sleep deprivation occurs. Ghrelin is a hormone that tells your brain it’s time to eat, and leptin tells you not to eat anymore. When you’re sleep deprived, ghrelin spikes and leptin plummets, which informs your brain that you need to eat more. According to a study done by Keele University in the U.K., a lack of sleep can also be attributed to joint pain, especially among those over the age of 50.

As physical therapists, we can help you recover during your scheduled sessions at our clinic, but it’s essential to maintain your health outside the confines of our office. Adequate sleep and a healthy diet are two great places to start. To learn more about how to have a comprehensive recovery, both in our facility and at home, give us a call today.