World Sleep Day

Yesterday wasn’t just the Ides of March–it was also “World Sleep Day.” I wasn’t aware that there was such a thing, but when I learned that it existed, I decided to celebrate the day by sleeping in this morning. I awoke refreshed and feeling great.

The concept of World Sleep Day is that a good night’s sleep is essential to good health, and we should encourage people to make sure that they get enough shut-eye. According to the website linked above, “World Sleep Day delegates and sleep health advocates across the world are taking action in their local communities, clinics, and countries to raise awareness of sleep health.” (I’m not sure what steps were taken as part of that coordinated effort, but if you saw somebody dozing on a park bench yesterday you may have seen a sleep health advocate in action.) The website explains that this year’s theme was “Sleep Equity for Global Health,” because “measurable differences in sleep health persist across populations across the world, creating additional burdens and reinforcing health inequities.”

I shouldn’t poke gentle fun at the concept of World Sleep Day, because scientists and medical practitioners are definitely waking up to the health benefits associated with sufficient sleep. And apart from the mental and physical health benefits of sleep, you can’t help but notice that bad things often happen when people are up and about during the late-night and early-morning hours. They, and we, would be better off if they were at home, sawing logs.

World Sleep Day is a concept I can definitely get behind. The world would be a better place if we all made a commitment to getting forty winks. You don’t have to decide today–feel free to sleep on it.

The Multivitamin Question

Should you take a multivitamin tablet every day? Many people do. For some, it is out of force of habit that has its roots in childhood vitamin consumption; others have seen the ads and figured that one pill a day providing a few extra vitamins can’t hurt. After all, vitamins are associated with ruddy good health, right?

In June 2022 the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force–an independent volunteer panel of experts that attempts to make “evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services”–released a report on its review of studies related to the effects of multivitamins and mineral supplements. The evaluation considered 84 studies on the impact of vitamin and mineral supplements on cardiovascular disease and cancer, which are the two leading causes of death in the United States, with the objective of determining “the benefits and harms of vitamin and mineral supplementation in healthy adults”–that is, those without identified vitamin or mineral deficiencies–“to prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer.” 

The USPSTF’s report on its review of the 84 studies includes the following summary of its “conclusions and relevance”: ”Vitamin and mineral supplementation was associated with little or no benefit in preventing cancer, cardiovascular disease, and death, with the exception of a small benefit for cancer incidence with multivitamin use. Beta carotene was associated with an increased risk of lung cancer and other harmful outcomes in persons at high risk of lung cancer.” 

This conclusion has led some to argue that, for most people who don’t have specific, existing conditions where additional, targeted vitamin intake has an appreciable health benefit, the daily taking of a multivitamin pill has no impact on health–so why not save the money and get the daily allotment of vitamins through diet? And if you do have a specific vitamin deficiency issue, get your doctor’s recommendation on supplements to address that particular issue, rather than ingesting other vitamins you might not need.

A lot of companies pay a lot of money seeking to convince us that taking a multivitamin pill is an easy road to good health and a long life. As the USPSTF report suggests, however, that’s not necessarily the case. A one-size-fits-all pill is no magic substitute for attention to diet, exercise, fresh air, and consideration of your specific health circumstances.

Sleep Deprivation Nation

How much sleep are people supposed to get, anyway? The CDC says the recommended amount of sleep varies depending on your age, with the shut-eye hours trending down from 16 hours a day for infants to 7 hours a day for adults, before ticking back up slightly for those 60 and older. The average American adult, however, reportedly gets less than the recommended seven hours of shut-eye each night.

It’s not clear exactly why Americans aren’t getting the sleep they should. A significant number of Americans have some form of sleep disorder, such as insomnia, sleep apnea, or restless leg syndrome, that prevents them from getting truly restful sleep when they are abed. Others can’t resist watching late-night TV or playing video games into the wee hours, thereby cutting into their sleep time. And still others don’t follow good sleep habits, like trying to go to bed at the same time each night, avoiding overeating or overdrinking before bedtime, and setting up your bedroom to be quiet, comfortable, and free of devices that might tempt you to check in when you are supposed to be sawing logs.

What is the impact of American sleep deprivation? One website reports: “Not getting enough sleep can be bad for your physical and mental health and cause some unwelcome symptoms. Not meeting your sleep needs can cause a lack of energy, trouble remembering things, a reduced attention span, slowed thinking, a reduced sex drive, poor decision making, irritability, daytime sleepiness, and other mood changes.” In short, nothing good comes from sleep deprivation.

I’m not sure that there is any one-size-fits-all answer for sleep in America; I’ve known people who do just fine on a little sleep each night and others who really need to hit the hay for extended periods. And then there are those of us whose bladders have evidently shrunk to the size of walnuts and who have to make repeated trips to the bathroom at night, and therefore have to master the knack of quickly falling back asleep. But I do know one thing: the mental and physical health impact of sleep deprivation is real. People who want to adopt a healthier lifestyle might start by focusing on getting a sense of how much sleep they personally need to get each night–and then making sure that they get it.

The Fructose Survival Hypothesis

With so many people in America experiencing obesity and the health-related problems that accompany it, trying to determine the root cause of the condition is like a scientific search for the Holy Grail. If you look at pictures of America in the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s, the vast majority of people shown are trim and fit. In more recent pictures, the percentages are flipped, and people at unhealthy weights predominate. What happened to cause this huge change?

Many different studies have proposed different causes and cures, which is why people worried about their weights often go from one diet to another. One major study, however, has tried to unify all of theories and recently announced that it thinks it has found the ultimate culprit: fructose.

Fructose is a naturally occurred form of sugar that is found in fruits and certain other foods. Since humans have been eating these foods for millennia without having to worry about obesity epidemics, fructose from a banana or apple logically can’t be the cause of the problem. According to the study, the problem arises from consuming lots of fructose–often in the form of products with high-fructose corn syrup as an ingredient–and other sweeteners like table sugar. The study found that high levels of fructose cause a drop in adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a compound that provides energy for human cellular processes. When ATP falls to a certain level, it is a signal to the body to consume more fuel, making you want to eat. The study calls this the “fructose survival hypothesis.”

The fructose survival hypothesis knits together all of the other theories, because they all boil down to eating too much of something. The researchers in the study write: “Although practically all hypotheses recognize the importance of reducing ultraprocessed and ‘junk’ foods, it remains unclear whether the focus should be on reducing sugar intake, or high glycemic carbohydrates, or fats, or polyunsaturated fats or simply increasing protein intake.” They conclude that all of these views are basically correct, and that the fructose survival hypothesis is what triggers the consumption problem. The researchers explain: “Fructose is what triggers our metabolism to go into low power mode and lose our control of appetite, but fatty foods become the major source of calories that drive weight gain.”

Is the fructose survival hypothesis the Holy Grail of solving the obesity epidemic? Like any true scientific hypothesis, it will need to be tested and validated by future studies. But in the meantime, you might want to take a good look at the ingredient labels on the foods you buy, and think about whether you can takes steps to reduce the amount of fructose in your diet.

Prescription: Sleep

It’s hard to believe that doctors and scientists are discovering new things about the therapeutic benefits of sleep. After all, humans, like all mammals, have been sleeping since well before the dawn of recorded history, and undoubtedly back as far as the time the first human ancestor decided to venture out of Africa. How is it possible to learn anything new about something that is such a fundamental, inescapable part of the human condition?

The Japan Times recently ran an interesting article on how scientists are developing a new “understanding” of sleep. Basically, the new “understanding” is this: sleep is really, really good for you. You want to make sure not only that you get the right amount of sleep, but that you also get that sleep at the right time, when the circadian clock that is built into every human being is telling you that it is time to hit the sack. People who align their sleep patterns with their personal biological clocks, scientists have concluded, “are less fatigued, have better moods, maintain healthier weights, gain more benefit from their medications, think more clearly, and have improved long-term health outcomes,”

On the other hand, if you don’t get enough sleep and at the right time, the human body compensates by doing things like releasing hormones that increase stress, injecting more sugar into the blood stream, and increasing blood pressure. If you consistently fight your circadian clock and that need to sleep over the long term, these bodily responses to the lack of regular sleep will produce adverse health effects.

None of this should come as a surprise, to scientists or anyone else. It makes you wonder if scientists and researchers have lost sight of the forest for the trees, by focusing on minutiae rather than the basics. Here’s a good rule of thumb: if humans have been doing something forever and in fact are driven by basic biological impulses to do it, it’s probably in your best interests to yield to those impulses and give in to what your body is telling you. And the nice thing about sleep is that it is something you can actually exercise some control over. Taking steps to plan your days to allow for regulated sleep patterns will pay dividends.

ZZZs, If You Please

I’m a big believer in the benefits of a good night’s sleep. Humans obviously have a physical and mental need for sleep–as anyone who has pulled a college or job all-nighter can attest–and studies show that sleep increases mental sharpness, aids the functioning of the hormone system, and reduces stress, among many other values. A good night’s sleep also can provide helpful perspective on issues or problems. There’s a reason why people who are trying to make an important decision say that they “want to sleep on it.”

A recent study also shows that there is an association between sleeping well and avoiding depression. The annual Sleep in America poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation (who knew there was such an organization?) found that more than 90 percent of adults who report that they sleep well also were free of depressive symptoms, whereas two thirds of adults who aren’t happy with their sleeping had significant levels of depressive symptoms.

There’s an obvious chicken-and-egg issue at play here: does a good night’s sleep help to ward off significant depression, or do people who are troubled by depression or anxiety have trouble sleeping as an essential part of the condition? Nevertheless, the correlation is worth noting. The proven, positive impact of sleep on mental acuity and stress reduction, and the fresh perspective sleep can bring, may also affect depressive thoughts.

Adults are supposed to get between seven and nine hours of sleep a day. If you’re feeling blue, you might want to examine your sleep habits and see whether a few extra hours in the Land of Nod helps you to feel better.

Analyzing Healthy Weight

What’s the “right” weight? It’s a question that doctors and their patients have wrestled with for years, and it’s clear that the standards are changing as human diet, nutrition, activity level, and general health are changing. Humans during the 1400s, being subject to periodic famines, plagues, and disease that stunted their growth, and engaging in day-long physical labor to put modest amounts of food on the table, probably looked a lot different from modern Americans. Even in the last century, the standards have changed. Consider, for example, that the average G.I. in World War II was about 5′ 8″ and weighed about 150 pounds. These days, you don’t see many 150-pound men in the average American city.

So what’s the “right” weight now, in an era of relative food abundance and modern medical treatments for human disease, where many people work at sedentary desk jobs?

For years, the accepted method for determining health weight has been the body mass index. The BMI was simple: it took your weight in kilograms and divided it by your height in meters, squared. The target zone for a healthy you was a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9. Now there is a debate about whether the BMI is really an effective tool, because it doesn’t consider where human fat cells have accumulated. That’s important, because the location of fat cells matters to human health and is related to conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and some forms of cancer. Abdominal fat–that “stubborn belly fat” that clickbait articles claim you can melt away with some “weird trick” or special drink–is more unhealthy than fat that accumulates around the hips, and “visceral fat,” the abdominal fat that builds up around the internal organs, is especially harmful.

As a result, some researchers are urging that use of the BMI be replaced by a focus on the waist to hip ratio. The waist to hip ratio is easy to use, too–you apply a tape measure to your waistline and your hips, and determine the ratio between them. Lower waist to hip ratios mean lower abdominal fat accumulation. And a recent study found that the waist-to-hip ratio was a better predictor of early mortality than the BMI.

There’s no doubt that losing excess weight is helpful to overall health; your hips, knees, and ankles will thank you. But the distribution of weight also matters. We’ll probably never avoid the scale at the doctor’s office, but the predictive value of the waist-to-hip ratio may mean your doctor will be taking out a tape measure, too, at your next exam.

Your Future Robot Companion

Loneliness is a problem for many elderly people. Older people who are trying to cope with the loss of a spouse or long-time companion often struggle with health problems that are related to their solitude: the National Institutes of Health reports that studies have shown that isolation among senior citizens, and the resulting lack of regular social interaction, can lead to depression. cognitive decline, and heart disease.

The Washington Post reports that an Israeli company, Intuition Robotics, has now released a product that seeks to address that problem. ElliQ is an artificial intelligence device that looks vaguely like a lava lamp on a stand. It is designed to serve as a companion, rather than an assistant like Siri or Alexa. As the Post describes it, “ElliQ offers soothing encouragement, invitations to games, gentle health prodding, music thoughts and, most important, a friendly voice that learns a person’s ways and comforts them in their solitude.” The article includes this quote from a company representative:

“This is a character-based person, an entity that lives with you,” said Dor Skuler, Intuition’s chief executive and co-founder. “People who use ElliQ expect her to remember conversations, they expect her to hold context … to deal with the hard times and celebrate the great times. These are the things I think we’re on the frontier of.”

is humanity on the verge of a future where lonely humans find comfort in interaction with machines? Some would argue that that future is already here, with computers serving as the anti-isolation device, and that our increasing acclimation to smartphones, other smart devices, computers, and other electronica has created fertile ground for acceptance of robot companions. It’s an interesting question. Many elderly people who aren’t house-bound could increase their interaction with other humans by joining clubs, or churches, or support groups. If they don’t do that, will they respond to a robot? Or is a device like ElliQ a little easier, and less threatening, than putting yourself out there in a conscious effort to make friends? Could ElliQ and similar devices have the effect of promoting less human contact?

We’ll have to see about that, but I will say that the Post article’s description of ElliQ’s conversational gambits makes the device seem like a bit of a nag. If I’ve got to have a robot companion one of these days, I’d rather have one like Bender from Futurama. I suspect that Bender’s raucous approach to life would be a lot more likely to get me out and about.

“Please Don’t Weigh Me” Cards

I happened to see a news article about these “please don’t weigh me” cards that some people apparently are using with their doctors. One of the cards is pictured above.

The cards are being offered by a group called more-love.org. Its website indicates that it has sent out thousands of the cards. The website explains the cards as follows:

“Because we live in a fatphobic society, being weighed and talking about weight causes feelings of stress and shame for many people. Many people feel anxious about seeing the doctor, and will avoid going to the doctor in order to avoid the scale.

We want to support you in requesting healthcare that is free of weight bias. Getting weighed is an informed choice that we get to make with our doctor. We don’t have to automatically step on the scale just because someone asks us to.

Our “Don’t Weigh Me” cards are a polite and respectful way to assert your preference at the doctor’s office and seek informed consent if weight is deemed necessary for care and treatment. It’s OK to not automatically step on the scale when asked.”

Perhaps I’m insensitive and “fatphobic,” but this concept seems strange to me. First, there’s a passive-aggressive element to it that doesn’t seem particularly well-suited to a positive doctor-patient relationship. Why do you need pre-printed cards, rather than having an honest conversation with your doctor, and his staff, about your feelings? If you can’t have candid communications with your doctor about your issues, you’re probably not going to get the best health care.

Second, what is this about “healthcare that is free of weight bias”? Numerous studies have shown that weight is directly related to health care, in that obesity increases the risk of conditions like diabetes, heart disease, joint problems, respiratory problems, and other significant health issues. Even if you don’t currently have one of these conditions, excessive weight is likely to cause you to develop such problems in the future–which means weight logically is a focus of any doctor who is interested in preventive health care. Asking your doctor not to weigh you is like asking him to not take your pulse, conduct a blood test, or perform a physical examination. You are depriving him of information that he can use in prescribing appropriate medication, treatment, or other activities that can produce better health and avoid future problems.

Third, isn’t it odd that people are concerned about living in a “fatphobic” society, and what really worries them is getting a metric from a scale, rather than how they look, or how they feel, or how their clothes fit? What is it about the act of getting on a scale that makes it, specifically, the focus of a pre-printed card?

These cards seem to be a new development, and it isn’t clearly how common their use is. It would be interesting to know how doctors are reacting to being handed one of these cards.

Ten More Minutes Of Walking

The American Medical Association’s JAMA Internal Medicine recently published a metastudy that looked at the impact of physical activity and mortality. Drawing upon a pool of data about thousands of American adults, the study concluded that even a modest amount of additional physical activity–walking only ten more minutes a day–could, collectively, prevent thousands of early deaths.

The problem with Americans is that too many of us are couch potatoes who sit pretty much all day, at work and at home. And prior research has shown that constant sitting is just not good for your health. People who don’t exercise are far more likely to struggle with obesity and have inactivity-related medical conditions that lead to premature deaths that could have been prevented with more exercise. A 2020 study of 44,000 adults in the United States and Europe, for example, found that “the most sedentary men and women in the study, who sat almost all day, were as much as 260 percent more likely to die prematurely as the most highly active people studied, who exercised for at least 30 minutes most days.”

The study published in JAMA Internal Medicine is admittedly speculative, and put the metadata into a statistical model that sought to determine what would happen if people simply walked briskly for an additional 10, 20, or 30 minutes each day. The model showed an anticipated direct cause and effect between more exercise and fewer early deaths.

Notably, the study was based on pre-pandemic data, from what many of us fondly think of as the “normal” world. Obviously, though, its conclusions could be used to question the health impact of extended “shutdown” and “stay-at-home” orders that have the effect of preventing people from exercising. Sedentary lifestyles obviously significant health problems, and any public health care initiative that encourages such lifestyles cannot be viewed as risk-free. What’s past is past, but in the future, we need to remember that.

This Week’s Big Health Scare

News outlets are reporting that the “coronavirus” that was first detected in Wuhan, China is sweeping across that country, causing the Chinese government to try to quarantine entire cities of millions of people to try to stop the spread of the virus.  Nevertheless, cases have been reported in Thailand, Japan, and even in the United States, where a man in the state of Washington who recently returned from China was found to be infected.

It seems like there is always some huge health disaster for us to worry about.  This week, it’s the Wuhan coronavirus.  Should we be concerned about it?

The link above is to an L.A. Times article that provides some basic information about the Wuhan coronavirus.  Coronaviruses are common in humans and some other animals, but the Wuhan variation is a new strain that hasn’t been seen before.  After some people began showing pneumonia-like symptoms, health officials traced the origin of the conditions back to a large seafood and live animal market in Wuhan, China.  Initial research indicates that the Wuhan strain may have come from the handling of snakes at the market, with the virus jumping from snakes to humans.  (At this point, one can almost hear Indiana Jones saying:  “Snakes!  Why does it always have to be snakes?”)

The key issue for most of us is determining how the virus is transmitted, and what we can do to avoid getting it.  The virus appears to be moving from human to human via the airborne route, which is why you see pictures of people in China wearing masks that cover their noses and mouths.  Viruses that are conveyed by air can spread rapidly and are the most difficult to contain.  And, from the reports of cases outside China, that’s what has happened here.  Still, it appears that some people are more prone to becoming infected than others — exactly why that may be so is one of the things researchers are examining — and severe illness, and death, has for the most part occurred only in people who are older and otherwise dealing with significant health issues.  The man from Washington infected with the virus, for example, is being monitored and is reported to be in good condition.

I tend to be a fatalist about these kinds of things.  I’ll pay attention to the news about the coronavirus, but I’m also content to let the CDC and other public health officials and scientists do their work and figure out how to deal with the Wuhan coronavirus, just as they have dealt with SARS and Ebola and other global health issues.  I’m confident that, if I need to go out and buy a mask, they’ll let me know.

The Flu Shot Factor

This year I got my first flu shot ever.  I hadn’t really thought about doing it before this year, because in the past — admittedly, probably about 10 years ago, or maybe more — I’d read somewhere that flu shots were in short supply and really should be reserved for the very young and the elderly.  So I’d forget about it, go through the flu season without a problem, and sympathize with those folks who were suffering through the flu, which always sounded pretty bad.

This year, though, the flu shot factor was seemingly inescapable.  First Kish brought it up and said I should get one, and I always heed her counsel.  Then the Red Sox Fan, no doubt in coordination with Kish, started bombarding me with news articles and opinion pieces saying that unless everyone got a flu shot, the flu shots wouldn’t be as effective in preventing the spread of the condition.  The Red Sox Fan knew that the “civic obligation” card hadn’t been played before and was likely to have some resonance with a presumably responsible member of the community.

And finally, when I went to the doctor for a check-up recently, he said I should get a flu shot.  “Shouldn’t those be reserved for the very young and the elderly?” I asked earnestly, hoping to be relieved of the civic obligation guilt.  He looked at me doubtfully in response, no doubt wondering by what definition I was not falling into the “elderly” category, then said:  “Don’t worry, we’ve got enough.”  He also added, reassuringly, that this year’s flu shot is based on a dead virus, rather than a live one, and therefore is safer.  With the unanimous agreement of Kish, my doctor, and the Red Sox Fan, and to address the crushing sense of civic obligation, the choice was inescapable.  I told the doctor I was fine with getting one, he promptly darted out of the room and summoned his nurse, who came immediately to give me a shot in the shoulder before I could change my mind.  The whole process was over before I knew it.

So, I’ve gotten a flu shot, and I’m happy to report that so far I’ve not gotten the flu.  I’ve also been looking at the news to see whether a flu epidemic has been sweeping the nation, and while I’ve seen some indications that the flu has been nasty here and there, it looks like so far Columbus has escaped the worst of it.  I’m feeling pretty good about my decision and the help I’ve given to my fellow citizens in Ohio’s capital city.

There’s no need to thank me, really.

Heeding The Call Of The Water

Here’s something to remember the next time you are planning a vacation or an extended holiday:  being near the water is good for you.  In fact, it’s really good for you.  Whether it’s ocean, lake, pond, river, or stream, proximity to water has measurable benefits for people — physically, mentally, and emotionally.

An increasing body of scientific and medical evidence confirms the therapeutic effects of “blue spaces” and the state of “outdoor wellbeing.”  This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s taken a beach vacation or gone on a fishing trip.  The presence of the water tends to draw people outside, where they get more sunshine and enjoy the benefits of vitamin D.  They get more exercise because they are in attractive physical locations that motivate them to walk the beach or hike along the lakefront.  The sounds of ocean surf or running streams are calming.  The combination of exercise, fresh air, and pleasant sounds help visitors to get a good night’s sleep.

But there’s more to it.  Water tends to have a curious effect on the human psyche — a kind of positive vibe that is mentally refreshing and restoring.  Studies have consistently shown that people who are near water regularly maintain a better mood, feel less stress, and describe themselves as happier than inlanders.  Maybe it’s the sights, maybe it’s the sounds, maybe it’s the smells . . . or maybe it’s that it all works in combination to make people near water a bit dreamier, a bit more contemplative, and a bit more reflective.  Perhaps when you’re looking out over a vast ocean your problems just seem a lot smaller and therefore more manageable.

None of this is new — we’ve just forgotten it.  In the first chapter of Moby Dick, published in 1851, Herman Melville’s character Ishmael writes:  “If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.”  But, as Melville notes, it’s not just the ocean that humans find attractive — it’s water, period.  He writes:

“Once more. Say you are in the country; in some high land of lakes. Take almost any path you please, and ten to one it carries you down in a dale, and leaves you there by a pool in the stream. There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries—stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region. Should you ever be athirst in the great American desert, try this experiment, if your caravan happen to be supplied with a metaphysical professor. Yes, as every one knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever.”

So, you want to feel better?  Get out your calendar and plan a trip that allows you to answer the call of the water.

Shaving Strokes

Here’s some good health news:  stroke rates among older Americans are falling.  The decline started in the 1980s, has continued since then, and shows no signs of stopping.

The decline was noted in a long-term study of heart health that began in 1987 in which thousands of adults in the U.S. have participated.  Data accumulated during the study showed that the rates of strokes of participants aged 65 and older has dropped by one-third for each decade the study has continued.

Interestingly, the researchers don’t know exactly why the stroke rates among seniors are falling.  It could be due to reduced smoking rates, better attention to addressing some of the other key risk factors for stroke, which include diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure, or advances in medication for those conditions.  And because the decline was detected in a study that was actually focused on heart health, rather than strokes, the decline also might be due to other factors that weren’t measured during the study, such as diet, exercise, or salt intake.

If you’ve ever had a family member felled by a stroke, you know how devastating they can be — and how important it is to be ever watchful for the signs of stroke, such as slurred speech and drooping facial features.  Whatever the cause of the falling stroke rates among older Americans might be, the fact that it is happening an incredibly positive development.  Now, it would be helpful to find out why.

What A Difference A Night Makes

Recently I’ve been having some irregular sleep patterns.  I’ll go to bed and fall asleep promptly, but then wake up only a few hours later, with heart pumping and mind racing. When that happens, it’s hard to fall back into the REM cycle quickly, and I’ll inevitably toss and turn for as much as an hour, fretting all the while that I’m losing out on sleep that I need and will never make up.

But last night I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, slept through the night without any nocturnal wakefulness, and arose feeling refreshed.  When I went down to make the morning coffee the birds were chirping, I unloaded the dishwasher with a happy feeling, and the coffee tasted richer and better than ever.

There’s no doubt that sleep is therapeutic on multiple fronts.  The National Institutes of Health reports that, physically, the changes in breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure that occur during a good night’s sleep help to promote cardiovascular health, and while you sleep hormones are released that repair cells and control your body’s use of energy.  And although the physical aspects of sleep are significant, the mental aspects are even more important.  Getting your 7 or 8 hours of sound sleep enhances mood, alertness, intellectual functioning, and reflexes, while chronic sleep deprivation can lead to depression and anxiety disorders.

Knowing all of this, why doesn’t the human brain always do what is necessary to allow everyone to get their share of shuteye?  Unfortunately, things don’t don’t work that way, stresses and concerns at work and at home can interfere with the sleep cycle, and then the lack of sleep and the irritability it produces can have a compounding effect on those stresses and concerns.

That’s one of the reasons why getting a solid night of slumber time after a few night’s of anxious restlessness feels so good.  You may not be making up for lost sleep, but it’s comforting to know that your mind and body are back to their normal cycles — at least, until the next round of stresses and concerns hit.