Starting in your early 20’s, the average person needs around 7-9 hours of sleep and if you are over 65, you need around 7-8 hours. As we age we get less non REM sleep in stages 1-3 (see episode 143) and is because our brain changes as we age in the areas that affect sleep. Men tend to wake more throughout the night than women in this older age group and it is only because our brain is changing and we become less able to meet our requirement for sleep.
Things like high blood pressure, heart disease, mental health issues, medications and lack of exercise all contribute to the amount and quality of sleep we are getting.
As mentioned in the last episode, our heart rate falls when we are asleep. Ever heard of your resting heart rate? It is referring to the rate your heart beats at rest or while asleep and should range between 50-90 beats per minute with an ideal number being on the lower end of this. It isn’t set in stone though and is very dependent on your overall health, diet, exercise etc. It is bio-individual.
During deep sleep (stage 3) your heart rate and blood pressure lower, body temp drops and you are breathing deeper. All of this helps restore your cells function and keeps your blood vessels healthy. Keeping your room too warm at night will keep this process from happening well and will lead to poor or disrupted sleep. This is also why it is recommended to avoid exercise right before bed- it can make it harder to sleep and will delay melatonin production.
Body temp stays low all night until cortisol starts releasing to wake you so by the time you are awake and moving your body temp should be back to normal. This is why, if you are taking your temperature in the morning to see if your thyroid is working properly, you need to take it immediately without moving too much. You need that basal body temp to track thyroid. Check out episode 108 for more info on testing your thyroid using basal body temp.
Thyroid is part of the endocrine system. Another hormone part of the endocrine system affected by sleep is growth hormone. This is secreted to aid in tissue recovery and helps decrease abdominal fat. Insulin is also affected by sleep. One night of poor sleep can put you on a blood sugar roller coaster and impede any fat loss you might be trying to achieve. Getting good sleep means your body can use the insulin secreted during the day and leads to better blood sugar balance.
If you have Hashimoto’s, you have an immune system ready to attack your thyroid or actively attacking your thyroid. Sleep helps your immune system work better. Various immune cells, neurotransmitters, and proteins are made and then move throughout the body to give your immune system a boost. When we are not sleeping well, we can be more susceptible to getting an infection or becoming sick because our immune systems reaction time to an invader is slowed. Remember that a large portion of our immune system functions through the gut and when our GI tract is a mess whether from lack of sleep or something else, our immune defenses are also affected.
Our digestion is working at its best in the morning when we wake up and our metabolism slows down as the day goes on which makes an argument for a bigger breakfast or lunch and a lighter dinner. It is also ideal to give yourself 2-3 hours before bed without eating anything- unless you are working on bringing blood sugar back into balance, then you might need to have a snack before bed for awhile, until things normalize.
The reason for avoiding food before bed is to focus energy on recovery rather than digesting a meal during sleep. If you snack before bed or after dinner while watching tv, this may be a habit you want to consider changing.
Having good sleep also can ensure your microbiome is balanced. Keeping that circadian rhythm in proper working order means a healthy gut flora since stress and even jet lag can change the microbiome for a period of time until sleep gets back on track. This shift in bugs goes to one that encourages obesity and diabetes but the good news is you can get it back on track by getting back in sync with the sunrise and sunset.
Over ⅓ of people in the US are not getting the amount of sleep they should be which puts us at risk for chronic health issues, including Hashimoto’s. If you are burning the candle at both ends because you have no choice, you are in a tough situation. Your brain is suffering, your weight is suffering, your health is suffering. If you can make it a priority to get more and better sleep, I encourage you to do it.
You can not just sit and relax and get the same effects on your body as you can with sleep. Your body needs sleep to repair itself. Some big clues that you are not getting enough sleep are things like hormone issues which can be caused by no sleep but can also cause you to not get good sleep.
Not only can your hormones get screwed up but your cognition, your judgement and your control are not good. Brain fog, short tempers, generally unstable emotions and that groggy feeling we sometimes get with little sleep are all signs your sleep is disrupted in the middle of a sleep cycle. If you need an alarm clock to wake you in the morning, you are likely messing with a sleep cycle. I use an alarm to make sure I get to the airport on time when I have an early flight. That is it.
Not getting good sleep will cause poor grades in school, trouble deciding between right and wrong, and trouble completing tasks. Your metabolism is slowed even further by lack of sleep, and you are living in a survival or sympathetic state rather than rest and digest mode or parasympathetic. Mental health suffers with an increase in anxiety and depression.
Chronic stress can change the function of your brain and makes us easily startled with a poor response to stress in general- meaning every little thing stresses you out. It also can keep you locked in to that state of a sympathetic nervous system which causes difficulties in digestion, detoxification, you have more stress hormones and you cannot rest which all lead to even worse sleep and less healing.
Your body cannot heal if you are not getting good sleep.
Being in a state of chronic stress means your digestion suffers so you may not break down and assimilate the nutrients in your food as well, this can also inflame your intestines, cause leaky gut which will lead to food proteins being released into your blood stream and alerting your immune system so you end up with food sensitivities. Again, your microbiome is affected which leads to more inflammation, anxiety and depression.
Remember from last episode that ghrelin increases and leptin decreases making you hungrier causing over eating and overwhelming your digestion even more which can cause digestive upset.
Poor sleep causes a rise in immune cells that are inflammatory and increases oxidative stress because your cells are not being repaired like they should and waste is not being removed. It also slows down the natural healing process of the body and we can get sick easier.
Do you have trouble recovering from a busy or full day? It could be lack of sleep causing it. Things like tight muscles, sore or stiff muscles, poor flexibility or coordination are all related to poor sleep in all people, not just people who are physically active.
Being in a constant state of fight or flight causes dysfunction of thyroid hormones because your hypothalamus in the brain isn’t working right.
Depriving your body of good sleep also plays a role in clogged arteries and high blood pressure, and even your heart rate. When the cardiovascular system is affected, it can cause you to pee more in the night because we excrete more water and salt- when your heart rate and blood pressure are increased your kidneys are affected making you have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night which disrupts your sleep cycle even more. Most people don’t really need electrolytes on a daily basis unless they are sweating a lot but I do find they help me not have to wake up and pee in the middle of the night.
Adrenal fatigue is not a real thing. Your adrenals cannot get fatigued. The proper term is HPA axis dysfunction and stands for hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis dysfunction. It can be off when we are not sleeping well with signals just not getting where they need to go. When this is at play, your cortisol will often be low in the morning and higher at night. Melatonin is higher in the morning and lower at night. If you need many cups of coffee in the the day to just make it through, this might be an issue for you. You basic blood work from your doctor can help determine if cortisol is low for you. You don’t need to do a cortisol test - they are not super reliable anyway.
The fatigue that results from HPA axis dysfunction leads to blood sugar regulation issues, fat gain around your middle, thyroid problems, and metabolic dysfunction such as type 2 diabetes.
These problems arise from chronic sleep issues, not just one or two nights of poor sleep.