WORDS BY Jason Shon Bennet
‘Children today have about an hour less of sleep on average than they did ten years ago. People who don’t sleep as well tend to crave junkier foods and more of it’
Dr. Amy Christison, Pediatrician, Obesity Specialist.
Treat Sleep like GOLD
Sleep is irreplaceable. Not a thing replaces sleep. Not a pill, a book, a food, a supplement, a workout, a prayer, a meditate, a yoga session, a mindfulness exercise. We are designed as human beings to be asleep in ‘rest and repair’ around 30% of the time. Get lots of sleep. Our ancestors got plenty of sleep.
Sleep is the first step in weight loss.
Sleep is critical to any weight loss or longevity effort. New Zealand women sleep on average just 6.5 hours per night. This is not even close to a healthy sleep routine. Over 55% of Kiwis have sleeping problems, yet we mostly under sleep. Sleep affects your entire health profile, from weight, skin, energy, fertility, longevity and disease risk.
Every 90 minutes of sleep you miss, you generally eat around 500 calories more. We often stay up late, sitting and watching television, usually after sitting in the car or on the bus, sitting while working, sitting while eating an unhealthy high calorie lunch, and then we sit while eating dinner! Then what do we do? We sit some more while we watch television! At night we eat, and we eat the worse kinds of foods because sleepy people make bad food choices.
A good night’s sleep
- It should take you less than 30 minutes to fall asleep
- 7-9 hours each night – ideally 9pm-5am or 10pm-6am
- Wake feeling refreshed
- Young people need more sleep than old
- Women usually need more than men
- People deprived of REM show increased irritability, depression, anxiety as well as greater appetite
‘Cock crows in the morn to tell us to rise, and he who lies late will never be wise, For early to bed and early to rise, is the way to be healthy, wealthy and wise’
Benjamin Franklin
Check out our range of supplements to help with a good nights sleep or pop in to one of our stores to discuss what is right for you!