SLEEP DEPRIVATION & WEIGHT GAIN PART 2

There have been recent studies that found sleep deprivation can cause a multitude or symptoms. The most recent and very interesting one I saw showed a young test subject was constantly aroused from deep sleep but not actually woken up. After a short period of time he started showing symptoms of diabetes.

Sleep deprivation can be very catastrophic to your health if it continues for a long period of time. When I say sleep deprivation I am not talking about getting no sleep for days. It can mean not enough sleep each night or it can mean sleeping every night but not really getting the restful sleep that our bodies need.

http://sleepdisorders.about.com/cs/sleepdeprivation/a/sleepdiabetes.htm

Getting a good nights sleep has many benefits. In this day and time more people are finding it harder and harder to sleep. I know that I rarely get more than 5 hours of sleep. This makes my days harder get through. Often I can't keep my eyes open. If I make the mistake of getting a nap that can be even worse. I don't know if I am just getting the wrong amount in the nap or what. I often wake up feeling really bad. I think that the chemical your brain releases when you are asleep is affecting me. It may be that I slept too long or not long enough. Either way I call it a sleep hangover and it isn't pleasant.

SLEEP DEPRIVATION & WEIGHT GAIN PART 1

Sleep Apnea can be very detrimental to your health. I was diagnosed with it 6 years ago. I believe that many people have it and are not aware. I am sure everyone knows someone that snores so loud that it rattles the windows. I don't know that everyone that snores has sleep apnea but in my case it was true.

I had sleep apnea for probably 10+ years before I was diagnosed with it. I had always had sleep issues. As a teenager I rarely slept. This really didn't seem to bother me. I know a lot of that was being young and full of energy and I am sure that all the cola's I drank didn't help. I wasn't aware that cola's had caffeine and would keep you awake.

My ex told me he was concerned about me because I would snore loud and then nothing....silence for a many seconds and then I would start breathing again. I went to a doctor and he acted as if this was nothing. He suggested I sew a tennis ball into the back of my pj's or I could have surgery. The way he said it was so flippant and who wants surgery. I thought it sounded silly and vain to have surgery just because you snored.

Flash forward to almost 10 years later and a new husband...... I remember waking up all the time. I really didn't think anything of it. I never slept in and I was always up late. I remember twice actually sleeping hard and my husband woke me up because he was worried about me since I never slept late. Talk about fury.... how dare he wake me up.

I started slowly gaining weight even though I was very active and ate healthy. It was very frustrating. In 2001 I remember being at work on the computer and dozing off. I was also zoning out when people talked to me. Watching a movie was almost impossible. I would fall asleep and start snoring and the kids would shake me and complain. Basically, if I wasn't going a hundred miles an hour I was passed out. Still I didn't really click that something was wrong.

In 2002 we moved to Florida and my hubby thought I should just stay home for a few months and get things really organized before starting a job search. I was thinking it was going to be wonderful. I would work out and walk and swim ( I had demanded a home with a pool since it was Florida) and get really fit. That didn't happen. I felt worse than I ever had my entire life. I didn't understand it. I would wake up and feel like crap. I was so tired I couldn't really function. I tried taking naps and just ended up feeling even worse.

Finally my husband said you have to go get something done. I went to a doctor and he said I am very certain you have sleep apnea and setup sleep studies. Sure enough I had it. I would stop breathing for up to 30 seconds at a time. Then I had to sleep with a cpap to force air down my nasal passages to keep my passage way from closing up and stopping my breathing.

This really didn't seem to help. I was miserable. Then my husband saw a report on the news about a surgery. I called the TV station and found out where to call. I got the teaching hospital in Tampa. The doctor I saw was great. He said that the cpap wouldn't do any good if the air couldn't get through my tiny nasal passages. I needed RF treatment and surgery.

RF is like a radio frequency that kind of microwaves from the inside out. What it does is tighten the areas which makes passages smaller. I also had my tonsils removed. They shrunk my nasal passages and the back of my tongue. This seemed to help for awhile. Once we moved back to Georgia it rained almost every day. This kept the air cleaner and I actually slept for 6 hours straight without a cpap. I felt better.

Unfortunately, this does not last. You must have these repeated. I also have allergies which makes it hard to breath. I know that I need more RF and perhaps a stronger air flow. I now have another cpap and I can't survive without it. If I make the mistake of not using it when I sleep I feel even worse than I already do.

Check out these links to see if you may suffer from sleep apnea.

https://ssl.search.live.com/health/article.aspx?id=articles%2fmc%2fpages%2f0%2fDS00148.html&qu=Symptoms+Of+Sleep+Apnea

http://www.sleepapneaosa.com/

If you are diagnosed with sleep apnea please know that there are options to buying your equipment. I purchased mine from the sleep study group. I later found a site that is at least half the price for your equipment. They have many types of models available.

http://www.cpap.com/

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

Welcome to my journey to getting fit and healthy both physically and mentally. I am by no means an expert. I have read a lot of articles and studied different ideas about getting healthy. I can tell you what to do but obviously have not managed to maintain it for myself in a consistent manner. I do well and then I backslide.

I understand the difficulties that are involved. There are so many variables in ones life along with stress caused by careers, children, relationships, financial hardships and other obstacles.

There are a lot of things that can definitely side track your progress. I started gaining weight years ago. This was very difficult for me because I had always been very small. I had even been taunted about being too small. I was called bony and skinny and miniature. Let me say that I was not bony or skinny. I was small but I had a small frame. I actually weighed more than others my size because of my muscle mass.

I was an extremely energetic person. I was, in my opinion, a very fit, extremely athletic fine physical specimen. I would water ski, run and physically challenge myself constantly. I wasn't trying to be athletic I just like challenging myself. I tended to get bored easily.

I also ate like a horse. I wasn't too great on the breakfast side and typically tended to not partake of it. However, I would ate a huge lunch and was constantly snacking and ate dinner. My snacks were not junk though. I would grab celery, lettuce and olives. Not because it was healthy but because I liked it. I did drink a lot of Dr. Pepper and loved Hershey's chocolate almond bars. Still like them but have now discovered how wonderful dark chocolate is.

I used to think dark chocolate was too bitter. Once I ate a few though my perception changed and milk chocolate became too sweet and not very tasty to me. They say a small portion of dark chocolate is good for you just as drinking small amounts of red wine each day are.

So my plan of action is to quit procrastinating. Get moving and get some exercise. Prepare my foods in advance if needed and try to find some happiness. The happiness part may be the hardest. I am not a totally miserable person. I do have joys in life but they seem to get over shadowed by these other complications.

I know that if I don't make these changes now that I may not be around long to enjoy anything. I am topping the scale at 215 and I am only 5'3". I smoke and I stress and I don't sleep enough. Sounds like a time bomb about to blow at any moment.

Until my next post I will be Screaming For Chocolate.........