Sleep Deprivation
2/3/2009
by Amy Buchanan
Sleep deprivation is a fact of life for many – if not most – mothers. And that fact often doesn’t change even when children get older and start sleeping through the night.
Many women find that they have to burn the midnight oil or awaken early to do everything they need to get done and carve out a little me time. While it may seem like good time management to stay up late or get up early, doing so has definite health consequences and can also derail weight loss efforts.
Research has shown people who are chronically sleep deprived are more likely to gain weight. Hormones are to blame.
According to studies conducted at the University of Chicago and Stanford University, sleep deprivation affect hormones that contribute to hunger and the feeling of fullness. People who are tired may need sleep, but their bodies might confuse the craving for rest for a craving for food and that might lead to overeating.
Further research by scientists at Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom supports the link between lack of sleep and weight gain. In 2006, researchers there said that sleep deprived adults and children had twice the risk of obesity as their well-rested counterparts in the study.
Scientists at Kaiser Permanente Research Foundation in California looked at the sleep habits of 940 mothers who were at least six months postpartum, and they found that sleep – or lack of it – literally was weighing women down. Those who regularly slept five hours or less per day were three times more likely to be carrying eleven extra pounds at their baby's first birthday than those who slept seven hours per day.
The science could explain why so many new moms struggle to drop the pregnancy pounds or experience weight gain three to four months after giving birth. It also underscores the importance of rest in overall health and weight loss efforts.
Sleep deprivation seems to be a pretty pervasive problem for mothers, whether they stay at home, work full time or work part time, as evidenced by a 2007 poll by the National Sleep Foundation.
In the NSF survey, 58% of stay-at-home moms, 56% of moms with full-time jobs and and 41% of moms who work part-time said that they wake up “unrefreshed” at least a few days a week. Many turn to caffeine to get them through the day, but too much caffeine can lead to insomnia, compounding sleep problems.
How much sleep do adult women need?
There’s no magic number – and the amount of sleep necessary does vary depending on age and gender – but most sleep experts agree that adults need seven to nine hours of shut-eye nightly. Anything less, and you’re risking your health, mental acuity, mood and productivity.
Many Americans aren’t getting the necessary pillow time. The 2008 Sleep in America Poll revealed that on weekdays, adults sleep an average of 6 hours and 40 minutes a night. In fact, 44 percent of those polled sleep less than 7 hours a night during the workweek. Only 2 percent sleep for more than 9 hours during the week.
Of those surveyed, 41 percent of those who slept less than six hours a night were obese, compared with 28 percent of those who slept eight hours or more.
If you’re a mom, chances are you aren’t getting enough sleep, and your body is paying the price.
To find out if you could be sleep deprived and at risk for sleep problems, take the National Sleep Foundation’s online
Mom’s Sleep Test.
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