Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #38- Sleep is more important than exercise AND nutrition!

PQTD #38  Sleep is MORE important than exercise AND nutrition!

Can this really be true?  How can a little thing like sleep be so important, even more important than real, paleo type nutrition and actual perfectly paleo exercise??  What’s such a big deal about sleeping, which to most modern folks seems kind of like not being a hard-charging, drive-ahead sort of man or woman, and instead being a kind of... laid back loser, a hippie without a cause!

Au contraire my frenchophile friend!  Here is what a lack of sleep can, and will do to you:

Hamper your memory and learning ability
Cause you to gain fat weight
Makes you more accident prone
Affects your mood, and makes you depressed
Increases hypertension, stress hormone, and heart problems
Hampers your immune function, making you more prone to all diseases, including cancer and diabetes

Kind of a scary list, isn’t it?  And most people today in the modern world are not just mildly sleep deprived- MOST people are severely sleep deprived, and are really destroying their health, just as they would by eating processed, and fast food meals, twinkies, and washing it all down with soda pop!  At least that won’t KILL them in a few days- did you know that just a few days without sleep can result in DEATH?  And chronic sleep deprivation kills brain cells, and recent animal research suggests that these particular brain cells are never regained- we are just permanently made dumber.

All of this from just trying to prove what hard charging, dynamic, run rings around our competitors types we really are, by forcing ourselves to study, or work, or party hard all night, or stay up on the computer, or watching television, or all of the above...

Instead of getting ahead, we are merely making ourselves fatter, sicker, and dumber than our competition!

Think about it- we can live a really, really long time without food, or good ancestral style nutrition even, particularly if we are keto adapted, i.e. have become fat burners rather than sugar burners!  Even the leanest of us has weeks and weeks worth of fat on our bodies.  Even water can be lived without for a few days.  Without exercise we can live for many, many years- go to Wal-Mart and look at all of the living non-exercisers...

But Sleep is a different story. It is absolutely critical for not only our health, but our very survival!  And if you are striving for peak health, as I hope you are as a Paleo Quick Tip of the Dayer, it is absolutely crucial.

It is also simple, very enjoyable, completely free, and can’t be overdone, like exercise easily can be, as well as eating food can be.  It doesn’t sound that sexy as adding a chinup, or learning a handstand, but it is not only every bit as important as those goals would be, it is MORE important!

And so, look closely at my picture on your smartphone as I’m talking to you... gaze into my eyes... you are getting sle-e-e-e-e-py....

Check out this episode!

PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe #72- Food is not just Energy, and Sleep is not just Rest

The bottom line is this: the food we take into our bodies is a complex array of nutrients, phyto-nutrients, calories (i.e: Energy), and a complex array of things we have yet to discover that nurture our bodies and minds in a very complex and intricate symbiosis…    Processed foods, foods from Big Food manufacturers  and fast food sellers are largely devoid of nutrients- what they do have is mainly added in after the fact in the form of supplemental (read: chemical!) vitamins.

This is akin to what Big Agriculture has become- pumping chemical nitrogen into a depleted soil in order to produce grain crops of corn, (mainly for high fructose corn syrup and feeding cattle), and soybeans, (mainly for oils, which are highly damaging for humans).  So- the grain is damaging to us in the form of the HFCS, and is also damaging in the form of cattle feed, since cattle, like us, really cannot be healthy and thriving on grains.  They are ruminants, and need grass!

Let’s repeat that again: cows are ruminants, and are meant to EAT GRASS!

It shows just how out of touch we are in modern America that we don’t even know that anymore!  I guarantee our grandparents knew it, and all of our ancestors preceding them.  In fact, the only informed people that don’t know about it are the ignorant, and those who want to keep the rest of us ignorant for their own financial gain.

The reason cows are fed corn is because grains make them FAT!  

More fat in the meat, more weight on the hoof and more money for the seller….  Unfortunately, this grain also makes the cattle sick, and necessitates them being dosed liberally with antibiotics and other rather toxic medicines to keep them alive the few short months they need to suffer to gain sufficient size to slaughter.  This gives us meat, but meat that is from sick animals, with a vastly decreased nutritional profile.

Grass fed cattle are much, much more healthy for us to consume- this grass fed meat is loaded with all of the nutrients that our bodies need to be healthy and happy, and not corn-fed toxic fat beef marbling, loaded with antibiotics and other medicine residues!

The interplay between Nature and God made foods and our own physiology is very complex.  We pretend we know just what nutrients we need to survive, but the sad truth is that our knowledge is surface only- we know how to prevent scurvy, for instance, but to provide real vitality and health we have no knowledge really at all, except to say:

“Eat the minimum daily requirements of vitamins and minerals, as determined by the FDA”.

This is a prescription that will keep you from scurvy, and some other diseases, but ignores (because they have no idea!) of what you need for HEALTH and WELLNESS.  And isn’t that what we want??

So, you DO have to eat real, healthy, whole, God made foods, as close to their natural state as you can get them, to really be healthy and vital!  Processed and Fast Foods just won’t cut it- drop them our of your diet!

And, while you are at it, turn off your TV and computer and get some quality SLEEP! (Not just rest…)

We all actually get…. TOO MUCH REST!  What??

Yes, really- we sit all day long, most of us, in front of computers, televisions, iPads, and all manner of screens.  We rest constantly, and our bodies crave, and require MOVEMENT.  So, please, start walking as much as possible instead of driving, and riding your bike, and hiking, and doing your Perfectly Paleo Exercises daily… your body will thank you, as will your mind…

But, in addition, we all need good quality sleep!

Sleep does far more than just “rest” us- it is crucial for our bodies in terms of immune function, weight regulation, memory, learning, mood, and many other vital needs.  Like our Real Foods that we don’t know all of the benefits of yet, Real SLEEP has benefits that are as of yet uncharted, but all the more real irregardless.

Sleep avoidance has long been regarded as kind of a “badge of honor”, since that meant your were a really hard worker or party-er, or whatever-er…

Well, that is totally, unabashedly STUPID.

Sleep is utterly vital and necessary and desirable.
To shortchange it willfully is foolish, stupid, and ignorant!

So, to get back to topic:

Get ample sleep each night.  Think of it as like working out- it’s a badge of honor!  The more sleep you get, the more of a smart, hard worker, partie-er, and whatever-er, you can be, just because the quality sleep produces a higher quality YOU!

One tip here: get a quality, LED red nightlight if you use one.  This won’t disturb your circadian cycle like a real nightlight will.  Also, install the free app
http://justgetflux.com/  onto your computer!  This will automatically start blocking the blue light after dark in your area, gradually preparing you for sleep- very effective indeed!  And, don’t watch TV right up until bedtime.  Switch it off at least an hour before hand, and read, or converse before bed.

It really does!  We are meant to sleep for a good 8 hours per night, at least, for a very good set of reasons…

Just as we were fine-tuned over millennia to eat God made foods from Nature for a very good set of reasons…

And so please- Listen to reason!

J

Paleo diet and the importance of SLEEP!

Here is a brief info-graphic I found at Paleoliving.com; the accompanying article is quite long, and will tell you in detail just why sleep is so important, and how we have so disrupted our necessary and primeval patterns of sleep and rejuvenation.

But, the diagram above really puts it all together succinctly!

What you really need to know and to incorporate into your life is that sleep is not something that's optional- chronic skimping on sleep, meaning less than 7 1/2 -8 hours per night, minimum, will quite literally KILL you!

The rejuvenating effects of good, restful sleep are completely necessary for mental and physical health.  Lack of sleep is extremely stressful- your body cannot take it- we were made to require sleep.  Just as we require good, high quality Paleo foods, and brief yet intense exertion, we require good, high quality sleep!  It is really that important to our health.

If you are already having trouble getting a good night's sleep, here are some things that might help:

Black out your bedroom!  If there are bright lights outside, get heavy curtains that really block that light.  Don't watch TV or use a computer in your bedroom.  Try to make it the "sleep cave".

Don't stay up late!  This is crucial- we are meant to go to bed with the onset of darkness, and awaken with the dawn.  Try to replicate this cycle as much as possible!

Don't eat late in the evening!  Digestion is a big chore/stresser on your body, and will make it harder for you to sleep.

Above all, don't be a "Hero"!  Don't be someone who prides himself on "only needing 4 hours of sleep a night!", implying that you are so tough you don't waste time on something as nonproductive as sleep!  This is nonsense, and you are only fooling yourself- just as you could "get by" eating the most non-nutritious diet; i.e. fast food and soda for awhile, we all know that eventually this will literally destroy you!  Same result with cheating on SLEEP!

I think I'll go take a nap...

J