Do you know why third shift is nicknamed the “graveyard shift”? It is a grim name for a shift but unfortunately, it accurately depicts what happens to those on it. There is a greater incidence of heart attack and a general decrease in life expectancy for those who work it for extended years. Why? Because it messes with our normal sleep cycles and circadian rhythms. These are natural rhythms that are vital in setting our set points and establishing our healing and repair.
Aging is nothing but poor repair. We repair our bodies at night so is bodies never actually rest. Hmmm…can you imagine if your heart or lungs decided to take the day off? Ah nope- that isn’t going happen so even when we sleep, our bodies are working their tails off.
Sleep is like when you reboot your computer. Resetting all the things we need so we can be at our best. It is also when we are in a fasting state. We will talk about fasting at another time, because today I want to share a story about sleep. *Permission granted from the family.
A couple of years ago I had a patient whose son had to drop out of college because of all these funky neurological symptoms. The symptoms kept worsening and no hospital system was able to diagnosis what was causing the issues.
Not Froedert.
Not UW.
Not Mayo…..
Some health care practitioners blamed it on undetected Lyme disease. Many blamed it on some type of psychological issue. Smart people don’t like to say “I don’t know.” It was a horrible experience.
By the time I was involved, I would adjust him just to give him some relief and try to guide the family in their search for resolution. His diagnosis was well above my pay grade. A couple of years ago he died after continuing to deteriorate regardless of any treatment. At death he was in his early 20’s but his brain on MRI was that of a 75 year old man in very poor health!
Mayo Clinic, upon autopsy, revealed that his diagnosis was FATAL INSOMNIA! Yeah. The poor kid hadn’t slept in over two years.
The lesson from this heart wrenching story is that you need sleep so start prioritizing it. Without it, you are going to age quicker, die younger, and not have nearly the quality of life that you would with a solid eight hours a night.
Think about it, if you live to life expectancy, that is a bit over 75 years which means you should be sleeping for 25 of those years. With that knowledge, you may want to rethink how much you are willing to spend on a good mattress!
You won’t spend any more money while you sleep : )
Here is a link to our sleep protocol suggestions. It is a list of habits and rituals that will help your sleep quality along with supplemental suggestions if a sleep aid is needed while you are working on your habits.
Sleep is not something to short change yourself on. Now get to bed!