Sleeping Problems, Chronic Inflammation, And Our Kids

I just read an article on sleep issues and inflammation. Our bodies react poorly to a lack of sleep, and I see in our children significant issues with sleep. Many are allowed to stay up late playing games, some are on their phones texting late at night, often unknown to their parents of course. This bodes poorly for their health: cognitive issues, high blood pressure, obesity and general lack of well being. Combine this with their diet that is high in things such as High Fructose Corn Syrup (anytime you read this, think "worst toxin we regularly put in our body), and we have the recipe for disaster. It's no wonder hypertension and high cholesterol are being found in our kids. It's no wonder we have such an obesity issue with our kids, and that diabetes is becoming much more rampant in our kids.

We have to create good sleep habits with our kids, we have to teach them how to deal with anxiety, both of which we do in our office with great results. We as parents have to be responsible for helping them get good rest, which means we have to have them on a schedule.

Here's a brief excerpt from the article I was reading by Byron Richards, Certified Clinical Nutritionist:

Inflammation, Oxidative Damage, and Poor Cognitive Ability

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles have shown that even one bad night of sleep turns on the core inflammatory gene signal (NF-kappaB) within cells of your body. This is not good. Once the NF-kappaB gene signal turns on, and starts overheating (as in a number of bad night’s sleep), then massive numbers of antioxidants will be required to offset the damage.

What if your child doesn’t have enough antioxidants? Answer: brain damage to a greater or lesser degree. Such inflammation and lack of antioxidants underlies depression and poor mood. But even on a lesser scale it reduces intelligence and cognitive potential. How can a child learn well under such circumstances?

Data coming from the Cleveland Children’s Sleep and Health Study is showing that even in perfectly healthy teens who do not have sleep disordered breathing (snoring/sleep apnea) a lack of sleep is adequate to begin the process of adverse changes in their cardiovascular system.

Of course this is only one way it can affect our health. Proper rest is important to undo all the damage that occurs in our body from daily living. When we don't rest well, our body deteriorates a bit, we become more susceptible to illness and disease, we are less clear brained and make poorer decisions (which can create a vicious cycle if our poor decisions lead to poor eating, which in turn further affects our health).

Remember our "Be Well" formula includes eating well, thinking well, moving well and RESTING well.

Until next time, Be Well!
Dr. Bruce