Thanks to our Healthy Hairdresser friend Ivan Zoot for his social media posting of an article from Ace Fitness that drives home the reasons we need to be strict with ourselves about the shuteye. From the article, we can identify five problems that can result from lack of sleep:

• Weight gain. A lack of sleep diminishes your levels of the hormone leptin, leaving you less satisfied after eating, while also raising your levels of the hormone ghrelin, known as the “hunger hormone” because it stimulates the appetite. That’s a bad combination! Studies have shown that people who sleep less eat more.

• Fatigue. This is obvious—you’re more tired when you don’t sleep—but think of your body like a cell phone that needs to recharge before it can work properly. You, too, need time to recharge in order to be at the top of your game.

• Metabolism damage. Research indicates that inadequate amounts of sleep may play a role in developing or aggravating existing metabolic disorders.

• Athletic drag. If you play sports or work out regularly, you probably notice that your speed, accuracy and reaction time are reduced when you haven’t had a full night’s sleep. If you’re in intense training for an event, you may need even more sleep than usual. 

• Fuzzy thinking. You may not connect brain freeze to lack of sleep, but that’s what can be causing it. If you become easily distracted and find it hard to concentrate, try adding an hour of sleep each night.