Written by: Tracy Spiaggia, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Over the coming months, we will continue the conversation about ways to powerfully influence the health of our brains by first identifying ways we eat, live, and think that adversely impact our cognitive function and then learning how to make choices that help and heal. Previously, we skimmed over the massive impact of diet on our mental health. If you missed that, please head over to that piece so you can enjoy the most comprehensive experience of this critical topic. ¹ This article will briefly unpack the sweeping impacts of sleep (or lack thereof) on the body and brain.
Our bodies are brilliant and have immutable biological expectations necessary for our health and longevity. Just because how we live drifts far off center doesn’t mean our bodies will adjust to accommodate our asynchronous lifestyles. Instead, they will do their best through symptoms to warn us when we are headed for danger. If we are mindful and revere our body’s design, we pay attention to the headache, the brain fog, the hives and do our best to course correct. But what if we don’t know how? What if we have never been taught that what we eat and how we live directly impacts our health? Worse yet, what if our medical, governmental, and educational systems are not helping us understand and appreciate these correlations but are instead prescribing medications that quiet the body’s signaling systems, recommending diets that encourage disease, and hyper-focusing on rigorous academic performance rather than holistically training up the next generation? Unless someone is passionate enough about true health and wellness to pursue understanding on their own, it’s very likely they will experience the natural consequences of living the standard American lifestyle.
Let’s focus in on sleep’s impact on our mental health. There are so many potential insults to our body’s rhythms, especially our circadian rhythm, such as excessive screen viewing, staying awake past midnight, eating inflammatory and excitatory foods, not getting enough sun exposure during the day, and EMF exposure, to list a few. Functional health experts consider sleep to be “king” when prioritizing lifestyle habits and body systems for optimal health. It only takes one night of disrupted sleep to experience significant negative impacts. In a study published in Society for Neuroscience, researchers Eti Ben Simon and Matthew Walker used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to track the anxiety levels and brain activity of 18 healthy young adults. They first gathered data during and after the participants slept normally for one night, and next after they stayed awake for 24 hours. They reported “After a night of no sleep, study participants reported a 30 percent increase in anxiety compared to the way they felt after a good night’s sleep.” ² They concluded that “Disturbed sleep, including Non-REM slow-wave activity (SWA), is comorbid with all anxiety disorders, while sleep deprivation increases anxiety in healthy individuals.” ³
When sleep is compromised for consecutive nights, these and many other adverse health impacts skyrocket. According to the CDC, “Insufficient sleep has been linked to the development and management of a number of chronic diseases and conditions, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression.” ⁴ Keep in mind, much of the research on this topic is exploring impacts on adults, not developing children. This age group is suffering terribly from chronic sleep deprivation, especially since the introduction of the Internet, social media, and personal devices. A 2021 study by the CDC showed over one third of children between the ages of 4 months and 17 years were sleep deprived. ⁵ It is well established that the first 8 years of life are critical for proper brain development and sleep plays a huge role in that. Further, the brain continues to grow and prune up until the age of 25 or so. Without proper quantity and quality of nightly sleep, the brain and body suffer, contributing to and possibly directly causing disease.
Circling back to the impetus of this series, how can we take back our power within the home? Well, as a mom of three, I admit these changes are not for the faint of heart. But knowledge is power, making meaningful change absolutely possible. Some helpful hacks include reverse engineering your days to ensure you’re all getting the best sleep possible, keeping the bedrooms completely dark and cool, getting outside as early as possible so that sun exposure resets your internal clocks, closing the kitchen and eliminating screen time a couple of hours before bedtime and instead reading/bathing/engaging in quiet play, pulling back on and eventually eliminating processed foods, making sure everyone is moving every day, and dimming all lights in step with the setting of the sun. These are just a few helpful suggestions to get your family’s sleep schedule back on track. If our nighttime routine isn’t ideal, it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to uphold an ideal routine for our kids. In parenting, more is caught than taught, after all. So, like all positive change, it starts with us parents. We set the tone, expectations, and rhythms in our homes. If we eat clean whole food, moderate our technology use, exercise, pray, forgive, play, get to bed on time each night, etc., the chances are excellent that our kids will too. This is the power and blessing of parenthood. We are given the precious opportunity to shape the next generation. But that’s true whether we model stewardship or chaos. It’s my life’s mission to inspire and encourage parents to strive to be their very best for their own sake and for the sake of their observing children. Now, go get some much-needed sleep!
Tracy Spiaggia, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Tracy Spiaggia is a Functional Nutrition and Lifestyle Practitioner, NBCHWC, Amen Clinic Brain Health Specialist, published author and founder of Slingshot Health Coaching. She collaborates with families struggling with mental and relational health issues. She’s very passionate about educating families how to gain an appreciation for the design of their bodies, to be perpetual students of themselves and family members, to repair relationships, to address their trauma wounds and nurture their spiritual lives. Having navigated her own grief and health challenges, she knows the power of a mother's love to tirelessly and effectively implement targeted, holistic care to achieve true and lasting healing.
References:
[1] https://www.brainzmagazine.com/post/expanding-our-mental-health-toolbox-finding- solutions-to-mental-illness-in-the-home
[2] Anwar, Y. (2018, November6). Chronically anxious? Deep sleep may take the edge off. Berkeley News. https://news.berkeley.edu/2018/11/06/chronically-anxious/
[3] Simon, E. B., & Walker, M. P. (2018). 192.11 - Underslept and Overanxious: The neural correlates of sleep-loss induced anxiety in the human brain.Society for Neuroscience, 192(11). https://doi.org/ November 4, 2018
[4] CDC (2022, September 13). Sleep and Chronic Disease. Centers for Disease Control and 4 Prevention. Retrieved June 26, 2023, from https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/chronic_disease.html
[5] Wheaton AG, Claussen AH. Short sleep duration among infants, children, and adolescents 5 aged 4 months–17 years — United States, 2016–2018. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2021;70:1315-1321. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7038a1
