When I cover the keys to health, the keys to recovery from a chronic condition or the keys to preventing a chronic condition I generally focus on 7 things:
- Eat real food (produce, organic if you can, nothing processed or from factories)
- Get your nutrients (we all must supplement vitamin D and likely other nutrients)
- Reduce Stress (this might have to include turning off the news and your smart phone alerts)
- Get enough exercise
- Fix your biome (internal environmental diversity)
- Surround yourself with nurturing people who support your passions and healing
- Get enough SLEEP (Restorative good sleep!)
So how much sleep is right for you? While this can certainly vary from person to person, and we need more during times of growth or stress, there are some guidelines.
In my scan of important articles (something I do every day) I stumbled on three – all addressing the sleep issue based on studies presented yesterday at the European Society of Cardiology.
The PESA study enrolled 3,974 healthy middle-aged adults and carefully tracked sleep quality and quantity.
Here is what they found:
- Those getting less than 6 hours a night had significantly more atherosclerosis than those who got seven to eight hours.
- Those with the most fragmented sleep were more likely to have atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).
- Those with short or disrupted sleep were also more likely to have metabolic syndrome, (the combination of diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity).
