Time to Rethink Bedtime?

by Leslie Aronson — April 30, 2008

It's no secret that you need regular sleep to maintain a balanced and healthy lifestyle and body. Lack of sleep can inhibit your body's ability to heal after sickness, injury, or even a tough workout. Particularly if you're training for a specific event, sleep is essential to maintaining optimum performance. But studies now show, as reported in the journal Sleep, that sufficient amounts of sleep can potentially protect against type II diabetes. Lack of sleep might impair our ability to manage blood sugar, which potentially means that not sleeping enough could be making you gain weight. And, since those who stay up later tend to snack later as well and ingest more calories than they would if they went to bed earlier, this extra calorie intake could also be a factor in the diabetes/sleep deprivation correlation. There is also evidence to suggest that our bodies process blood sugar less efficiently as the day goes on, so late-night, or even later-in-the-day snacking is something you may want to rethink, especially if you're already at risk (genetically or otherwise) for type II diabetes. So go to bed! Your workouts will benefit and so will your body.