I have a friend who is much older than she looks. Since I know that she generally takes good care of herself by eating well and exercising (great skin and what a fit body!), I once asked her if there was one thing she did that she felt contributed the most to her youthful look and she replied I try to sleep long enough every night so that I wake up naturally. (I had hoped to get the name of some new amazing beauty treatment).
Theres lots of new research out there attempting to fully understand the effect that disturbed sleep has on health. Although, those of us who have had a newborn baby in the house KNOW without the science what sleep deprivation does to youOH BOY!
But seriously, there are more and more indicators of the association between lack of sleep and many of the big killers.
Lack of sleep appears to increase the production of stress hormones and drives up blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes. Moreover, people who are sleep-deprived have higher levels of chemicals in the blood which indicate a heightened state of inflammation in the body, a risk factor for heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes (big killers)....