Your body depends on your biological clock (circadian rhythm) to steadily regulate your sleep/wake cycles. When this process gets thrown off balance – which is, unfortunately, very easy to do -- it can wreak havoc on your health.
For instance, all of the following can confuse your body and make it think you should be awake when you should be sleeping, or vice versa:
* Staying up late
* Working the night shift
* Turning on a light in the middle of the night
* Using a night light
* Switching time zones (jet lag)
* Eating in the middle of the night or too close to bedtime
Your circadian rhythm influences so many things -- from your heart rate to body temperature and hormone production -- that when it’s disrupted, a cascade of negative health effects can occur.
For instance, too little sleep can:
- Alter your metabolism and make you gain weight
- Cause your brain to stop producing new cells
- Increase your risk of cancer by altering the balance of hormones in your body
- Increase your risk of diabetes by reducing your leptin levels
- Accelerate aging
- Increase your risk of heart disease and stroke
- Raise your blood pressure
- Speed up tumor growth. Tumors grow two to three times faster in laboratory animals with severe sleep dysfunctions
Additionally, your body does most of its repairs during sleep, so not getting enough of it can impair your immune system, leaving you less able to fight off diseases of ALL kinds.
Excerpt taken from Mercola.com
