Here at Canyon Ranch, where we’ve always focused on the connection between lifestyle and health, exciting new discoveries about sleep are changing the way we evaluate and treat medical and emotional issues. We’ve been awakened to the insidious destructive potential of sleep deprivation.

One of the first questions we ask every guest who comes to us with a health concern is: “How are you sleeping?” That simple question can often open the floodgates, and the answer is crucial in formulating a plan for restoring
health and a sense of well-being.

The Country That Never Sleeps
At least 86 distinct sleep disorders are on the books as our national epidemic of sleep deprivation heads into its second century: It started when an insomniac named Edison invented the light bulb. We’re the first culture in the history of the world that’s tried to go without enough sleep. The
result is a widely sleep-deprived and disordered population that, in the words of a pioneer in the field, “Flows past the unseeing eyes of doctors.”

With sleepiness at the root of disasters like Chernobyl, the Challenger disaster and the Exxon Valdez oil spill, it’s perhaps hard to understand how so many health professionals miss the obvious. It’s hard, that is, until you
realize that our system of medical training actually creates and rewards sleep disorders. Doctors remain at the center of a caffeinated, go-go culture that views the need for a solid 8 to 9 hours as wimpy, and sleep as mere “down-time”-even for children (Research indicates that inadequate sleep is a factor in 50-80 percent of all cases of that new scourge of childhood, Attention Deficit Disorder).

While You Were Sleeping
There’s still much about sleep that we don’t understand, but we do know that it’s a furiously active biological state. Here’s a glimpse into what went on last night.

During the first part of the night, your brain turned into a biochemical factory, churning out antioxidants, growth hormone, anti-aging markers including DHEA and testosterone, and vital immunological factors. Your body’s exquisitely complex chemical balances and controls were restored. Later on, you shifted into more vigorous REM or dream states while your brain sorted through yesterday’s experience, “tattooing” memories and consolidating learning. The last period of sleep, toward morning, was
crucial for your creativity and mood - this is the sleep that most people with depression don’t get.

Sleep nourishes, renews and “knits up” body, mind and spirit. As our ancestors knew -and we forgot – there is no substitute for it. If you often have trouble sleeping or if you snore heavily, seek help at a sleep center.
But if you are tired all the time just because you go to bed too late, reconsider your priorities. Get some exercise during the day, lay off the caffeine and skip David Letterman (whoever he is!).