Total Activation: Healthy Living
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How Sleep Effects Health
I have been reading the book Total Activation: The New 5 Step Fitness Mantra by Nitin Chhoda. I have only read the first third at this time - but the ideas are very thought provoking. The book contrasts the life styles of Americans with the life styles of people from India. There are many points of difference, but some of the main ones are:
- People in India walk a great deal more than we do
- There are open markets for food; not one-stop Super Markets
- Families in India actually eat together
- Real meals are cooked
- Fresh food is purchased - not preserved foods
One might ask, What does this have to do with Sleep? Mr. Chhoda makes a great point when he states: “Another factor (to health) besides nutrition is sleep. More and more kids are getting less and less sleep, staying up at night watching TV, surfing the Internet, using chat rooms, staying on the phone, or using portable video games.”
I have had an ongoing argument with my 12 year old daughter about sleep and health. She sees her friends staying up late, wandering the neighborhood, allowed to watch rated R movies, basically allowed to do just about anything. She has a strict bed time, does not spend much time with the TV, does not have a computer for Internet surfing or chat rooms, and does not have a video game player. She gets plenty of sleep, uses her imagination for entertainment (like we used to do) and she is excelling in sports, school, and her personal development.
It seems that the children of India have a similar life to what we are providing our daughter. They are growing up healthier than the average American child - without weight issues and other poor health issues.
There was a study done at the University of Michigan’s CS Mott Children’s Hospital that demonstrates lack of sleep is directly related to risk of being overweight in kids. The study shows that children who get fewer than 9 hours of sleep a day are a higher risk of getting overweight by the 6th grade.
This book really points out the responsibility of parents to provide good nutrition and an environment for sleeping. These bare necessities are not being met for most of my daughter friends - and their parents see nothing wrong.
So far this book is a great read - I would recommend it to anybody that needs insight into a healthier life style.
To Your Health
Dotty
Total Activation: The New 5 Step Fitness Mantra
Tags: health, Sleep, Total Activation
5 People have left comments on this post
We have really gotten away from a healthy lifestyle in America with our children. Heck even adult selves! Sounds like a good book.
It takes some pretty solid parents to maintain that level of discipline with all of today’s influences. Great job with your kid.
And Colleen is right, even we adults fall to those influences. We need to grow some personal discipline, as well.
Thanks
By not letting your child have access to the internet, go to movies, and be out late, you may be helping her “personal development”, but her social development is going to be crippled.
In India that lifestyle is fine for teenagers, since all teenagers act the same way, and they are healthy together. Your child is healthy alone, and this will have a serious effect on her social skills later in life.
Help her find a balance between health and socializing, rather than depriving her of something so key to her development.
Hi Scott
In fact my daughter is a highly social child. I did not say that she is not allowed any of the things that her friends participate in. What I said is that she has boundaries - she is not allowed free reign on the Internet and she does not watch a great deal of TV. She has limited exposure to inappropriate material (exposure occurs at school) and we have an open dialog so she is learning from the experiences of her friends without suffering the consequences that her friends are facing. She is developing socially better than most - based upon my observances of other children her age.
There was a study that less sleep can actually contribute to weight gain. So people, count your Zzzz’s