The intertwining of diet and sleep

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sleep

 

We know that 7-8 hours of sleep per night tends to lead to better health overall, at least at a population level. We also know that the way you sleep (and how much) is linked to overeating, but is it possible that healthy diets can keep you up at night? Does a causal link exist in both directions?

A recently published research study looking at the USA National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in 2007-2008 involving 4,548 people looked at how much sleep the participants reported getting each night, as well as a very detailed report of their daily diet. For the purposes of this study, very short sleep patterns were defined as less than five hours a night, short sleep was five to six hours a night, standard sleep was 7 to 8 hours, and long sleep was nine or more hours a night. Their analyses revealed that people in the different sleep categories also had different diet patterns. Short sleepers (5-6 hours) seemed to take in the most calories, followed by normal sleepers (7-8 hours), and then very short sleepers (<5 hours). Long sleepers (9+ hours) tended to consume least calories of all. However, normal sleepers seemed to report the greatest variety in their diets, with very short sleepers reporting the least variation in what they ate. This is important because a varied diet tends to be a marker for good health since it includes multiple sources of nutrients.

In more detailed analyses looking and both macro and micro nutrients, very short sleepers reported drinking less tap water and consumed fewer total carbohydrates and lycopene than people with other sleep patterns. Lycopene is found in red and orange-colored fruits and vegetables and is high in cancer-fighting antioxidants. Short sleepers tended to take in less vitamin C, tap water and had lower selenium consumption, but more lutein or zeaxanthin, (which are found in green, leafy vegetables). Long sleep was associated with consuming less theobromine, which is found in chocolate and tea, the saturated fat dodecanoic acid, choline found in eggs and fatty meats and total carbohydrates. Long sleepers also drank more booze.

What do all the correlations mean? The first thing to note is that they are not proof of a causal link. In fact, the study probably raises more questions than it answers – which is a good thing, in my view. Previous research has suggested that sleep deprivation interferes with hunger and satiety hormones crucial to regulating appetite. But the study authors raise the possibility that the relationship works both ways, and that diet can alter possibly sleep as well. Some of the interactions are well-known already, such as how drinking too much water and interrupt sleep by waking you up to use the bathroom, or how consuming heavy and spicy foods can keep you up, but there may be less apparent effects as well. Slightly odd that more alcohol is associated with longer sleep though. I wonder what the quality of that sleep was like?

 

Love what you do

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I’ve been meaning to post this for a while, but today seems like a good day for a number of reasons. Steve Jobs’ commencement speech at Stanford in 2005 is a short speech. But it is an inspiring speech. He tells just three stories, as he reads from his papers:

  • Sometimes, we don’t know how our current experiences will serve us in the future. Sometimes our current circumstances may seem totally at odds with what we think we are supposed to be doing. Embrace that. Trust that the dots will join up and lead somewhere. Sometimes, we can’t make sense of what will happen as we move into the future. It only makes sense when we look back. Trust that it will make sense. Trust that it will work out.
  • Love what you do. Don’t settle for anything else. Find what you love, and do it.
  • Life is too short to waste on doing things you don’t love. Remember, you’ll be dead soon. Do the stuff that means something to you. Do the stuff that means everything to you.

Some of this may sound contradictory. I mean, trust that the thing that seems meaningless now will work out in the future? How is that finding what I love and doing it? My answer would be that it is part of the process, part of the search of finding what you love. Never stop believing that your love is out there.

We are not rational creatures, part II

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When we try to make choices, the way we make those decisions is determined by the number of options and the number of variables we need to consider. Our conscious mind is best when there are few choices and few variables. But increasingly often, we are faced with choices where we have many options to choose from and a lot of variables to make sense of. When things aren’t clear, where we have many pieces of incoming information – that’s when our nonconscious brain makes better decisions.

When we have too much information for our rational brain to make sense of, it usually draws upon a subset of information to base its decision on. Unfortunately, we aren’t always aware that this is going on. Say, you are choosing a car. If you weren’t very experienced at this, and you didn’t have an experience pattern to draw upon from your nonconscious brain, your rational conscious brain might base its decision on a variable that isn’t very important, like the colour of the seats. Research seems to indicate that our conscious brain can only process fewer than ten variables, and in some cases only about four. This is far fewer than the number of variables we have to consider in most situations. People often do better after looking at a choice and making an immediate decision (when their more emotionally-based non conscious brain processes the current information and integrates it with past experience and decides), rather than studying the problem over days, weeks and months, hoping that their rational conscious brain will decide.

Of course, there is a counterview that it is ‘better to think than blink’ (or make a snap judgement). But my sense is that a gut feeling is there for a reason. We have neuronal pathways from our guts that go way back into our evolutionary history, when the thing that made us feel bad was most likely something we ate – and the way to stop feeling bad was to purge the offending material out. Our gut reacting badly is a signal that we are feeling upset, even if rationally we can’t see what the threat is – our wiring, or nonconscious nervous system is telling us something different.

 

We are not rational creatures

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planet rational

Even though we have spent the past few hundred years pulling things and ourselves apart trying to figure out how they (and we) work, we are not much closer to understanding how complex systems work.

The basic premise that underlies much of our collective investigation is that we are rational, logical beings and we can figure out complex systems by locating and identifying all their components. Like other complex systems where we can see the components but not all the relationship, societies, and our brain are emergent systems. If we want to understand how we make decisions, and how people influence each other, we have to focus on the relationship between the specific components rather than the components themselves.

We don’t really use our rational brain that much at all. Instead, we rely on our emotional brains for most decisions  When we weigh up between multiple choices, we don’t carefully weigh up the options and then come to a conclusions, no matter how appealing that sounds as an explanation. Instead, we tend to use mental shortcuts – many of which are inaccurate and can mislead us. For any given decision (of which we make many on a moment-to-moment basis), or nonconscious brain does a staggering amount of invisible analysis which then generates a feeling to our conscious brain. Our poor, overloaded conscious brain meanwhile is struggling with all the information it has to process, and gratefully receives this coded feeling information from the emotional brain to make a decision. So, no matter how coldly rational we think we are, decisions are to a large extent dependent upon emotion – how we feel about a particular situation.

Once we begin to understand this, it starts to alter how we think about changing behaviour. What we used to think of as a rational decision-making process of following a series of if / then processes simply isn’t how people make choices. We tend to overestimate the power and importance of the conscious brain. This also explains why we are sometimes bewildered by the behaviour of other people, and sometimes our own actions. We assume that we can predict their behaviour (and even our own) by applying logical rules. However, most behaviour is driven by nonconscious processes in the brain that we cannot access.

Ever since I was an undergraduate, I have maintained that most of what we do to explain our behaviour is a post-hoc rationalisation. Most of us cannot explain why we do what we do, why we decide what we decide, or how we will behave in the future. We explain what we do to maintain (or change) story of our selves, and in order to maintain a coherent self in our eyes, and in the eyes and minds of others.

As we travel through life, we use our unique experiences to build up a pattern of how the world works, and how we work in that world – of objects and other selves. We store these patterns as neural networks, and because all our experiences are unique – even if we are twins – our patterns are different. These patterns have a massive influence over our behaviour, and what we attend to when making decisions. Our brain have evolved to scan our environments for threat. Because of this, new or unexpected things – things that don’t fit into our patterns of expectation of how the world should be – capture our attention very effectively. In fact, not only do our brains scan for the unexpected, they positively thirst for it. The reason for this constant search for patterns, and our attention being grabbed by things that did fit our patterns is that our brains find it difficult to deal with random occurrences  When we see clouds, we see objects in them – a dolphin, a monkey, etc. When we see a set of lights blinking (randomly) when music is playing, we think they are beating in time to that music. Our brains look for patterns and check to see if we can find a match with patterns that we already hold in memory. When we don’t find a match, the brain re-calibrates and stores new patterns. Or it tries to integrate the new observation into already existing patterns. That way, it takes less work, and we can easily accommodate new information without the threat of disrupting old patterns and ways of seeing the world.

I’ll continue this in the next post in a few days to talk more about the how most of our behaviour is driven by the non-conscious parts of our brains.

New Year’s resolution? Keep it private

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A new year is here. Have you made a resolution to change your behaviour? Are you trying to be more of who you see yourself as – becoming more ‘you’? Or perhaps you have resolved to do something different – a distinct change away from what you have been, to take a step towards becoming something else, someone else. Either way, it seems as though a public declaration of your intentions may end up short-circuiting or sabotaging your very best efforts to change.

Resolutions aren’t for everyone - not at all. But for those that make them, many do not manage to stick to them, despite making public affirmation of their intentions. Why does this happen?

Part of the answer seems to lie in the phenomenon that the act of announcing what you aim to do to friends and family–and hearing their approval–provides similar satisfaction to achieving the goal, giving you a “premature sense of completeness.” If someone else take’s notice of identity-related behavioural intentions we announce publicly, we seem to translate these intentions into actions less effectively than if our public announcements had been ignored. The mere act of having our intentions noticed seems to change how we act. Moreover, when other people take notice of our identity-related behavioral intention, this seems to give us a premature sense of possessing the aspired-to identity. And if our self-satisfaction gauge is already half-full before we start, the motivation to work hard is depleted. You’re already reaping the benefits of the change just by announcing it, so you’ve less motivation to actually go ahead and enact it.

So, if you’ve made a resolution and haven’t yet talked about it to others, you might want to continue keeping it under your hat. But, if you have already told others, all is not lost. Have a think about how you’re doing with your new resolution. Has your motivation to complete been drained away because you’re feeling satisfied with having told lots of people what you are going to do? Perhaps sharing the steps you are going to take to reach your goal might act as a spur to moving along the path towards attaining the change you want to achieve.

If you’re still chewing the whole resolution thing over, here’s a few quick tips:

  • Just pick one resolution. More than that is too hard.
  • Break the goal into steps. Have a plan.
  • Reward yourself for progress. But only when you make progress. Define what progress looks like before you start.
  • Understand that you may screw up. Keep at it.

Cultivating optimism

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Not Crazy

 

The good news is that there is a lot of evidence that optimism isn’t fixed. It isn’t a commodity that you either have or you don’t. Optimism can be learned. And we know that the way we explain what happens in our worlds can have a big impact on our physical well-being, as well as our mental health.

Many people roll their eyes when they hear the word, ‘optimism’. For them, it equates with ‘positive thinking’ – in an unrelenting, indiscriminate, everything-will-be-ok-if-you-can-just-think-positively kind of way, and -if-it-doesn’t-work-out-then-you-are-doing-it-wrong. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

The path to optimism is actually strewn with pessimistic rocks waiting to trip us up. This is summed up by a great quote from Martin Seligman: “Building optimism is not a matter of thinking more optimistically, it’s a matter of thinking less pessimistically.”

As Polly Campbell says, “Pessimistic thoughts tend to cluster in sweeping generalizations that imply long-term troubles as opposed to temporary circumstances. The car stalling is downright annoying, and probably cuss-worthy, but it doesn’t mean you’ll end up living alone on a school bus with thirty-two cats.”

Pay attention to your thoughts and the words you use to talk to yourself. Do they tend to be pessimistic? Sweeping negative generalizations? Harsh self-judgments? Mostly doom and gloom? The way you might generalise from specific events matters.

Once you can identify these thoughts, examine them. Thoroughly check them out them. Then yourself these questions:

  • What is the problem or setback that’s got me worried?
  • What do I believe about that situation?
  • Are those reactions, thoughts and beliefs true? Really true?

And when things don’t go your way or you make mistakes, forget the absolutes and sweeping generalizations. Avoid using words like “always” and “never.” Difficult incidents don’t mean an inevitable spiral that limits your life to mean that you will end up as a bag-lady or hobo.

Try to practice looking at situations from all angles and perspectives. As Campbell says, while a divorce can be devastating and trigger feelings of regret and guilt, it also can trigger “feelings of relief and excitement around your newfound independence and opportunity.” There is never just one side. Left to our own devices we can tend to focus upon how to fix what is wrong with our worlds, or doubting the motives of those who perhaps think differently from the way we do. Countering this tendency is a major goal in the process of learning to be more optimistic. Here is an exercise to try to set you on the path.

When cynicism or pessimism is overwhelming you, focus on what you can control: What you think, what you say, and what you do.Ask yourself: what thoughts can I think to help me change this bad situation for the better? What can I say that can change this bad situation for the better? What actions can I take that will change this bad situation for the better? When you work through this exercise, you may find yourself going from the realm of paralysed pessimism, or even cynicism, to actively becoming a part of the solution to the problem. Remember that you are a very important and active participant in this world—and that is cause for optimism.

Focus on what you can control, rather than what you can’t. Grounded optimism is about recognising the difficulties – rather than positively constructing them away – believing things can get better, and then making them happen.

More benefits of self-compassion

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Work harder.

Do more.

Be the Best.

Win.

Be perfect.

We are swamped with messages like this every day. A lot of the time the source of these messages is ourselves. There is nothing wrong with having dreams and goals. But often, we don’t take the time to stop and consider whether this self-critical and competitive attitude actually helps us towards reaching these goals or realising our dreams, or actually might be getting in our way.

Self-critical attitudes and talk can be self-defeating. When our self-worth depends on others – where we want to out-compete others to feel good about ourselves – we can actually become more anxious and insecure. If we fail, we become even more self-critical, leading to a negative cycle and more unhappiness. When we are criticised, we feel defensive and got-at. Added to this, competition can provide the perfect circumstances for disconnection. Rather than building social connections, we see others as obstacles to overcome – and we end up feeling more removed from others – which doesn’t help our wellbeing.

Self-compassion however helps us to value ourselves not in comparison to others – either positively or negatively. Rather we value ourselves just because we are intrinsically deserving of care and compassion – just like everyone else. We treat ourselves as we would our best friend. Instead of berating, judging or otherwise adding to their despair, we listen with empathy and understanding and encourage them to see that mistakes are normal. And it’s not just self-critical over-achievers that lack self-compassion – some of the kindest people you know do too. There is little correlation between the trait of self-compassion and feelings of compassion towards others. We need to practice being kind to ourselves, even if we are habitually kind to others.

Self-compassion can lead to increased strength and resilience, better productivity, and decreased stress. We can also learn how to do it better. Here are some suggestions:

  1. Write down your self talk. If you end up berating yourself for saying the wrong thing in a situation, write down the self-critical words that you say to yourself, and ask yourself if you would ever say them to a friend? What would a friend say instead?
  2. Write yourself a letter. When you find yourself saying harsh things to yourself, take the perspective of a compassionate friend. What would a kind friend say to you now? What would their words be? Write them down, as if it were a letter to you. Come back to the letter later, and receive it from yourself. Keep it for weeks and months down the track and read it regularly.
  3. Develop a self-compassion phrase. When something tricky happens and you end up being self-critical, have a go-to phrase that you can use as a reminder to be kinder to yourself: “This is a moment of pain, and pain and suffering is a part of life. I want to be kind to myself now, and to give myself the compassion that I need at this moment”.
  4. Focus on your breath. You can find out more about this here.

 

Ditch the car, get off the bus – walk some more

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The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) in the UK have issued advice that they believe active transport – or walking and cycling - for short journeys should become far more common-place in the UK. They now think that the harm caused by a national epidemic of inactivity could cause as much population-level harm as smoking.

They have called for workplaces, schools, local authorities and health bodies to band together to promote and assist people in active transport as far as possible. Their most recent report notes that almost two-thirds of men and nearly three-quarters of women in England are not sufficiently active to maintain their health, with the results little better for children. The most worrying thing is that people don’t seem to be aware of the scale of the invisible burden that this lack of activity places upon them.

The Nice report urges local authorities to devise a coherent, long-term plan for boosting active travel to be at the centre of every policy. Schools are being advised to provide secure bike parking and introduce “walking buses” where pupils walk to and from school in a supervised group, with employers similarly guided on helping staff ditch their cars.

The report’s authors say they are aware of the ambition of their plan, with the average Briton now walking or cycling 80 miles a year less now than they did a decade ago and the percentage of journeys made by bike remaining at about 2%, against 26% for the Netherlands and 19% in Denmark. They liken the efforts to the 50 year-plus battle to curb smoking rates. They also urged people not to overestimate the dangers associate with cycling, despite recent high-profile accidents.

This is an interesting quote from the press release, from the lead author – Harry Rutter: “What we don’t notice is that if you were to spend an hour a day riding a bike rather than being sedentary and driving a car there’s a cost to that sedentary time. It’s silent, it doesn’t get noticed. What we’re talking about here is shifting the balance from that invisible danger of sitting still towards the positive health benefits of cycling.”

Do you walk as much as you could? Or cycle? The extra activity adds up across the week. You’ll feel better, look better, and be healthier into the bargain. You’ll probably sleep better and eat better too.

What will you regret?

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Research by the British Heart Foundation gives us a sobering insight into the things that people regret not doing in their lives. Do any of these ring true for you?

  1. Not travelling more
  2. Losing touch with friends
  3. Not exercising enough
  4. Not saving more money
  5. Taking up smoking
  6. Being lazy at school
  7. Choice of career
  8. Wasting years with the wrong partner
  9. Eating unhealthily
  10. Not asking more about our grandparents’ lives before they died

If you’re anything like me, at least a couple of those ring a bell. But, it’s not too late. Ask yourself, what’s stopping you from taking action today to change those aspects of your life that you’re not happy with? Or do you want to be in the position of regretting what you didn’t do to change how you live your life?