Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #38- Sleep is more important than exercise AND nutrition!

PQTD #38  Sleep is MORE important than exercise AND nutrition!

Can this really be true?  How can a little thing like sleep be so important, even more important than real, paleo type nutrition and actual perfectly paleo exercise??  What’s such a big deal about sleeping, which to most modern folks seems kind of like not being a hard-charging, drive-ahead sort of man or woman, and instead being a kind of... laid back loser, a hippie without a cause!

Au contraire my frenchophile friend!  Here is what a lack of sleep can, and will do to you:

Hamper your memory and learning ability

Cause you to gain fat weight

Makes you more accident prone

Affects your mood, and makes you depressed

Increases hypertension, stress hormone, and heart problems

Hampers your immune function, making you more prone to all diseases, including cancer and diabetes

Kind of a scary list, isn’t it?  And most people today in the modern world are not just mildly sleep deprived- MOST people are severely sleep deprived, and are really destroying their health, just as they would by eating processed, and fast food meals, twinkies, and washing it all down with soda pop!  At least that won’t KILL them in a few days- did you know that just a few days without sleep can result in DEATH?  And chronic sleep deprivation kills brain cells, and recent animal research suggests that these particular brain cells are never regained- we are just permanently made dumber.

All of this from just trying to prove what hard charging, dynamic, run rings around our competitors types we really are, by forcing ourselves to study, or work, or party hard all night, or stay up on the computer, or watching television, or all of the above...

Instead of getting ahead, we are merely making ourselves fatter, sicker, and dumber than our competition!  

Think about it- we can live a really, really long time without food, or good ancestral style nutrition even, particularly if we are keto adapted, i.e. have become fat burners rather than sugar burners!  Even the leanest of us has weeks and weeks worth of fat on our bodies.  Even water can be lived without for a few days.  Without exercise we can live for many, many years- go to Wal-Mart and look at all of the living non-exercisers...

But Sleep is a different story. It is absolutely critical for not only our health, but our very survival!  And if you are striving for peak health, as I hope you are as a Paleo Quick Tip of the Dayer, it is absolutely crucial.

It is also simple, very enjoyable, completely free, and can’t be overdone, like exercise easily can be, as well as eating food can be.  It doesn’t sound that sexy as adding a chinup, or learning a handstand, but it is not only every bit as important as those goals would be, it is MORE important! 

And so, look closely at my picture on your smartphone as I’m talking to you... gaze into my eyes... you are getting sle-e-e-e-e-py....