Sleep Deprivation and the Munchies

A personal trainer posted this article on Facebook. I got around to reading it on Friday, a day I was sleep deprived.

On Thursday night, hubs and I went to the Vanderbilt football game. It was a nightmare and I’m not just talking about the game itself. Kickoff was scheduled for 8:15 p.m. which is late by my standards. Then back-to-back monsoons with lightning strikes created game delays. Kick off ended up being at 10 p.m. I’m usually in an REM phase by that time.

The game itself was dismal, so hubs and I left during the third quarter, which by then was Friday morning. I had appointments later that morning, so I had a grand total of five hours of sleep. That might be enough for most people but not for this girl. I had the munchies all morning long. And then I read that article and zeroed in on point number 4. Ah, yes. Lack of sleep causes junk food cravings.

I know people who like to talk about their lack of sleep due to the many tasks that had to be done before bedtime. I’m not one of those people. Screw the tasks, I’m sleeping. I place such a high priority on sleep that going through a day like I had on Friday feels strange to me. And quite awful.

You may have heard of the acronym HALT which is a reminder not to get too Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired. I definitely experienced the T on Friday. Thankfully, that’s not a part of my regular routine.

What about you? Do you get enough sleep consistently? How many hours do you require? I need seven hours.