Sleepiness Not Always Due to Lack of Sleep

I came across an article published online on June 15 in Science Daily: “Daytime Sleepiness Is Associated With an Increased Craving for Carbs Among Teens.” It concerns a study presented at Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Minneapolis.

The study used 262 teenagers with an average age of 17 who were rated on measures of daytime sleepiness, depression, and carbohydrate craving.

The main reported finding was that the more sleepy individuals were, the more they craved carbohydrate and the greater their risk of being depressed.

In the report, there is comment from one of the authors in which he refers to “sleep deprivation” as an important factor. Yet, there is no mention that sleep per se was assessed.

I don’t know what precisely has gone on here, but I have a feeling that in the author’s mind, daytime sleepiness equates to sleep deprivation. If that’s the case, then I think this is an over-simplistic view because there are lots of things that can cause people to be sleepy that have nothing directly to do with sleep deprivation.

The No. 1 offender that I have on my own personal list is blood sugar imbalance and specifically episodes of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Clinically, this problem is very common, which is one of the reasons I mention it quite often in my writing and lectures.

When individuals drop their blood sugar level, not only can they feel sleepy, but also they can crave carbohydrate. And since brain function generally depends on a good supply of sugar (glucose), we won’t be too surprised to learn that low blood sugar can cause problems with mood, including sadness and depression.

In other words, the one thing that could explain the constellation of sleepiness, carb cravings, and depression may not be sleep deprivation but blood sugar imbalance.

However, could there be a link between blood sugar imbalance and poor sleep? The answer to that question in my view is an unequivocal yes.

One of the effects of low blood sugar is to cause the body to attempt to top up blood sugar levels internally through the release of sugar from the liver.

To do this, the body can ramp up activity in the sympathetic nervous system, which plays an integral part in the stress response. The body can also release stress hormones such as adrenaline (epinephrine) that simulate sugar release.

An activated stress response isn’t good for sleep. At the very best, it will impair the depth of sleep and our ability to feel truly rested. Worse than that is its habit of waking people up at about 3:30 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. and not letting them get back to sleep until about half an hour before their alarm goes off.

I’ve found that rectifying blood sugar imbalance with a primal, relatively low-carb diet does wonders for improving energy and mood. And within a couple of weeks, it will have usually sorted out any craving for the carbohydrate-rich foods that usually are the cause of the problem in the first place.

Dr. John Briffa is a London-based physician and author with an interest in nutrition and natural medicine. His website is DrBriffa.com