You may literally have to add it to your to-do list, but scheduling a good night's sleep could be one of the smartest health priorities you set. It's not just daytime drowsiness you risk when shortchanging yourself on your seven to eight hours. Possible health consequences of getting too little or poor sleep can involve the cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, and nervous systems. In addition to letting life get in the way of good sleep, between 50 and 70 million Americans suffer from a chronic sleep disorder-insomnia or sleep apnea, say-that affects daily functioning and impinges on health. Consider the research:

    1） Less may mean more. For people who sleep under seven hours a night, the fewer zzzz's they get, the more obese they tend to be, according to a 2006 Institute of Medicine report. This may relate to the discovery that insufficient sleep appears to tip hunger hormones out of whack. Leptin, which suppresses appetite, is lowered; ghrelin, which stimulates appetite, gets a boost.

    2） You're more apt to make bad food choices. A study published this week in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that people with obstructive sleep apnea or other severely disordered breathing while asleep ate a diet higher in cholesterol, protein, total fat, and total saturated fat. Women were especially affected.

    3） Diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance, its precursor, may become more likely. A 2005 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that people getting five or fewer hours of sleep each night were 2.5 times more likely to be diabetic, while those with six hours or fewer were 1.7 times more likely.

    4） The ticker is put at risk. A 2003 study found that heart attacks were 45 percent more likely in women who slept for five or fewer hours per night than in those who got more.

    5） Blood pressure may increase. Obstructive sleep apnea, for example, has been associated with chronically elevated daytime blood pressure, and the more severe the disorder, the more significant the hypertension, suggests the 2006 IOM report. Obesity plays a role in both disorders, so losing weight can ease associated health risks.

    表面上你可能不得不把睡覺當做是必須要做的事，但是晚上睡眠好可是保持健康的最明智的頭等大事。輕忽自欺那七八個小時的睡眠，不僅僅冒著白天犯困的危險，睡眠太少還可能危害健康，包括導致心血管病，引起內分泌失調、免疫系統失調以及神經系統失調。

    為了獲得良好的睡眠，五到七千萬的美國人正在遭受睡眠紊亂，失眠或者睡眠窒息，嚴重每天正常生活，侵害健康。

    考慮一下下面的研究發現：

    1）睡的越少，長的越胖。據2006年科學研究院的報告顯示，每晚睡眠少于七個小時的人，打呼嚕的時間少了，也就更容易發胖。聯系到一項研究發現：睡眠不足似乎會把饑餓荷爾蒙從被壓抑狀態釋放出來。抑制食欲的瘦蛋白減少，饑餓激素劇增，刺激胃口大開。

    2）更易選擇不應該吃的食物。本周，發表在《臨床睡眠醫學》上的一項研究發現，患有阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停或者睡眠過程中其它嚴重呼吸紊亂的人，吃的食物中含有的膽固醇、蛋白質、全脂、飽和脂肪酸更高。女性尤為如此。

    3）更易導致糖尿病和葡萄糖耐受性失調。2005年發表在《內部醫學文獻》上的一項研究發現，睡眠不足5個小時的人換患糖尿病的可能性是常人的2.5倍，不足6個小時的人則是1.7倍。

    4）心臟岌岌可危。2003年的一項研究發現，睡眠不足5個小時的女性患有心臟病的可能性是比其睡眠多的人高45%.

    5）血壓易升高。例如，據2006年《內部醫學文獻》報告顯示，阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停已經和長期的日期血壓升高聯系起來了，睡眠紊亂越嚴重血壓越高。高血壓和睡眠紊亂，肥胖都是罪魁禍首，因此減肥能夠減少一些相關的健康隱患。