What are 10 effects of sleep deprivation?

This is based on a research subject who stayed awake for 11 days without the use of coffee or any medication.  Sleep deprivation is often used as a torture technique. Here's why.

1) Tired brains have to work harder to pump energy into the prefrontal cortex.

2) Simple tasks like dialing a phone number become impossible because of short term memory loss.

3) Long term memory becomes impaired because the brains integrates/stores  memory as experience while sleeping.

4) A tired brain can't focus or keep attention on any one thing; a tired brain is a scattered brain.

5) A tired brain can't plan or make decisions.

6) Automatic systems (habits) become repetitive which is fine if your habits are all good ones, not so good if you are trying to quit smoking or eating junk food.

7) A sleep deprived person takes more risks because a tired brain does not remember consequences or make easy decisions (see # 5)

8) When mice were studied with prolonged sleep deprivation, it showed that they had lost up to 25% of their brain cells.

9) Sleep deprivation can cuase aggression, paranoia, hallucination, mania.

10) Driving while sleep deprived is more dangerous than driving while intoxicated; this is why professional drivers (bus drivers, etc) are banned from working if they have untreated sleep apnea).

What are 10 easy tricks to stop cravings for food?

These have all been tested in research:

1) Tap your forehead (distraction)

2) Change how you think (MRI scans show that people who think about the ill effects of poor eating, increase the activity in the part of the brain responsible for self-regulation.

3) Play a computer game for 3 minutes (based on Elaborated Intrusion Theory)

4) Imagine colours, smells, sounds which will ground you in present time.

5) Surround yourself with pictures of food (The Instagram Diet).

6) Go for a walk (or any physical activity).

7) Eat protein rich breakfasts.

8) Chew gum.

9) Sleep well (frontol lobes which help provide self-control are less active in the sleep deprived)

10) Pay attention to your emotions.

What is the Instagram diet?

A study by Dr Ryan Elder found that looking at pictures of a particular food, can make that food less enjoyable to eat.

The more pictures of a certain food one looks at, the less pleasure one gains from eating it.

The implication is that if one craves, let's say chocolate, to spend time every day looking at pictures of chocolate. Eventually the cravings to eat and gain pleasure from it will diminish.

The old saying: "Out of sight, out of mind" no longer applies.

Can imagining eating a specific food decease a craving for it?

A study found that imagining eating a specific food, let's say ice cream, can decrease the cravings for that food.

This idea is counterintuitive, as most people think that to suppress thoughts of a particular food, will eliminate cravings for it.

The key is to imagine eating a specific food, rather than thinking about that food. Imagine the feel of smooth ice cream in your mouth.  Imagine your favourite flavour, like chocolate....or the smell of strawberry ice cream. Imagine the coldness of ice cream  with your first spoon full.

Eating the food you crave, in your mind... with your imagination...will  decreases the motivation to eat that food, and also creates boredom with it.

Why does eating a protein rich breakfast help reduce cravings?

1) Protein takes loger to metabolize in the body, therefore one feels fuller (satiated) longer after eating protein.

2) Protein boosts levels of  dopamine in the brain which regulates cravings.

3) Protein reduces brain signals controlling food motivation and reward driven eating behaviour.

The worst thing someone could do is skip breakfast altogether.

Is food addictive?

A recent study on 120 University of Michigan students found that the more processed the food, the more addictive it was. Highly processed foods (that is, added fats and/or refined carbs) are altered specifically to be rewarding and therefore trigger the addictive-like response in the human brain.