Most of us are well aware that sleep is of utmost importance. We simply cannot do without our relaxed slumber to get up nice and fresh the next morning. In fact on an average, we spend one-third of our lives asleep.
But unfortunately many of us, with our rushed lives, have a bad habit of compromising on our sleep. Most of us barely manage 5-6 hours instead of the recommended 8. We all rant about the right diet and appropriate exercise to stay fit and healthy but somehow miss out on the most important factor i.e. sleep. The best way to get both mental and physical relaxation is sleep.
Here we tell you why sleep is so important and what exactly happens while you are lost in your dreams…
So what is Sleep?
What exactly is referred to as sleep? Sleep is a natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended. It is characterized by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, relatively suspended sensory and non-motor activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles
Why Zzzzzing is so important?
Sleep has a number of benefits, the most important being that it rids you of your stress and mental as well as physical fatigue. Studies have shown that mental performances, reaction time, concentration, memory and logical/analytical reasoning all decline steadily as sleep decreases.
- Body repair - Your body produces extra protein molecules while you're sleeping, and these help to mend your body at a cellular level. The damage from all kinds of things, such as stress, pollutants, infection, sun exposure, is repaired while you're peacefully asleep.
- Reduces stress - A good night's sleep can lower blood pressure and the elevated levels of stress hormones which are a natural result of today's unhealthy, rushed lifestyle. There are physical effects of stress such as excessive 'wear and tear' of your body, and an increase in the aging and degeneration of organs, cells and other body parts. By reducing high levels of stress, sleep helps to reverse these effects and encourages a state of relaxation.
- Proper breathing, oxygen circulation – During the day we fail to breath properly because we are either running around, or covering our noses due to pollution, or simply too worried that our tummies will show! The after effect being that we fail to belly breath and give proper exercise to our lungs. While asleep our breathing is relaxed and full thereby ensuring proper inhalation and exhalation, and circulation of oxygen throughout the body.
- Healthy heart – When we are asleep our hearts are functioning at a normal healthy, rate without any pressure and therefore the main benefit of sleep is that it helps to reduce the levels of stress and inflammation in your body which pressurizes the heart. Sleep can also help keep blood pressure and cholesterol levels in check hence reducing risk of heart attacks, heart disease and strokes.
- Lose weight - One of the lesser known benefits of sleep is that it helps regulate the hormones that affect and control your appetite. Studies have shown that when your body is deprived of sleep, the normal hormone balances are interrupted and your appetite increases and your body longs for food high in calories, fats and carbohydrates! Interestingly you burn 500-600 calories even when you sleep for 8 hours straight! Give or take a few calories depending on your age, weight and gender.
Improves memory\concentration - One of the great benefits of sleep is that it allows your brain to better process new experiences and knowledge, increasing your understanding and retention. Sleeping well eliminates difficulties of retention and memory because as you sleep, your brain is busy organizing and correlating memories. So next time try and sleep a few hours when you’re saturated studying or reading a report! You can do much better with a fresh organized mind!
Not having enough sleep keeps you groggy, impairs concentration, keeps you irritable, increases stress levels, weakens body functioning, causes acidity, makes you prone to sleep related disorders, and psychological disorders like depression.
But wait! No excessive sleeping either!
Excessive sleeping, also known as hypersomnia, is a condition in which a person sleeps too much. Clinically speaking, hypersomnia is present if a person sleeps for 10 or more hours each night for at least two consecutive weeks and still experiences feelings of tiredness during the day.
Most of us resort to sleeping longer once in a while, like on weekends or on days we get off. But even on such days we must not increase our hours of sleep to more than 2 hours additional to what our body is used to. Too much sleep isn’t good either.
The effects of excessive sleeping are similar to inadequate sleeping. The person experiences an inability to concentrate, can’t focus, feels drowsy all the time, etc.
Sleeping too much also harms the body. We need to sleep just right. The average time is 8 hours though many are pretty comfortable at 6 or even 10 hours respectively. But more than 10 or less than 6 hours is not advised.
What happens when we Zzzzz? (Sleep Cycle)
We sleep in cycles, consisting of 4 stages. Every cycle is followed by an REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage.
Before we actually go to sleep the body is relaxed and is preparing itself for sleep. This is the time when we lay in bed and think about the day, or have some random thoughts, and slowly begin to get drowsy. As we begin to doze off we enter stage one.
Stage One: In this stage we are half awake, half asleep. We may twitch a little and can be awakened easily. Brain waves are relaxed. The body slows muscle activity, has a relaxed heart rate, slower breathing rate, and a drop in body temperature. This stage lasts only for minutes before the person passes into stage two.
Stage Two: Within ten minutes, we drift off into a full sleep. Our breathing and heart rates become slower and more regular. The brain still registers slow waves, with occasional short bursts of brain wave activity that lasts for around twenty minutes before shifting into stages 3 and 4.
Stage three: Both stage three and stage four last for around 30 minutes together wherein a person is in deep sleep. This is reflected by shallow breathing and complete relaxation of the body and muscles. Dreams are common in this stage.
Stage four: Stage four is the last sleep stage before the stages reverse back from 4, 3, 2 towards stage one. This is the most restorative sleep stage, releasing hormones for growth and development, repairing tissue and refreshing energy. Awakening from deep sleep is difficult and a person would remain groggy and disoriented for a few minutes.
REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Stage: The brain is as active as when awake!
REM sleep is a state of deep dream sleep experienced when stage one has been reached for the second time. Dreams during REM sleep are vivid. During REM sleep, records show that brainwaves are similar to those of a wakeful person, perhaps even more. These waves are accompanied by irregular pulse and breathing rhythms. Additionally, the eyes also move rapidly under the eye lids. After REM stage the cycle starts again.
Sleep cycles run throughout the course of the night until the person wakes up
How to ensure a good Zzzzz?
Most of us due to our stressed days and harried brains find it hard to fall asleep at night. Here are some tips to ensure that you fall asleep when you should:
- Develop a regular bed time and make sure you go to bed at the same time each night
- Minimize noise and light
- Avoid excessive temperatures where you sleep
- Avoid alcohol, hookah and smoking before bed time or when awake in the middle of the night
- Don’t drink or eat caffeine four to six hours before bed
- Don’t eat heavy meals before sleep and binge on anything if you happen to get up in the night
- Make sure you are comfortable while sleeping, including comfortable clothes, bed and pillows.
- Avoid stressful, agitating thoughts and negative emotions like anger
- Try different methods like music, warm milk, meditation etc to keep you calm
Give these methods a try and make sure that you get the right hours of sleep that you need. Your mind and body needs the rest!! Now I won’t keep you from a nice long Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…..
