What exactly is a good night’s sleep? That answer might depend upon who you ask, but experts say it’s affected by two major components: Length and quality of sleep.
There are many levels of sleep that we experience throughout a sleep pattern, with deep sleep (also known as stage N3) occurring directly before we start dreaming. It’s harder to awaken someone when they are in deep sleep, the most vital cycle of sleep we experience. Sleep-walking occurs during this cycle and is the result of our brain’s motor centers awakening, without the higher centers engaging, allowing our body to respond physically without our full awareness.
There are three stages of sleep (N1-N3) that start the process of how we fall and stay asleep:
N1 (Transition to sleep) – Easily awakened, eyes move slowly while muscle activity slows down, allowing you to be easily awakened.
N2 (Light sleep) – Continues for about 10-25 minutes, with your eye movement stopping and your heart rate slowing down, decreasing your body temperature.
N3 (Deep sleep) – Brain waves are at the lowest point with blood flowing away from the brain and into the muscles.
REM - After these three initial stages, REM sleep kicks in lasting about 70-90 minutes and producing our “dreaming” stage of sleep. You might call this stage “paralyzing” due to the decreased breathing our body experiences, along with our arms and legs becoming “paralyzed”, while our heart and blood pressure increase and our eye movement rapid.
The “How, when and why” behind our sleep zone
The question of how much sleep we need, when we should sleep and why sleep is so vitally important in our daily lives are three key questions that don’t change between individuals. What does change is our sleep behavior, which can be affected by several factors. There was a very good reason God made day and night, with the latter for sleeping. At night, our brain begins producing melatonin, a hormone that increases our desire to fall asleep. During the day melatonin production is prohibited, thus keeping us awake and alert unless we’re not getting a good night’s sleep, resulting in sleepiness, yawning and feelings of exhaustion.
The length of time we spend in deep sleep is equally important as the length of time we spend asleep. If we’re having a hard time functioning throughout the day or awaking from sleep, then we know that we’re not getting enough deep sleep. A lack of exposure to natural sunlight during the day and too much exposure to indoor lighting at night can also disrupt our brain from producing the melatonin it needs at night. Thus, the reason why working the night shift, maintaining a job or lifestyle that keeps you indoors throughout the day, traveling outside your time zone and pulling an all-nighter can wreak havoc on your wellness, throwing your body off balance and depriving you of the precious sleep you need each night.
The side effects from a lack of sleep
During deep sleep, our body goes through a rebuilding process, part of the Circadian Rhythm cycle at which time it rebuilds, renews and restores our hormones, tissues and cells. Our bodies naturally want to shut down at night time (due to the increase of melatonin) experiencing part of this cycle around 10pm, continuing for approximately 8 hours. When we fail to “shut down”, our body will fall short of experiencing the benefits of one part of this cycle, causing us to gain weight, lowering our immunities (Melatonin has antioxidant effects that help fight toxins in our body) and personal performance the very next day. “Get some rest” is more than just sage wisdom; it’s a requirement for us to live a healthier life.
Sleep cycles
At some point in our lives, we develop sleep habits that unless there are major changes in our lives, stay relatively the same. Sudden changes in time zones or our work schedule can take more than a week for our bodies to reset our biological clocks from within. When our lifestyle or habits change drastically, even by 2 hours, our bodies can feel sleep-deprived especially if we’re continuously changing them.
Quality versus quantity
Sleep is a form of “nutrition” for our body, feeding it what it needs to perform the next day. While the length of time we sleep plays an important part in our wellness cycle, it doesn’t necessarily represent a clear picture of the sleep-quality we experience during our sleep cycle. Counting only the number of hours you slept (7.5 – 9 hours for an adult, up to 12 hours for a child) but not the quality of sleep you experienced, creates a misunderstanding behind the purpose of sleep. There is a point in which your body may sleep longer or shorter, reflecting what you experienced during the day and how your body produced the melatonin levels you needed for sleep. However, the length of time is only one factor involved in determining the quality of sleep. What levels of sleep you experienced will be the true quantifier with which to measure your sleep experience. Less than 3% of the population can sleep on 6 hours or less a night and still experience peak performance the following day.
Deep sleep deprivation
Deep sleep (aka REM or rapid eye movement sleep) is one of the four cycles of sleep. When we don’t experience each cycle our body begins to change, in subtle but major ways. Dreaming occurs during REM sleep, along with blood flow being directed away from the brain and into the muscles, as our brain waves slowly decrease. This deep state of relaxation is extremely important for our body to experience, enhancing the renew/replenish/restore cycle we need for the next time we awake. Lack it and you’ll feel it within the next 24 hours.
Sleep bank
So is the length of time we sleep equal to depositing into a sleep “bank account”, one we can deposit and withdraw upon our own will? The sleep experts say “yes”. How is that? If you’re sleep-deprived you can give your body the rest it needs which in turn will help your body start the rebuilding, restoring, renewing process at any time. That doesn’t mean you should “yo-yo” back and forth between good and bad sleep habits, but that you should correct your sleep habits as soon as you begin to experience sleep deprivation. Remember: Deep sleep is the state in which our bodies fully restore. Napping is great, but it isn’t a substitute for what our body requires from 7-8 hours of sleep.
Quick Tips for Wellness: Sleep is the bodies down time for rebuilding the body’s engine.
Resources: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/sleep/healthy_sleep.pdf
Quick Tips for Wellness ™ Copyright © 2012, All Rights Reserved
Follow me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lists/2469314452668#!/pages/Quick-Tips-for-Wellness/162364967179512
Follow me on Twitter @wellnesstips4u
No comments:
Post a Comment