The Science Of Sleeping Better
Recently I have not been getting the best sleep and because I am not entirely sure why, I wanted to look into this topic and see how I could improve my sleep as well as better understand the workings behind sleep.
And it turns out that sleep issues are a world issue where in 2017 in the United States alone, 35.2 Americans reported sleeping for less than 7 hours per night and getting insufficient sleep. That is pretty much every third person. Because technology is becoming ever so intertwined with our everyday lives and creeping later and later into our evenings, I believe that this statistic will continue to worsen.
Sleep is essential for all of us and should not be skipped out on. I have written on the importance of sleep here in the past (read about it here) but here I really wanted to more focus on the scientific background on how our sleep works and as well as recommending a set of practical advice on how to genuinely get a better nights sleep. After, we all want practical solutions that are easy to implement into our lifestyle.
I hope that this post helps you with getting a good nights sleep and that you are able to learn some new fascinating knowledge about your own sleep biology. Enjoy! 🌟🌛💫
SLEEP CYCLES
ABOUT SLEEP CYCLES
Based on the National Sleep Foundation, your sleep each night is actually made up of several separate sleep cycles where each cycle has its own 4 individual stages.
In an average night, we can go through 4-6 sleep cycles depending on our quality of sleep that night, where on average each cycle lasts about 90 minutes each.
From the 4 individual sleep stages of each cycle, the first cycle is often the shortest in length which lasts about 70-100 minutes, where later cycles last between 90-120 minutes. However, the extent of time that we spend in each sleep stage can vary from night to night and also from person to person as it is dependent on many factors such as age, alcohol consumption and previous sleep patterns.
Overall, each sleep cycle is composed of 3 Non REM sleep stages (NREM) and concluded with a stage of REM sleep. The higher the stage of NREM sleep in the first three stages, the harder it is to wake the person up
Now let’s take a look into the individual sleep cycle components.
N1 (NREM)
This is the first stage of sleep and is when the person first falls asleep. This stage is very short, usually lasting between 1 -7 minutes on average.
In this stage, the body is not yet fully relaxed but is beginning to slow down its activity and thoughts.
Stage 1, also called N1, is essentially when a person first falls asleep. This stage normally lasts just one to seven minutes. During this stage, there are light changes in brain activity associated with falling asleep.
During N1, it is still easy to wake someone up from sleep, however if the person is left undisturbed, they can quickly move onto the second stage of sleep.
N2 (NREM)
In the second stage of sleep, the body experiences deepened relaxation accompanied by a drop in body temperature, slower breathing and a lower heart rate.
During this time, any eye movement stops and our brains experience short bursts of brain wave activity which help us to resist being woken up by external stimuli.
This stage usually lasts between 10-25 minutes during our first sleep cycle, where each N2 stage progressively can become longer during the following sleep cycles.
Overall, it is proposed that a person can spend typically about half of their total sleep in the N2 stage.
N3 (NREM)
The third stage of a sleep cycle is commonly known as “deep sleep”, where our muscle tone, heart rate and breathing rate continually decrease and relax.
In this stage, our brain produces brain delta brain waves where it is much harder to wake someone up at this point.
Researchers propose that N3 stage of sleep is important for restorative sleep, essentially being important for growth and recovery of our body. It may also play a role in keeping a healthy immune system along with other bodily processes. Even thought our brain experiences a decrease in brain activity, some evidence nonetheless suggest that deep sleep also has a role in memory consolidation and insightful thinking.
Most time is spent sleeping in this stage in the first half of the night. During earlier sleep cycles, the N3 stage usually lasts between 20-40 minutes and as you continue sleeping throughout the night, these stages get shorter in each cycle and your body spends more time in the REM sleep stage.
REM
Finally, each sleep cycle is concluded with a REM sleep stage during which our brain experiences an increase in brain activity, almost nearing to levels experienced when we are awake.
At the same time, our body will also experience a phenomena called “atonia” which a temporary paralysis of our muscles, apart from our eye muscles and the muscles that regulate our breathing.
The stage is named “Rapid Eye movement” because that is exactly what can be observed during this stage; having closed eyes yet they are seen moving quickly.
REM sleep is believed to be essential for many cognitive functions such as memory, ability to learn as well as creativity. During this stage is also when we dream vividly, which is likely the reason for the increased brain activity.
Dreaming can occur in any sleep stage, but they are less common and intense in the first three NREM periods.
Usually, it takes about 90 minutes of being asleep for an average person to enter REM sleep. As the night goes on and we enter new sleep cycles, the REM sleeping stages get longer, which is especially observed in the second half of the night. The first REM stage that we experience in a night usually lasts for only a couple of minutes but later REM stages can last up to an hour.
Overall, REM sleep accounts for about 25% of total sleep in adults
10 SCIENCE PROVEN TIPS FOR BETTER SLEEP
Have a consistent sleeping and waking schedule during the week and weekend
Optimize your bedroom: Keep it cold, dark, quiet and use dim warm lighting
Avoid blue light exposure from your devices 1-2 hours before going to sleep. Some people avoid having electronics in the bedroom all together.
Avoid caffeine, alcohol and drinking too many liquids before going to bed
Exercise during the day. This makes you more tired towards the evening
Get enough sunlight during the day
Limit your napping during the day
Relax before bed: Do something that relaxes you such as taking a shower, stretching, meditating, writing down everything that is worrying you or try reading a book
Create an evening routine which helps to calm you down and lets your body know that it is time to unwind (Eg. Making tea and reading)
Avoid eating large meals before going to sleep and opt for eating your last meal earlier in the evening
I hope that this blog post provided you with some more insight into the biological workings behind your bodies sleep mechanism and also how to naturally sleep better.
Sleep is crucial for all of us, so learning about how to really optimize for our sleep quality is essential to feeling energized and properly recharged for the next day.
Take care of yourself and don't skimp out on sleep. As always, thanks for reading ✨ 💤
How To Naturally Boost Your Immune System
With the cold winter months coming before us, it is now a good time to start thinking about how best to protect and reinforce our immune system for this winter, and to prevent any unnecessary sicknesses in the times of this pandemic.
As you will see, our immunity largely depends on external factors such as food, exercise, and lifestyle habits, meaning that it is well within our control to promote and maintain a healthy and strong immune system.
If you are interested in finding out how to take care of your immune system and how to prepare it for the colder months ahead of us, then read on.
Hope you enjoy : )
ESSENTIAL MICRONUTRIENTS FOR IMMUNITY
VITAMIN A:
This vitamin has been linked with lower levels of inflammation in our body, which is directly linked with a healthier and stronger immune system. Not only that, but scientists believe that it has a role in the way our immune system responds to pathogens and how our white blood cells
Sources: Eggs, cod liver oil, orange and yellow colored vegetables and fruits, broccoli, spinach
VITAMIN C
It enhances white blood cell functioning and is needed for initializing cell death of old and unuseful cells. Apart from that it also protects against oxidative stress as it functions as an antioxidant, where lower levels of oxidative stress have been linked to lower incidences of chronic diseases.
Sources: Red bell pepper, citrus fruits, kiwis, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, spinach, green peas
VITAMIN D
Enhance the ability of white blood cells in our blood to fight pathogens and prevent our immune system from becoming too sensitive to the environment around us.
Sources: Salmon, sardines, egg yolks, mushrooms, sunshine (outside)
VITAMIN E:
Vitamin E is also an antioxidant and a crucial substance that plays a part in almost 200 biochemical reactions inside your body. It is well recognized as a contributing factor in the development and healthiness of your immune cells.
Sources: Sunflower seeds, almonds, sunflower oil, hazelnuts, olive oil, pine nuts, avocado, brazil nuts
ZINC:
Zinc is required for the development of white blood cells as well as the communication between your immune cells in combating inflammation inside your body.
Sources: Oysters, beef, seafood, legumes, pumpkin seeds, natural yogurt
SELENIUM:
A rather understated mineral, but selenium has more recently been shown to have a role in regulating inflammation and overall immunity in our body, where sufficient levels of this mineral have been linked with resulting in a less over-reactive immune systems and being able to treat chronic inflammation
Sources: Brazil nuts, seafood, and organ meats
5 PILLARS OF A STRONG & HEALTHY IMMUNE SYSTEM
NUTRITION
ADEQUATE SLEEP
MODERATE EXERCISE
HEALTHY LIFESTYLE HABITS
STRESS MANAGEMENT
1. NUTRITION
EATING WELL
Perhaps food is not the first factor you expected to see on how to maintain a healthy immune system, but it is a crucial and often an understated factor. Food has been used for millennia as not only a source of energy and time for socializing but as a way to treat, regress, and prevent diseases and sicknesses. Back then, medicine as we know it today was not available, so they had to take care of illnesses with what they had around, which was most of the time food in some shape or form.
The food we eat plays a crucial role in our health and consequently also our immune system, as whatever we input into our bodies, we absorb and use, so we have to be mindful of what we eat.
In terms of food that has been scientifically shown to have a positive effect on our immune system, you will see foods in their whole food (unprocessed) form, many of which are rich in micronutrients such as vitamin C and zinc, as well as foods naturally rich in antioxidants and probiotics. Here are some of the best foods you can eat to maintain a healthy immune system:
Red bell peppers
Spinach
Citrus fruits
Ginger
Natural yogurt
Almonds
Turmeric
Broccoli
Seafood and shellfish
Kiwi
Green tea
DRINKING ENOUGH WATER
Unsurprisingly, drinking water also affects our immune system just like at large it affects our overall health. Water plays many vital roles in our body, which is why it is so important to keep hydrated throughout the day. You can read more about the importance of water and why it is relevant to our health in this blog post: Why Drink Water
In short, water plays a few key roles in terms of our immunity. Firstly, keeping hydrated makes us less susceptible to germs and harmful bacteria as when our body is well hydrated it functions better all together, meaning that our immune system can fight off pathogens and viruses much more effectively.
Secondly, water is needed to allow our body to naturally detoxify itself and remove any unneeded metabolic waste products out of our system.
Thirdly, drinking enough water also makes sure to keep our blood healthy as our blood is predominantly made out of water so that our blood can effectively transport the needed nutrients and micronutrients to our body’s cells whenever they are needed. Linking with the previous point on food, if we want to be consuming foods with a high vitamin C content, it is additionally advised to drink water during your meal or your day, as vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin, meaning that without water, our body will not be able to absorb it and thus make use of it.
CONSIDER SUPPLEMENTATION
Although I am a strong advocate for getting your nutrients straight from their raw source - food - as that brings along with it the most health benefits, it may also be worth considering supplementation in the case that you fall short of the recommended daily dosage of any of the important micronutrients for your immune system.
Supplements can come in the form of tablets that you take with a glass of water or tablets which you dissolve in water, but do your own research in terms of which nutrient you may be lacking and what dosage do you have to take, to cover your needs.
Regardless of whether it is our diet, our lifestyle our the weather outside (Vitamin D), we have to make sure that we are doing our best job of getting sufficient amounts of these micronutrients every day. Always try to first source your nutrients from food and then resort to supplements in the case that you may be deficient in any nutrient, especially if that nutrient is important for your immunity.
2. ADEQUATE SLEEP
More and more research is coming out reporting a strong link between poor sleep quality and a weaker immune system. The main reason behind this is that during sleep our body both produces and releases special immune proteins called cytokines, which are heavily responsible for controlling and fighting both inflation and infection in our body.
If we sleep less than what we should be or if our sleep is of poor quality, our body produces less of these cytokines, leading to a weaker immune system. Furthermore, sleep plays an important role in regulating our internal environment, where it also affects the efficacy of other immune cells.
In addition to this, sleep in general is very important for our health, as it performs a variety of different functions in our body. Inadequate sleep has also been correlated to a greater incidence of developing chronic diseases as well as greatly impacting our mental well being. You can read more about sleep and its importance here: The Hidden Power Of Sleep
3. MODERATE EXERCISE
It has been found that doing moderate exercise every day not only improves our cardiovascular health, lowers blood pressure, and reduces our chances of developing chronic diseases, but it also positively contributes to the well being of our immune system. The reason behind this is still being researched since there are a lot of factors to take into consideration here.
One idea may be that doing exercise improves our blood circulation, which may help in expelling unwanted toxins and inflammatory molecules from our bodies. Better circulation also delivers more oxygen to our cells, which can directly impact their functioning as our cells need oxygen for respiration and for staying alive.
Since our breathing rate is faster during exercise, exercise may actually help clear up our lungs and airways, by flushing out harmful bacteria through having to breathe faster.
Lastly, since exercise has been effectively shown to decrease levels of stress in our body, that has also been linked with better immunity, as you will see below, stress has a direct impact on our immune system
4. HEALTHY LIFESTYLE HABITS
QUIT SMOKING
Smoking has been for a long time now labeled as a hazard for our health, including our immune system. Smoking and inhaling smoke has been linked with our body being less effective at fighting disease and inflammation, making us more susceptible to falling ill.
Furthermore, smoking distorts the balance of our immune system where it increases the chances of us developing autoimmune diseases (Diseases where our body will attack its own healthy tissues and cells). Overall smoking is not a healthy practice as it impacts a myriad of other aspects of our health and acts as a major carcinogen for our body. Abstaining from this practice is one of the best things you can do for your health.
KEEP ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION MODERATE
Excessive alcohol consumption has more recently been linked with a poorer immune system, whereby immunologists have observed that drinking too much alcohol, destroys different types of cells throughout our body, such as those in our respiratory pathways that are responsible for clearing up our airways of trapped dust particles and bacteria.
Furthermore, alcohol has also been shown to kill healthy normal gut bacteria, that otherwise have a positive impact on our health, but due to excessive alcohol consumption, their functioning is inhibited.
Apart from that, alcohol also interferes with our sleep where it has been shown that it impacts the REM part of our sleep cycle, and as we have seen previously, whatever impacts our sleep also impacts our immune system.
HYGIENIC PRACTICES
Keeping a good level of hygiene is important for general well being and preventing seriously harmful pathogens from entering our body.
This however does not mean that our environment should be excessively sterilized and sanitized, as our body needs to be exposed to a certain degree of uncleanliness for our immune system to stay active and also for it to not become over-reactive.
Generally, try and keep yourself clean and avoid having your hands in contact with your face, as our hands usually carry the most bacteria, but however do not go overboard with your sanitation practices, as that can also have an adverse effect.
5. STRESS MANAGEMENT
You might be surprised to hear this, but high levels of stress have been associated with a weaker immune system, which might be making you more susceptible to infections and illness.
A reason for why this may be happening is that when we are stressed, our body produces different stress hormones such as cortisol and corticosteroids, which have been shown to suppress the effectiveness of our immune system.
Stress impacts our body in more ways than you may initially think, ranging from slower digestion, headaches, higher blood pressure, raised heart rate, and raise blood cholesterol levels. All of these individual factors do not only contribute to a higher incidence of developing chronic disease, but also resulting in a weaker immune system.
Apart from this, people also use different coping methods to handling stress, such as excessive alcohol drinking, poor diet choices, sleeping less, or not taking time to exercise, all of which additionally add on top of the stress and worsen our immune system even more.
The Hidden Power Of Your Sleep
A year ago I was a person like many others today, who thought nothing in particular about sleep apart from the fact that I knew we needed it. I did not prioritize my sleep nor did I take care of it, because I simply thought that sleep only had one function - to “recharge our batteries”, whatever that meant. Until about three months ago, I did not put much attention towards my sleep quality or quantity but that all changed when I read the book “Why we sleep” by Mathew Walker.
By reading the book I was shocked to find out how much research was emerging in the field of sleep and showing not only the importance and the myriad of biological and psychological functions that sleep plays in or bodies, but also daily actions and activities that on a long term basis, seriously hinder our sleeping patterns, leading to irreversible damage. It is estimated that in the United States alone, roughly 35% of adults report sleeping less than 7 hours per night and studies across the United States have concluded that 50-70 million US citizens have a sleep disorder, Insomnia being the main one.
Taking care of your sleep might just single-handedly be the mos timprotant thing you can do for your long term health. From improving your energy levels, mood and concentration to keeping your immunity and brain healthy, sleep is the last thing you want to be neglecting.
PHASES OF SLEEP
The science behind how we sleep is actually quite complex and more detailed than you might think, however here I have split it up into four basic sections of “sleep cycles”, in order to illustrate the phases we go through in our sleep and the individual roles that each of them plays for our health.
NREM SLEEP
The first stage of sleep we encounter is NREM sleep which is Non-Rapid Eye Movement sleep. This stage is split into three sub-stages, as described below:
STAGE 1: RIght after we fall asleep, we fall into stage one of NREM sleep, which is where our brain experiences alpha waves that have a frequency of 8-12 Hz. This initial stage os very short, often being less than 10minutes long and during this stage, you can still easily be wakened up.
STAGE 2: The second stage of NREM sleep is longer than the first one, ranging from 20-60 minutes and is predominantly the time where our brains go through theta waves that have a frequency range of 3.5-7.5 Hz. In this stage, your body begins entering a deeper stage of sleep where your muscles start relaxing, your body temperature decreases and your brains starts producing “sleep spindles”, which are in simple terms, short periods of quick but rhythmic brain wave activity that happens between frequencies of 12-15 Hz. Sleep spindles have been shown to be a critical component of memory consolidation, a topic which will be discussed more later.
STAGE 3: The last stage of NREM sleep, also known as “deep sleep”, is a stage that lasts between 20-40 minutes and in this stage, there is a large increase in brain delta activity where we may experience some unconscious movements of our muscles. on the other hand, this stage is where our muscles are fully relaxed, we have a drop in body temperature, blood pressure and breathing rate, all of which makes it very hard to wake someone up in this stage of sleep. lastly, the stage of deep sleep is responsible for restoring our energy levels, repairing our cells and regenerating our muscle tissue which is needed for growth and repair.
REM SLEEP (STAGE 4)
The stage of REM sleep is known as the Rapid Eye Movement stage, where a couple of critical changes take place; First, our eyes and eyelids begin to move and flutter and neural activity in our brain increases.. Secondly our breathing patterns change and become more irregular. lastly, this is the stage where we may experience dreams and our muscles have become so relaxedly that they become immobilised and in other words, our body is temporarily paralyzed.
ABOUT OUR SLEEP CYCLES
During a single night, we will first enter all stage of NREM sleep and then transfer into REM sleep. It takes us about 1-2 hours to first enter REM sleep and after that, the whole cycle starts again so that we repeat the same cycle 3-4 times in a single night. The differences between the cycles are that our first REM sleep stage will be very short and will gradually get longer as we progress through our sleep cycles.
This highlights an important point: In order to experience the benefits of sleep, most of which come from a adequate time spent in REM stage sleep, we have to spend a decent portion of our night in good quality sleep to allow us to progress through all the sleep stages and obtain enough NREM and REM sleep for a single night.
Just relying on NREM sleep is not enough, we need both sleep phases for optimal performance.
COMMON SLEEP DISRUPTORS
BRIGHT LIGHT EXPOSURE
Numerous studies, again and again, have shown that exposure to bright lights or to LED screens from our devices, considerably delays the release of the main sleep-inducing hormone, melatonin. This is because, in the retinas of our eyes, we have specialised photosensitive cells that are able to tell our body whether it is day time or night time and set our sleeping patterns accordingly.
Therefore it is advised to keep digital screens limited or restricted before one hour of your bedtime, to ensure a well-rested night. concerning other lights, it is preferred to dim down bright lights and switch to warmer tones instead of blue-toned lights.
STRESS, ANXIETY AND PAIN
If we are stressed or anxious, our body is in a state of hyperarousal where we experience the inability to calm down with an increased pulse and body temperature - both of which prevent us from sleeping. Furthermore, if we start to worry and think about the fact that we are stressed and can’t sleep, that generates more stress for us, making it additionally harder for us to sleep properly.
Before you head to bed, it is advised to destress and get rid of any worrying or sleep-disrupting thoughts that would otherwise persist through the night.
LOUD NOISES
It is no doubt that loud noises can be disrupting to our sleeping patterns, and researchers have proven that loud sounds are much more likely to wake us up from the first two stages of our sleep compared to the last stages, where we are in a state of deep sleep. Interestingly enough, we are also much more likely to respond or get woken up by a sound if we have a specific emotional attachment to it, such as if we hear someone crying or getting hurt.
If you can hear the sounds of outdoor traffic or city life, try sleeping with ear plugs or better sound-insulating windows. In the case that the sound still persists, try some of the other sleep-inducing methods that are mentioned at the end of this article, to ease you into a sleep state.
IMPROPER TEMPERATURE
In order for us to enter into a sleep state, one of the factors that has to change in our body is our core body temperature has to lower. In fact, a temperature of about 18 degrees Celcius (65 degrees Fahrenheit), has been shown to be the best temperature to sleep in since it is neither too warm nor too cold.
To help cool down our body, as counter-intuitive as it may sound, we can try wearing warm clothing such as socks which will dilate our surface blood vessels, so that more heat is able to escape out and cool down our body.
MEDICATION
Often, drugs that are used to treat cardiovascular issues and high blood pressure can impact our sleep by causing sleeplessness and being more prone to experiencing nightmares. Furthermore, the same consequences have also been attributed to using antidepressant and thyroid medications.
On the other hand, we also have a class of drugs called stimulants, that include ADHD medication, asthma medication and certain pain killers most of which contain caffeine compounds, that keep us awake and alert.
EATING AND DRINKING TOO LATE
If we regularly eat too late, it can result in us having stomach acid reflux, also know as heartburn, or we either can experience stomach pains that cause us to not be able to fall asleep. Also, we ave to be mindful of how much water we consume right before sleep as otherwise, we can take frequent bathroom trips during the night, that undoubtedly disrupt our sleep.
Apart from eating and water, we have to also be very wary of our caffeine intake. Caffeine, as mentioned before, is a stimulant that has been shown to decrease both our sleep quality and quantity. Furthermore, caffeine has a half-life of 3-5 hours, which is the time taken for our body to eliminate hold of the drug in our system, which as a result means that in order to get rid of all of the caffeine in our body, it can take up to 6-10 hours.
lastly, alcohol consumption before bed has also been extensively researched and has been shown to have profound impacts on our sleep. While drinking alcohol right before bed has been shown to create more delta brain activity that is usually associated with deep sleep, it also promotes the simultaneous production of alpha brain wave activity that happens in the first stage of entering sleep. These two different wave frequencies undoubtedly conflict each other and create sleep disturbances.
Furthermore, alcohol consumption has been linked with releasing a chemical called adenosine that has sleep-inducing properties and then leading to a quick decline in adenosine levels throughout the night, which explains why we initially find it easy to fall asleep but then can experience multiple awakenings during the night.
Alcohol has also been shown to block the stage of REM sleep, which is a crucially important phase of our sleep that is responsible for cellular regeneration and memory consolidation.
EXERCISING LATE
While exercise is definitely a positive factor for our health, vigorous exercise done between 1-2 hours of our bedtime has been shown to disrupt our sleep and make it harder to fall asleep because during exercise our core body temperature and pulse are raised as well as our nervous system being more stimulated, which makes it much harder for us to initiate sleep.
SLEEP CONDITIONS
INSOMNIA
This is the most common sleep disorder, where the person either can not fall asleep or has trouble staying asleep for longe periods of time. Insomnia comes in two different forms: acute or chronic, where acute insomnia is experiencing insomnia on an occasional basis, but chronic insomnia is where you repeatedly find it hard to sleep, causing great long term health setbacks.
Some of the main causes of insomnia include stress, travel (which disrupts our natural circadian rhythm), having poor sleep habits, taking sleep affecting medications and the consumption of alcohol before bed.
The magnitude of the consequences depends on how extensive the insomnia is and how much it impacts our sleep, but long term chronic insomnia can seriously hinder our performance, focus and productivity during the day, where we experience less creativity and have been shown to have slower reaction times. Furthermore, insomnia and inadequate sleep both in quality and quantity have been linked with a greater risk for mental conditions such as depression and chronic health conditions like elevated blood pressure and heart disease.
SLEEP APNEA
Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder that comes in three different forms and causes you to briefly stop breathing during the night, before starting to breathe again. Often these disruption in breathing are minor and we don't even notice them but they do cause sleep interruptions.
Types of sleep apnea:
Obstructive sleep apnea: This is the most common form of sleep apnea and it is where our through muscles relax during our sleep, causing a brief inability to breathe that can lead to us waking up or snoring.
Central sleep apnea: This type occurs when your brain does not send proper brain signals to the muscles that control breathing mechanisms in our body.
Complex sleep apnea syndrome: This is a more rare case, but it is where we experience both obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea.
The consequences of long term sleep apnea include fatigue during the day, a higher blood pressure, type II diabetes and having more liver functioning abnormalities.
NARCOLEPSY
This is a chronic sleeping disorder where we constantly feel tired and exhausted during our days, which causes us to experience sudden attacks of sleep or naps, making it hard to stay awake for long periods of time, independent of the circumstances we are in.
The causes of narcolepsy are so far unclear, however, the consequences are severe where a person suffering from narcolepsy will experience more mental fogginess, and impaired memory, hallucinations during the day and finding it harder to learn. Furthermore, the person's social life can seriously be impacted, as sleep can disrupt social events and plans unintentionally.
FUNCTIONS OF SLEEP
The functions of sleep for our well being are many and they explain just why sleep is so important for us.
Firstly, several studies have linked adequate sleep levels with improved mental cognition, in the form of improved memory, better concentration, a faster learning rate and more neuroplasticity, which is defined as the ability of our brain to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections. Furthermore, if we sleep enough and have good quality sleep, we have better decision making, problems solving, controlling our emotions and enhance our ability to cope with change. lastly, being chronically sleep deprived increases our chances for developing depression, suicide risk and risk-taking behaviour that encourages more accidents.
The reason why so many studies link sleep with better memory is that sleep has been shown to be responsible for memory consolidation, where our short term memories are transformed into our long term memory, and as a result, we are able to learn and eventually retrieve more information when we need it.
Another function of sleep is to get rid of all of toxins and waste products that accumulate in our brains during the day, which would otherwise pile up and could over time causes serious cognitive decline and inability to concentrate. In infants, sleep plays an especially critical role where it is responsible for the growth and maturation of their brain.
For our body, sleep has functions such as repairing and restoring our cells and tissues in our body, which is largely connected with our cardiovascular and respiratory health. Undoubtedly, sleep also has a big role in promoting growth and development of our organs, cells and tissues, because during sleep our body secretes growth hormone that is responsible for initiating cell growth.
Apart from regulating the growth hormone, sleep also regulates plenty of other hormones such as the hunger and satiety hormones; ghrelin and leptin, as well as the blood sugar controlling hormone insulin and the working of our sex hormones.
CONSEQUENCES OF SLEEP DEPRIVATION
Because sleep plays so many functions for our body and is so vitally important for our functioning if we skip on our sleep or experience regular poor quality sleep, we have the risk of developing a plethora of health issues. Of course, one night of bad sleep is only a short term issue, but the issue arises when we experience repeated sleep loss that then over time accumulates to form larger health issues.
BRAIN HEALTH
Foremostly, continual poor sleep quality has to no surprise been linked with a decline in our general cognition, where we find it harder to focus, concentrate and just generally be productive with our time. Furthermore, we find we have more impaired memory, lower levels of creativity and experience more mood shifts during the day that can lead to poor decision making and irrationality. Because we have poorer focus and worse decision making, we have a slower reaction rate that greatly increases our risk of accidents, which can often result in an unnecessary loss of life, such as in car accidents.
CHANGES IN HORMONE LEVELS
Since our brain is weakened, we experience changes in hormone secretions that are ultimately responsible for influencing or initiating almost any biochemical reaction within our body. For example, the production of sex hormones drops, which leads to a lower sex drive and we experience a decline in our growth hormone levels that are is otherwise responsible for the repair and growth of cells and muscles, so our tissues heal and repair themselves slower.
WEIGHT REGULATION
Sleep has also been shown to have an impact on our weight, as it is responsible for controlling the hormone ghrelin and leptin that provide our body with hunger and satiety cues. With inadequate sleep, it has been shown that we have higher levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin and lower levels of the satiety hormone leptin, which is why we are more prone to snack during the night and thus overeat, which can over time result in unwanted weight gain. Apart from that, if we get less sleep than necessary, it has been shown that we suffer from lower insulin levels, where insulin is the hormone responsible for lowering the concentration of blood sugar in your blood, therefore with less insulin, you become more insulin resistant as you always have more blood sugar in your bloodstream, which ultimately raises your chances of developing type II diabetes.
CARDIOVASCULAR CONDITIONS
In terms of other chronic health conditions, sleep deprivation has been linked with a greater risk of having cardiovascular issues for a couple of compelling reasons. Foremost, sleep deprivation has been linked with impaired healing and regeneration of cells, blood vessels and heart tissues as well as being involved in processes that regulate sugar, blood pressure and inflammation levels, all of which raises our chances of heart disease.
RESPIRATORY ISSUES
In terms of our respiratory health, poor sleep has been correlated with more instances of the sleeping disorder Obstructive Sleep Apnea, which undeniably can have a negative impact on our sleeping patterns.
WEAKENED IMMUNE SYSTEM
inadequate sleep mainly impacts your immune system in two primary ways: The first one being that your bodies production of specialized proteins that fight infections of inflammations in our body, called cytokines, is reduced, meaning that we have a harder time healing and have more instances of long term infections. Secondly, if you are sleep deprived, it has been shown to lower the amount of infection-fighting antibodies and cells in your system, which leaves you more prone to becoming sick.
POORER SKIN HEALTH
There is a reason why a good nights rest is related to “beauty sleep”, and specifically the outlook of our skin. A decrease in quality of our sleep causes an increase in cortisol levels, which is our main stress hormone, that has been shown to break down collagen, that is the main protein found within our body that makes up our skin, bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons. The quality of our skin is further worsened by the fact that when we lack sleep, we produce even less growth hormone which is responsible for cellular regeneration and growth, to keep our skin young.
IMPROVING YOUR SLEEP QUALITY
Avoiding exposure to bright lights before bed: Bright lights before bed suppress the release of melatonin, which as a result makes us tired much later in the night. Avoid the use of bright cool lights and looking at LED screens right before bed.
Limiting alcohol and avoiding caffeine before bed: If you do decide to consume either, drink them well before your bedtime during the day instead of later at night, as otherwise, they can disrupt your sleep or even cause you to not be able to fall asleep.
Doing something that relaxes you: This is crucial because, as in order to initiate sleep, we have to be in a calm state; a state that does not raise our core body temperature, pulse or blood pressure. Some ideas for calming evening activities include: Reading, taking a walk outside, taking a bath, drawing, meditating, journaling or relaxing with some music.
Exercising during the day: If we choose to intentionally do exercise during the day instead of before sleep, we are able to stay awake and alert during the day which allows us to focus and concentrate on our work, but will lead us to becoming more tired and in need of rest towards the evening, which is perfect for getting us ready for bed. Avoid activities that raise your pulse and body temperature right before bed such as vigorous exercise, and instead choose more calming exercises like as walking, yoga or stretching.
Eating a lighter dinner: We often have the tendency to overeat and especially towards the evening during the time of dinner. However eating too much too late can not only lead to overeating and eventually weight gain, but can also negatively impact our sleep as we may find it hard to fall asleep. Opt for finishing dinner no later than 8 pm to get a good nights rest. It has also been shown that the consumption of dairy before bed can make us fall asleep faster because dairy products contain both melatonin and tryptophan, where tryptophan is an amino acid that plays a large role in the production of the neurotransmitter serotonin that then aids in the further production of melatonin, the reason why we usually start to feel tired after a glass of milk.
Having a set morning and evening routine: This is a good tip because it creates regularity in our schedule and allows our body to get used to waking up and going to bed at the same time, so we start to naturally feel more tired towards the evening and more alert in the mornings, ready to start off a brand new day.
Avoiding having longer naps in the afternoon: Even though naps are generally recommended by sleep scientists and there has been a decent amount of research showing the many benefits of taking short naps during the day, however, it is important to consider when we nap. It is advised not to take a nap in the later afternoon as otherwise, that makes us unable to fall asleep during the night, so take your naps in the early afternoon or at noon for maximum sleep later on at night.
