Have you thought about your sleep health, lately?
If you happen to work round the clock, sleep may just be an afterthought and may not take center stage in your life. I used to be one of those people who boasted about being able to function on 3- 4 hours of sleep for a large portion of my life. I was oblivious to the fact that our bodies need an adequate amount of sleep daily and would come back to reclaim its’ sleep deficit. Oftentimes, at the most inopportune times.
Can you believe that at one time, scientists thought that our bodies were inactive when we slept. However, current science says, that is definitely not the case. It turns out that sleep is a crucial period during which the brain is actively engaged in a number of activities that are necessary to life.
For instance, when you sleep, your body works on repairing your muscles, organs and cells, and chemicals that strengthen your immune system are also activated.
Conversely, sleep deprivation can drain your mental abilities and put your physical health at risk. Science has linked it to weakened immunity, memory issues, high blood pressure, risk of heart disease, mood changes, accidents (due to being drowsy during the day), risk of diabetes, low sex drive, risk of heart disease, poor balance, trouble with thinking and concentration.
Source: Healthline
Hours of Sleep Recommended By Experts for Good Sleep Health
Sleep health or sleep hygiene, while not a new term is just recently being defined by science which coincidentally, mostly focused on sleep disorders.
Allowing your body to get a good night’s rest and giving it all the time it needs to do the body work it needs to do to keep you healthy and operating at your optimum, is an investment you can’t afford to pass.
In fact, there is such a thing as sleep debt. The amount of sleep a person needs goes up if they missed sleep the previous day. So, very much like a withdrawn bank account, your body will demand you repay the debt.
These are the approximate hours of sleep recommended by experts.
- 12-15 hours for infants
- 11-14 hours for toddlers (ages 1-3)
- 10-13 hours for preschoolers (ages 3-5)
- 9-11 hours for school children (ages 6-13)
- 8-10 hours for teens (ages 14-17)
- 7-8 hours for adults
It’s important to get those hours of sleep in because we don’t really adapt to getting less sleep than we need. We may get used to a schedule that keeps us from getting enough sleep, however, our judgment, focus, reaction time, and other functions will still be off.
Stages of Sleep
There are four stages of sleep based on your brain activity. The first two are light as your body prepares to relax and ease into sleep.
The third stage is deep sleep and this is when all the brain waves slow down and it is harder to wake up. Coincidentally, this is when your body starts the repair process.
Lastly, Stage four known as Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep usually starts about 90 minutes after you fall asleep. This is when brain activity increases, your pulse, blood pressure and breathing increases and you do most of your dreaming.
What Happens To Your Body and Mind When You Have Good Sleep Health
Deep, non-REM sleep lowers your pulse and blood pressure, which gives your heart and blood vessels a chance to rest and recover. But during REM, these rates go back up or change around.
Dream
Dreams have been talked about for thousands of years, but it is still a mystery as to their purpose.
However, there is consensus that dreams enhances creativity and problem-solving skills. Furthermore, REM sleep is important for learning and memory.
It’s interesting that during REM sleep, brain activity looks similar to when you’re awake and coincidentally, this is the time when your brain takes in the information it acquired during the day and stores it in long term memory.
Repair
During deep sleep, your body works to repair muscles, organs, and other cells. Additionally, chemicals that strengthen your immune system start to circulate in your blood as well.
Just knowing that your body repairs and reverses any kind of damage overnight is a great reason to start incorporating a good sleep health regimen.
Body Temperature
Your body temperature drops a couple of degrees as you get drowsy before bed and is lowest about 2 hours before you wake up.
In REM sleep, your brain even turns off your body thermometer. That’s when heat or cold in your bedroom affects you more.
In general, a cooler room helps you sleep better. In the morning when awake, a few push ups or yoga moves, a nice jog will raises your temperature and makes you more alert.
Cleans and Deletes Info
Scientists think that REM sleep helps your brain clear out information that no longer serves you.
Apparently, people who take a look at a hard puzzle solve it more easily after a good night’s sleep and remember facts and tasks better, as well. By contrast, those deprived of REM sleep compared with other sleep stages, lose this advantage.
Source: Sagejournals.com
Brainstem
Your brainstem plays a crucial role in many parts of the sleep cycle. It talks to the hypothalamus; another brain structure that controls many body functions, to help you drift in and out of sleep. Combined, they make a chemical called GABA that quiets the “arousal centers” that might interfere with your sleep.
Henceforth, during REM sleep, the brainstem sends signals to temporarily paralyze muscles that move your body, arms and legs, which coincidentally stops you from acting your dreams at night.
Hormone Symphony
Your body regulates and balances your hormones when you sleep by making more of some and less of others. For example, growth hormones may go up and cortisol, a hormone associated with stress, goes down.
Conversely, a lack of sleep can mess with the hormones that control hunger (leptin and gherlin) that can change how much you eat and make you gain weight.
Central Nervous System
Your central nervous system is the information highway of your body and sleep keeps it functioning properly. Hence, as you sleep you create pathways between nerve cells or neurons that help you remember new information you’ve learned.
Alternatively, a lack of sleep can make it very difficult for you to concentrate and learn new information. Additionally, it can affect your mental abilities and emotional state exhibited by mood swings, anxiety, depression, to name just a few possible psychological effects.
Best Tips for Good Sleep Health
We can all agree that sleep health needs to be high on our priority list of healthy living. Below are the best tips I could find to develop a good sleep health regimen for life.
- limit daytime naps (or avoid them altogether, if you can)
- reduce alcohol intake (can make some people fall asleep but it can also make them wake up over and over again.
- Wake up at the same time every morning
- Try to go to bed at the same time every night
- refrain from drinking caffeinated coffee in late afternoon or at least a few hours prior to bedtime
- stick to your bedtime schedule during weekends and holidays as well
- Reduce alcohol intake (4-6 hours) before bedtime.
- spend an hour before bed doing relaxing activities, such as reading, meditating, taking a warm bath or journaling.
- avoid eating heavy meals or spicy foods 4-6 hours before bedtime. These can be the stuff of nightmares.
- exercise regularly, but not in the hours close to bedtime (easier to fall asleep and stay asleep when body is tired)
- refraining from using electronic devices right before bedtime
Bonus Tips:
- Try a light snack that is easy to digest. Also, warm milk and chamomile tea raises your body temperature and can make you sleepy.
- The National Sleep Foundation recommends you remove computers, t.v. and all electronics from your bedroom.
My favorite tip is to make your room extra dark at night and in the morning bring in the bright sunlight to keep our circadian rhythm in check. With all the artificial lights in the home, it’s hard for the body to adjust to its’ natural rhythm.
Learn More About Sleep Health
We are well into the new year 2021 and in the midst of an epidemic of sleeplessness, with half of adults struggling with insomnia and a host of health risks associated with sleep deprivation.
However, we have a glimpse of the benefits of having a good sleep routine, from excellent health to better and higher productivity to happier relationships, and more.
If you want more in depth information, resources and tools to amp up your sleep health, or the sleep health of someone that you love, you may want to check out these resources from soundstrue. com.
On The Yoga Of Sleep, Dr. Rubin Naiman, one of today’s top sleep experts and a professor at Dr. Andrew Weil’s Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, focuses on the “lost art of sleep” and examines common sleep disorders and gives you ways to promote natural healthy sleep.
In Ask the Sleep Doctor, Dr. Rubin Naiman, invites you to learn the secrets of healthy sleep. According to Dr. Naiman, our modern sleep troubles arise because we have lost touch with our true understanding of what sleep is. “Sleep is not the mere absence of waking,” teaches Dr. Naiman, “but the presence of peace and serenity.”
Sleep Better, is a self-healing program that relieves insomnia by counteracting the stress that accumulates in the upper back, shoulder, and neck area. You can sample the CD as you are guided into sleep through techniques that combine gentle stretching, self-acupressure, eye movements, and deep breathing exercises.
How would you rate your sleep health? Great, Good or Not so Good?