Why is sleep so important?
Sleep is a very complex process of rest, rejuvenation, restoration, replenishment and renewal. It is not a passive process where you just turn off for a few hours. Our bodies are extremely busy while we sleep. Our bodies are basically run according to our biological clock, circadian rhythms, which are mental and physical characteristics that occur over the 24 hours of the day every day. Every system , every cell in our body has a circadian rhythm that controls the timing of most things according to the response to light, temperature, hormones and other signals coming to the body from within and without. We have a master clock in our brains. This comprises the body’s biological clock. When we sleep is part of this circadian rhythm.
Sleep is essential to our wellbeing. Just like food and water, without it we would die. Cellular restoration and rejuvenation happens while we sleep. All the stress we put on our bodies and our minds gets repaired while we sleep. While we are sleeping our energy is conserved by the body, as we are at rest. Energy is still being used inside each and every cell to repair itself and clear out any toxins that may be there. Muscle repair, tissue growth, and hormone release, particularly human growth hormone, is done at night according to your circadian rhythms. This is when we heal, our immune systems are more active, our scavengers go to work and clean out all the debris and waste that gets recycled or eliminated from our body. The removal of waste and toxins from our brains is also occurring. Our cerebral spinal fluid gets to work clearing the tissue of the brain of waste including harmful proteins that can lead to Dementia and Alzheimer’s.
During sleep your memories are organized and meaning is given to events that happened through the day, to add to or change any memory programming you have. Dreams also play an important role in helping you gain insight into what may be going on in your life. While you are sleeping your brain is lit up by all the activity going on. During sleep, particularly while dreaming, your brain is processing information at multiple levels. Neuroplasticity was thought to be possible only in childhood. Newer studies have proven neuroplasticity happens throughout life. Whenever you learn something new, whether it be a new book with new learning, or you learned to play a musical instrument, you fire new neurons in our brain that then wire with other neurons. The more you repeat the new learning the more it gets wired into your brain. You know when you read a book then put it on the shelf and never see it again, it fades and you forget a large part of it. But, when you study it and read it over and over to actually learn it, it gets wired into your brain as something new and important to you. You don’t forget it. Even 5, 7, or 10 years later you will still remember. While you sleep, your brain incorporates that information with other similar learning and helps solidify it in your mind.
Sleep even helps us deal with our feeling and emotions. Have you ever felt over emotional when you were tired? The part of the brain that helps regulate emotions is the amygdala. When you are tired your amygdala can be over-reactive and your emotions become over-reactive. Many research studies have been done that link mental health and sleep. Lack of sleep affects mental health, and, mental health can affect sleep quantity and quality.
How Much Sleep Do I Need?
Sleep is much more than a numbers game. Generally speaking, an adult should be getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night. BUT, taking into account quality of sleep, some people with very good quality, restful sleep can manage well on 5-6 hours of sleep, while those with less quality may need up to 9 hours of sleep, sometimes more.
What is good quality sleep? When you can wake up feeling well rested without an alarm clock, make it through your day without fatigue, and fall asleep relatively easily at bedtime. Then, repeat.
Children, of course, need more sleep than an adult does. The younger the child, the more sleep they need.
How Do I Get Good Quality Sleep?
In order to get good quality sleep become aware of your body clock, your Circadian Rhythms. Our bodies aren’t made to digest food in our stomachs while we are sleeping. You may have noticed if you have a big meal before bed it’s usually harder and takes longer to get to sleep. Eat at least 4 hours before you go to bed. It generally takes 4 to 6 hours for food to pass through our stomachs and enter the small intestine, depending on what you eat. Fruit and vegetables take less time, meat and fish takes more time. Some of the hormones and enzymes our bodies put out to digest and absorb the nutrients from food also have circadian rhythms and this, too, can interfere with sleep.
Limit your screen time for 2 to 3 hours before bed. If you can go to dark time on your phone or tablet, do it. The bright light can affect your body clock that should be telling you - it’s approaching night time, sleep time, and it interferes with sleep because the night time hormones are delayed in being released telling your body it’s time to sleep. A fairly new gadget on the market are “blue blockers”, like sunglasses that block blue light. Blue light is in the spectrum the sun puts out earlier in the day telling your body it’s time to be awake.
Of course, our mental health can also put a damper on sleep habits. If you are anxious or a worrier, make an appointment with yourself to worry at a certain time of day every day or even every other day. Then, sit down with a journal and put your thoughts, anxieties and worries down on paper. You’ll be surprised at how well this works to settle your mind and allow you to sleep. When you put it down on paper it tends to let us really see our worries and fears aren’t as bad as we thought. The best part is - putting it into clear, precise, perceptive words allows us to come up with creative and surprisingly excellent solutions to problems.
Keep to the same schedule, day in day out. Our bodies and circadian rhythms don’t know what a holiday or weekend is. Many people have very late Friday and Saturday nights, then make up for it on Sunday. It tends to throw us off kilter because of the body clock many people don’t know about. Then, you have a hard time getting up to go to work Monday morning. Next week, repeat. Keep to the same, or at least similar schedule on weekends and holidays. If you generally go to bed at 10 pm, go to bed at 10, 10:30 or 11 pm. How much does the time change spring and fall affect your body? That’s only an hour. Imagine a time change of 2 or more hours every weekend? When you are younger you tend not to feel it as much, but it all adds up. We can recoup lost hours of sleep here and there, but we can’t make up for days and days of lost sleep. It puts stress on our bodies, and eventually dis-ease sets in. Shift work is particular hard on bodies. You have to find what works best for you.
Lack of sleep is very stressful on our brains and our bodies. If you have trouble with sleep I have a wonderful program for sleep in my Rapid Transformational Therapy. Together we can have you sleeping like a baby in very little time. Call me. I can help.
