The Importance Of Sleep
At Dr. Khalili, LLC, we believe that sleep is one of the top keys for optimal health, if not the most important factor.
Most people underestimate the value of good night’s sleep, but when it comes down to it, the shorter you seep, the shorter your life span.
Matthew Walker, PhD, takes a deep dive into sleep and all of the different components in his book “Why We Sleep.” It sums up the different aspects of sleep and why sleeping (and sleeping well) is a huge advantage in life.
In this article we will discuss:
Why should you make sleep a priority in the first place
What is happening when you sleep
The importance of REM sleep
Sleep deprivation and how it can harm your health
#1: Why Should You Make Sleep a Priority in The First Place?
Perhaps one of the biggest questions to address is why should you place a priority on sleep in the first place? Sleep has been shown to be one of the most valuable tools we can use to reset the health of our brain and body each day. When we’re awake, this is the time we are processing information. Our non-REM sleep is used as a reflection period and REM sleep is used as integration (interconnecting and rebuilding).
As I mentioned above, sleep is like hitting a healthy rest button for both your brain and your body. The brain gains a rather significant amount of benefits from proper night’s sleep (9 hours optimum). Your memory especially takes a big blow if your sleep is lacking. Time and time again, sleep as proven itself to be an important aid in memory - both before learning and after learning.
Not only does it help with your learning and memory, but it helps you with the speed and accuracy of physical activity as well. Did you know that time to physical exhaustion drops by 10 to 30 percent from anything less than eight hours of sleep a night? Even the body’s ability to cool itself during exercise is impaired greatly.
Pretty crazy, huh?
#2: What is Happening When You Sleep?
When it comes to sleep, there are several different stages (N1, N2, N3 and REM sleep). All of these stages play different roles.
N1 is the first stage of sleep when you’re just getting cozy and comfortable in bed. N2 is the initial onset of sleep where you’re becoming less engaged with your surroundings and your breath and heart rate start to regulate. N3 is the deepest, most restorative type of sleep. This stage of sleep is when muscles are relaxed, the blood supply to the muscles increases, tissue grows and repairs itself, energy is restored and it’s also when hormones are released.
#3: The Importance of REM Sleep
REM sleep is extremely important in the restoring and functioning of your brain and body. The first REM cycle should occur about 90 minutes after falling asleep and should recur about every 90 minutes, getting longer as the night goes on.
REM sleep provides energy to your brain and body and helps support daytime performance. However, the benefits don’t stop there. REM sleep also helps the body with the following:
Strengthening of the immune system
Promoting growth and repair of tissue and bones
Cell regeneration
Increasing blood supply to muscles
#4: Sleep Deprivation and How it Can Harm Your Health
Surprisingly enough, studies researching different diseases such as heart disease, obesity, dementia, diabetes, and cancer all have causal links to sleep (or lack thereof).
A decreased amount of sleep also increases hunger and appetite, compromises impulse control within the brain and increases food consumption. All of these factors ultimately lead to weight gain or even obesity.
A lack of sleep also leads to lower amounts of testosterone. One study by the University of Chicago took a group of lean, healthy males in their mid-twenties and limited their sleep to five hours a night for a week. The results showed a significant drop in hormone levels. In fact, the blunting effect is so big that it ages a man by ten to fifteen years in terms of testosterone virility.
Yikes.
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