Sleep: why is it important and how much of it do we need?
How many times have you found yourself rushing to work because, yet again, you decided to hit that snooze button?
Sleep is the most important thing that your body and mind require. Getting enough sleep every day is very beneficial to your mental and physical health, which will improve your quality of life significantly. According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), sleep helps with growth and development of the brain and mind. While sleeping, your brain forms new pathways in order to help you learn new information and remember information that you learned throughout the day, a process called “consolidation”. With regards to your physical health, NHLI, also states that deep sleep triggers the body to release hormones that promote normal growth in children and teens. These hormones also boost muscle mass, help repair cells and muscle tissue in children, teens, and adults, and are involved in healing and repairing your heart and blood vessels.
But what exactly happens during sleep?
According to Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), sleep has five stages. During stage one, you can easily be awaken and you experience slight muscle contractions. Your brain slows down during the second stage, allowing a release of alpha and beta waves, which help your body temperature to drop, meanwhile your breathing and heart rate remain constant. While in stage three and four you enter deep sleep. At this time, your brain waves change from alpha and beta to slower theta and delta waves; your blood pressure drops and your breathing slows. In the fifth and final stage of sleep you enter a stage of rapid eye movement or REM. These rapid movements signify a state of dreaming, during which you are in your deepest sleep.
Alongside the rapid eye movements, your heart rate also increases.
Sleep induces the release of several chemicals or hormones into your brain. During the sleep cycle, a number of chemicals are released, such as: serotonin (which affects your mood, emotions and appetite), norepinephrine (which affects response, breathing and metabolism) and adenosine (which builds up in your blood to keep you awake during the day and causes you to be sleepy at night).There has been much argument about how much sleep one needs, and according to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), newborns (0-3 months) need 14-17 hours, infants (4-11 months) need 12-15 hours, toddlers (1-2 years of age) need 11-14 hours, preschoolers (3-5 years of age) need 10-13 hours, school age children (6-13 years of age) need 9-11 hours, teens (14-17 years of age) need 8-10 hours, adults (18-64 years of age) need 7-9 hours, and finally, elders (65+ years of age) need 7-8 hours. When you do not receive enough sleep, you become sleep deficient. According to NHLBI, sleep deficiency increases the risk of heart and kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, strokes, as well as increases the risk of obesity.
People who are sleep deprived will have trouble making decisions, solving problems, and controlling emotions and behaviour.
A lack of sleep may also lead to micro sleep, which refers to a brief moment of sleep that occurs while you are awake. An example of such would be if you are driving for a long time and do not remember part of the trip.
There are ways to fix your sleep patterns.
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), you should keep a regular sleep schedule (i.e., going to bed and waking up at the same time every day), avoid napping during the day, get out of bed if you can’t sleep, avoid caffeine four to six hours before bed, avoid alcohol and smoking close to bedtime, minimize noise and blue light (i.e., light that comes from electronics), make sure room temperature is neither too hot nor too cold, and exercise daily.
