Emalee
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Why is Sleep so Important?
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One of the most basic ways in which you can set yourself up for a happy and healthy life is ensuring you are getting a sufficient amount of sleep. Unfortunately, loss of sleep is actually a very common factor in daily unhappiness. Regular, good quality sleep is extremely important for brain functioning, emotional wellbeing, physical health, and daytime performance. Sleep occurs in cycles of 90 minutes each with four key stages. There are three non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep stages and one (rapid eye movement) sleep stage. Each stage of sleep serves a different purpose for our wellbeing. For our purposes, we will focus on NREM-3 and REM sleep. Out of the three NREM sleep stages, stage 3 - deep sleep - is the most physically restorative stage of sleep. During deep sleep, your body and muscles are restored as the human growth hormone is released. Additionally, this stage of sleep allows for your immune system to restore itself. Sleep is not only essential for your physical wellbeing, it is also important for your mental health. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep - dreaming - helps to repair the mind and consolidate the information you have learned during the day. This helps to help move more important information into your long term memory. During this sleep stage, your brain forms neural connections and replenishes its supply of the “feel good” chemicals that boost your mood during the day such as dopamine and serotonin. For more information on sleep cycles click here.
With sleep being a significant contributing factor to our physical and mental wellbeing, the consequences of consistent lack of sleep can be disastrous. Specifically, our energy and strength suffers with increasing sleep deprivation that comes along with leading a busy life. Some consequences of lack of sleep are as follows:
Poor, inadequate sleep is strongly linked with weight gain. Specifically, adults that consistently have short sleep durations are 55% more likely to become obese which can be a result of hormones and lacked motivation to exercise. Sleep deprivation disrupts the normal fluctuations in appetite hormones causing higher levels of appetite stimulating hormone, ghrelin, and reduced levels of appetite suppressing hormone, leptin.
As previously mentioned, sleep is important for maintaining brain
function including cognition, concentration, productivity, and performance. Sleep
deprivation can actually effect the brain in a similar manner as alcohol. Additionally,
lack of sleep is correlated with reduced problem solving ability and reduced
memory performance.
Poor sleep habits are strongly linked to mental health issues such as
depression. Sleep deprivation causes symptoms such as irritability, mood
changes, depressed mood, and lack of motivation. With sleep deprivation having
a profound effect on both the emotional and cognitive functioning of the brain,
it can result in bad moods, negative thinking, decreased empathy, and poor
impulse control. Considering these symptoms are quite consistent to those of
depression, constant sleep deprivation over time can mimic a depressed state.
For more information on the consequences of sleep deprivation, click here.
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It is unrealistic to say that you must always have a perfect sleep schedule especially when life is so busy. However, now that we can see the importance of sleep, here are some tips to improve your sleep and subsequently improve your wellbeing in simple ways:
Firstly, it is important to develop a schedule that allows you to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. This is helpful as your body’s circadian rhythm is set to become tired (through the release of melatonin) when it gets dark, and to awaken when it gets light in the morning. Following a consistent sleep pattern can help with long-term sleep quality.
It is also important to prepare yourself for good sleep. There are a variety of things that you can incorporate into your nightly routine that help to promote good sleep. You should:
Even with these tips for sleep preparation, sometimes it can be hard to get to sleep. Some tips to help when you’re having trouble falling asleep include:
Sleep can be tricky at times when we lead lives that never seem to stop,
but with some minor adjustments to your daily routine, and lots of practice,
getting high quality sleep can be easy as closing your eyes. So get snoozing!
Sincerely, Emalee
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References