This Blog is about sleep. It highlights the importance of sleep, by stating its value to the human body and to life in general. You will learn a few facts you probably weren’t initially aware of and, hopefully by the end, get some tips on how you can sleep better.
HOW TO SLEEP BETTER, BECAUSE NOT SLEEPING IS TAKING YEARS OFF YOUR LIFE
If you, like me, have suffered poor sleep during your life time and have just accepted it as part of your life, coping with the few hours that you manage to sleep, please read what I have to say.
Alongside air for breath and, water for essential body function, sleep is the third and equally important part of the elixir of life. My intention isn’t to alarm you but, just to let you know, not sleeping properly, can take decades off your life.
Let’s start with some facts about sleep
Professor Matt Walker claims that scientists, in a variety of studies suggest that men who don’t get at least 7 hours of sleep a night have smaller testicles and, that men who regularly manage only 4 to 5 hours of sleep, have lower levels of testosterone. Women don’t get away lightly either, if they aren’t sleeping. They can suffer with their reproductive health too. So, if you are trying to start a family don’t be surprised if you aren’t getting pregnant, because the lack of sleep could be the issue.
During menopause, I’ve gone nights without being able to sleep and when that has happened I’ve been pretty useless to myself and anyone else around me. If you are reading this then, I’m sure you could tell me stories that centre around what you or you partner, might have suffered due to lack of sleep, not just during menopause, but even when going through other events in your life.
Sleep Deprivation in children and young adults.
As a parent, these next set of facts have been particularly alarming for me. In one study individuals who were kept awake all night were compared to individuals who got a full 8 hours of restful sleep to test their ability of making new memories. A 40% deficit was discovered during this experiment, in the ability of those who hadn’t slept, compared to those who had slept well. During the experiment, MRI scans were monitored so the scientists could get a picture of what was actually going on inside the brains of the test subjects, whilst the study was being carried out. The findings revealed some interesting information.
So, a structure in the brain known as the hippocampus, that receives information and makes memories isn’t able to do its job properly.
This is signficant because of the impact that social media has on the minds of our young at school and at college. A lack of sleep from scrolling through endless hours on Tik Tok and Instagram could mean the difference between passing and failing an exam, because the hippocampus in their brains, are stopped from memorising the facts they need, to get through their studies.
In the same study, the brains of the test subjects who got a full night of restful sleep were examined using electrodes and passing direct current brain stimulation. The information this produced has a lot of significance for us as we grow older, in terms of our ability to learn and memorise things. Sleep deprived individuals as they grow older become more susceptible to Alzheimers Disease and related dementia conditions.
There has been a global study carried out on the link between sleep deficit and problems with cardiovascular disease. Daylight saving time (DST) is an annual event which 1.6 billion people across 70 countries experience. It involves the saving of 1 hour of daylight, by setting clocks forward between March and November. At these times scientists have noted a 24% increase in heart attacks in the day that follows the loss of an hours sleep, but in the period between November to March, known as standard time they have measured a 21% decrease in heart attacks when that hour of sleep is given effectively back.
Car crashes, road traffic accidents and suicides all increase when the clocks go forward. Sleep loss also depletes our immune systems ability to protect us, particularly against cancerous growths that threaten our lives. The link between sleep loss and cancer of the bowel, prostrate and breast cancer is very strong.
Is 8 hours of sleep compulsory to ensure good health?
This illustration shows the wavelengths of the brain when we are awake and sleeping:
During an 8 hour period our sleep passes through a variety of wavelengths before we arrive at a deep sleep. The sleep patterns happen in cycles and the end of each cycle culminates in REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. We have a number of cycles during a 7 to 8 hour period and you might imagine that our brains, switch off completely, but the truth is during sleep our brain is very active and in the deep sleep phase, in a delta wave state our hippocampus is activated to transfer memories to a long term memory storage, so that space is then made for new memories. If we don’t achieve deep sleep that activity is impaired. This is the important component for learning and the reason why parents ought to safeguard sleep for children.
During REM sleep our brains process the emotions of our day
Clinical Advice On Sleep
The clinical advice is that adults should sleep between 7 to 8 hours, teenagers should sleep between 8 to 10 hours and six month olds can often sleep through the night and still require a couple of sleep periods during the day, with those periods slowly disappearing by the time they are 3 or 4 years of age.
Clinical findings on the kind of things that contribute to sleep deprivation also suggest what you can do to improve sleep patterns. The major finding is that a minimum of 8 hours sleep is absolutely necessary, to by pass all the negative effects sleep loss can lead to. Limiting alcohol, caffeine and daytime naps seem to be quite important and keeping the room temperature of the bedroom to 18 degrees Celsius or 65 degrees Fahrenheit are helpful factors for promoting sleep.
Lost sleep can never be caught up on. Sleep specialists imply that the impact of the deficit is life long and accumulates so we simply cannot afford to continue to ignore the tiredness and tell ourselves that we will catch up when we can. However, other studies suggest that not everyone need a full 8 hours, being able to function on less. They suggest a simple sleep test that can be done at home to indicate how tired we are. They advise taking the time, laying down, holding a spoon over a steel tray and waiting to go to sleep. once we fall asleep the spoon drops onto the steel tray and wakes us up, at which point we take another time check.
If the time period is 15 minutes then we should try to improve our sleep. If the time period is 10 minutes or less then we are in serious sleep deprivation mode and should make effort to get more sleep.
We think of our current world as having an aging population that continues to age and certainly with improved medication, vaccines, improved housing, government legislation on safe practices etc, yes..its true global population is aging, we are living longer but so many factors contributing to sleep loss in our world today: Social Media, Menopause , Depression, Worry, Anxiety and forced habits, like partying all night and working shift work, makes sleep the most under rated quality of modern life and yet sleep deprivation kills. Modern torture methods, though never clearly spoken of, use sustained sleep loss as a means to interrogate, because it can leave a person feeling depleted, overwhelmed and completely unable to function coherently.
Non clinical ways to encourage and promote sleep
Meditation, Yoga Nidra and Yoga are three ways in which the body and mind can be encouraged to relax. If you click on the links below you will find examples of all three of these methods, that you can utilise. You will also find a a link to a video log that speaks at more length on the subject of sleep, its importance and how you can promote better sleep.
Therapies that help to encourage and promote sleep
Reflexology is a method of foot or hand massage that targets pressure points in the feet and hands, that are recognized by some to stimulate relaxation and reduce stress responses in the central nervous system. It is sometimes referred to as zonal therapy . The Sleep Charity is an award winning charity and is a body recognised for its efforts in helping different people and groups to achieve sleep. Although they recognise there is no science to support Reflexology as a method to help with sleep they promote it as a method of possibility to help encourage sleep. A link to the charity is provided below.
Indian Head Massage is a method of massage that works on the upper back, shoulders, neck, head and face. Originating in India, as a method of massage used within circles of women to encourage hair growth and ward off headaches, it also works on the upper three energy centres to encourage relaxation to promote sleep.
Manual Lymphatic Drainage Massage is a gentle massage that actively targets the bodies Lympathic system having a direct impact on blood pressure. Lowering blood pressure can have a therapeutic benefit in that it calms the central nervous system. This promotes sleep states.
Soft tissue/deep tissue/ Aromatherapy Massage calms central nervous system, promotes sleep, by calming the central nervous system.
Colour Healing/Reiki is hands on therapy that directs healing energy at the bodies subtle energy centres to induce a calming effect over the body.
Craniosacral Therapy aims at stalling the craniosacral rhythm for a long enough period to induce deep relaxation, to help bring on sleep
Link to Video log
For more information go to The Sleep Charity
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