Why Sleep Is The Most Underrated Part Of Better Health
Health is not all about nutrition and exercise. Sleep is as important; you spend one-third of your day doing it.
Have you ever wondered why sleep is so important? What it connects to, what happens and why it happens?
Sleep is linked to both physical and mental health. For us, it may seem easy. Lay down, get comfy, close your eyes and boom! Blacked out. You see a sign: “ Sorry! We’re closed. We will return at 8 am.”. But actually, the only thing that’s shut down is you. The brain is in “overdrive”, at its peak working.
The jello in your skull is preparing you for tomorrow. Like “maintenance work”, cleaning out the drawers and sorting everything out, putting away the stuff we need into the places we need.
A little gnome just scavenging through books, tearing out the pages you don’t need, throwing them away, then placing the book on the shelf that it belongs to, while also creating you a short film to watch, based on your experiences, emotions and feelings.
Sounds really fun.
Stages
Okay, enough of fiction let’s get into our scientist’s outfits and explore the ways of sleep.
There are two stages of it: (1) Non-REM and (2) REM. One’s more complex than the other.
Non-REM - Firstly, we changeover from awake to sleeping. Your heartbeat, breathing, and eye movements slow down while your muscles relax and twitch from time to time. Then, we enter the stage of light sleep before entering deeper. Your heartbeat, breathing and muscles relax even further. Your body temperature drops and eye movements stop. Deep sleep knocks on the door. This is the stage where everything is at its lowest. This is also the hardest to wake you up from.
REM - or Rapid eye movement. As the name says, this is the stage where our eyes are rapidly moving, breathing, and heartbeat intensifies. This is the stage where we begin dreaming most of the time. Or, as they say, Where dreams come true.
importance
The body goes into repair mode. Cells regenerate, muscles repair, and tissues grow. The brain goes through everything we’ve experienced that day, organising it into long-term memories. Then our energy is conserved by lowering the body’s metabolic rate, giving time for our body to recharge for the next day.
Even though the research is still in progress, some say that getting enough high-quality sleep may be as important to health and well-being as nutrition and exercise. Take notes ladies and gentlemen.
Sleep is crucial for your problem-solving skills, focus, decision-making, controlling your emotions and coping mechanisms.
Deficiency slows us down. It becomes harder to complete simple tasks. We become like sloths.
Still going
Lack of sleep also may lead to microsleep. It happens for a few seconds while you’re awake.
If you’ve ever sat in a lecture zoned out and, when you came back, didn’t remember a single thing that was said, you, my friend, have experienced microsleeping. It is also common to happen while driving.
The brain goes into an inactive state. Transitioning from wakefulness to sleep. This is your brain’s way of saying: “ Hey asshole, we are in need of sleep, why did you stay up till’ 3 am. last night?”
This is not a funny thing, though. Sleep deprivation is similar to alcohol intoxication. A lot of incidents happened due to this reason.
Benefits
Now, about good-quality sleep importance:
Heals and repairs not only your muscles and tissues but also your heart and blood vessels.
Helps support a healthy balance of the hormones: When you don't get enough sleep, your level of hormone that makes you feel full, called “ghrelin”, goes up, making you feel hungrier.
Lowers the risk of diabetes: Sleep deficiency results in a higher blood sugar level. This makes your risk of diabetes go up.
Supports growth: In deep sleep, the hormone(GH) that promotes growth is released. Sleep also plays a role in fertility. So, if you want kids, get that good night's sleep.
Supports immune system: In sleep deficiency, your body has trouble fighting common infections.
Lower risk of obesity: the mentioned deficiency in growth hormone and elevated cortisol levels are both linked to obesity
How to…
How to get a better night's sleep.
Make sure that your mattress, pillow and blanket are comfortable.
Exercise throughout the day, just not in the evening, as it will do the opposite- wake you up.
Wind down, read a book, journal, or do something that’ll make you relaxed and mindful.
Set a bedtime routine and sleep regularity. A consistent bedtime routine helps signal to your brain that it's time to wind down, making it easier to transition into sleep. The body and mind thrive on routine.
No screens 2 hours before bedtime.
Make the temperature slightly lower, let some air in, and get rid of noises.
If you have trouble falling asleep, these should help. If not, feel free to do your own research. Find what works best for you.
Conclusion
Quality sleep is crucial for our everyday activities. It affects the way we act, think and feel. It’s just as vital as nutrition or exercise. Even though exercise is beneficial for a good night’s sleep. Ying and yang, I would say. One can’t work without the other.
Taking care of yourself now, will for sure benefit you in the future.
Don’t try to overcome the way we are made. You can’t stand against nature. Even if you try to, in the end, you’ll just make it worse for yourself.
So, take a bath, grab a book, swaddle yourself in soft sheets and fall into the abyss.
Trust me, use the time you have to sleep now because in the future when you’ll have kids, sleep is going to be a luxury.
“You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” ―Dr. Seuss
