The Importance of Sleep

How important is sleep to your overall health?

Most of the time, we do not stop to consider the importance of sleep is to our overall health. Sure, we know that when we are tired we need to rest and recharge. But, you may be amazed at how hard your body and brain are actually working while you sleep. And this is what makes sleep such a key factor to your overall health – sleep activates the process that not only helps you rest and recharge, but also to repair and support many functions in your body.

Each night your body is meant to go through the sleep cycle about 4 to 5 times. Each sleep cycle lasts approximately 90 to 120 minutes and consists of 4 separate stages:

The 4 Stages of Sleep

Stage 1

This is the lightest stage of Non-REM sleep. This is the drowsy period between wakefulness and sleep and can easily be disrupted causing awakenings. In this stage, everything starts to slow down. Muscles soften, heart and breathing rates decrease, and brain-wave patterns begin to slow down.

Stage 2

This stage is also classified as Non-REM sleep and is a light sleep and awakenings do not occur as easily as in Stage 1. Brainwaves continue to slow down and your muscles relax even more. Heart and breathing rates continue to slow, and your body temperature begins to decrease.

Stage 3

This is known as deep Non-REM sleep and is the most restorative stage of sleep. Here, your heart and breathing rates come to the lowest point of the entire sleep cycle. Your muscles are extremely relaxed and rousing you would prove difficult. It’s this stage that is integral to quality sleep. Without enough time spent in this sleep state, you will not awaken feeling well-rested.

During deep sleep, human growth hormone is released and restores your body and muscles from the stresses of the day. Your immune system also restores itself.

Stage 4 

This is the final stage of the sleep cycle and is known as REM sleep, or rapid eye movement sleep. It is also commonly known as the dreaming stage. Eye movements are rapid, moving from side to side and brain waves are more active than in Stages 2 & 3 of sleep. Awakenings and arousals can occur more easily in REM. Waking during a REM period can leave one feeling groggy or overly sleepy.

In many other ways, REM is also quite the opposite of the preceding three stages. Heart rate increases and breathing rate can quicken and become irregular. Eyes move rapidly behind the eyelids and brain activity livens. Dreaming is commonly experienced during the REM sleep stage. Your body might actually experience temporary paralysis of the limbs, a protective measure to keep the body from acting out movements about which you dream.

Your body cycles through these four stages 4 to 5 times in succession until you wake up. It’s necessary for you to experience both NREM and REM sleep to be healthy.

Symptoms from Lack of Sleep

When we don’t get enough sleep to feel awake and alert, we begin to experience symptoms of sleep deprivation. These symptoms increase the more sleep deprived we become:

From this list it is easy to see how lack of sleep can lead to mood issues, depression, learning difficulties, accidents, weight gain, and troubles at home and at work. Are you beginning to see the importance of sleep?

Sleep deprivation can negatively affect a range of systems in the body.

The importance of sleep gets even clearer when we start taking a closer look at the negative effects of sleep deprivation.

• Not getting enough sleep prevents the body from strengthening the immune system and producing more cytokines to fight infection. This can mean a person can take longer to recover from illness as well as having an increased risk of chronic illness.
• Sleep deprivation can also result in an increased risk of respiratory illnesses.
• A lack of sleep can affect body weight. Two hormones in the body, leptin and ghrelin, control feelings of hunger and satiety, or fullness. Sleep affects the levels of these hormones. Sleep deprivation also causes the release of insulin, which leads to increased fat storage and a higher risk of type 2 diabetes.
• Sleep helps the heart vessels to heal and rebuild as well as affecting processes that maintain blood pressure and sugar levels as well as inflammation control. Not sleeping enough increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.
• Insufficient sleep can affect hormone production, including growth hormones and testosterone in men.

Hopefully the importance of sleep is clear to you. Sleep is one of the most important habits affecting your health. In my next blog post we will look at the factors affecting sleep and some tips for better quality rest. Until then, set your intentions to get 7 to 8 hours each night of good quality sleep.

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References:

https://askthescientists.com/healthy-sleep/

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/307334.php#effects

https://www.tuck.com/stages