It's time to learn about how vital SLEEP is to our
body, mind and soul!
* Earn 1 POINT for every night that you GET AT LEAST 7 hours of sleep this week. (one cheat night allowed)
I am going to knock your socks off with what you are going to learn this week!! We are going to SLEEP OUR WAY TO BETTER HEALTH!! Sounds easy, huh?! ;) Sleep is a nourishing, restorative gift that we give ourselves every night! I hope we can destigmatize sleeping late if you are a night owl, going to bed early if you are a morning lark, and taking naps if your nighttime sleep was disrupted or short. I can't tell you how many late mornings or afternoons I beat myself up for "being lazy" when I was just giving my body and brain the nourishment it NEEDED!! God bless the nappers! SLEEPERS UNITE!!
The following information is coming from the 20 years of research by Mathew Walker (and colleagues) former professor of psychology at Harvard University and current professor of neuroscience and psychology at UC Berkeley and founder of The Center for Human Sleep Science. I am going to summarize some of the most vital things I learned from his book, "Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams" but there is so much more! I recommend reading his book! If you don't have time for that, I am posting the link below to some incredibly awesome interviews with him and HIS TED TALK!! Choose the one that most interests you or which one is a good length of time for you. You can also search online to find podcasts with him as a guest speaker. Some of these speeches are available as podcasts.
WHY WE SLEEP
- He recommends at least 7-9 hours of sleep. 8 hours is ideal for most people! (even if you can only get to bed 20 min earlier than you usually do, that will be a great benefit to your health).
- One of the best things we can do is GO TO BED AND WAKE UP at the same times every day. Set a BEDTIME ALARM 15 min. before bed. Don't binge sleep by sleeping in on the weekend. You can't catch up on lost sleep that way. You only make it harder to get back on schedule on Monday. (THIS IS WHAT MATHEW WANTS YOU TO REMEMBER MOST FROM THE BOOK!)
- "0% of people can get less than 6 hours of sleep on a regular basis and not show negative health outcomes."
- (the following bullet points are straight from his book) Routinely sleeping less than 6 hours a night weakens your immune system, substantially increasing your risk of certain forms of cancer. Insufficient sleep appears to be a key lifestyle factor linked to your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
- Inadequate sleep--even moderate reductions for just one week--disrupts blood sugar level so profoundly that you would be classified as pre-diabetic.
- Short sleeping increased the likelihood of your coronary arteries becoming blocked and brittle, setting you on a path toward cardiovascular disease, stroke, and congestive heart failure... Sleep disruption further contributes to all major psychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety and suicidality. "
- Too little sleep swells concentrations of a hormone that makes you feel hungry while suppressing a companion hormone that otherwise signals food satisfaction.
- The shorter you sleep, the shorter your life span.
- Drowsy driving is the cause of hundreds of thousands of traffic accidents and fatalities each year."
- LET YOUR TEENAGERS SLEEP!! They need it desperately!
WHILE WE SLEEP-
* Our brain shrinks and then bathes itself in fluid which rinses the brain of dead brain cells. A build up of these type brain cells is found more often in people with Alzheimer's disease.
* We move recent memories, and things we have learned, from short term memory into long term memory storage during REM sleep, therefore, locking it into the brain, ready to be recalled later on.
* REM sleep helps infants lay down massively complicated and neural-pathway systems. Infants have more REM sleep than teens and adults.
* REM sleep in teens helps them fine-tune their neural-pathways by clearing out ones they are not using, making their brains more efficient.
* REM sleep helps lessen the pain of emotionally difficult events.
* REM sleep helps us with creativity and problem solving by bringing old experiences and current problems or puzzles into each other's presence and finding connections.
TIPS FOR BETTER SLEEP
1. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every night. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TAKE AWAY FROM THE BOOK!!! Set an alarm for 15 min. before bedtime to start winding down. Do busy things like changing clothes, brushing and flossing even before that.
2. Read or listen to music instead of watching a screen for the last couple hours before bed.
3. Eliminate or reduce caffeine, alcohol and marijuana use, especially later in the day. Alcohol and marijuana put you in a sleep-like state with very little or no REM sleep, which is very needed. It also causes you to wake up a lot during the night, having sleep be less restful and ineffective. You just don't remember all the small wake-ups the next morning.
4. Don't spend more than 20 min. in bed awake if you are having trouble sleeping. Get up and do something relaxing until you get sleepy and then get back in bed. Bed is for sleeping. Lying there stressing makes insomnia worse.
5. Turn your alarm clock away so you can't see it, reducing anxiety and clock-watching.
6. You sleep better in a cool room. 65% is optimal. Your body needs to cool down to sleep. You can also help it along with a warm bath before bed. It bring the blood just beneath the surface of your skin where heat from it can easily evaporate and cool your body down.
7. It's harder to sleep when you are too hungry or too full.
8. DO NOT use sleep aids like sleeping pills of any kind. These do not give you restful, dream-filled sleep. They cause dependence and a have a damaging rebound effect.
As Promised... Here are the links!
Why Sleep Matters, Talks at Google. 56 min
Sleep expert reveals how you can optimize your brain with these simple hacks
50 min
(7:04 REM sleep 10:38 Noradrenaline and PTSD and sleep)
Sleep in non-negotiable. The Rich Roll podcast. 3 hours!
