Question: Why do we sleep?

Answer: Sleep improves physical and emotional wellbeing. Regular good quality sleep is very important for rest and repairing body cells and systems. Digestive and muscular systems, hormonal and thyroid function, immune function and skin repair all benefit from restorative sleep. Sleep is also needed for normal rational brain function, such as speech, memory and thinking.

Question: What makes us fall asleep and wake up?

Answer: There are two hormones responsible for our sleeping patterns. One, melatonin, assists us in falling asleep and the other one, serotonin, helps us wake up. In the evening our melatonin levels naturally increase, while sunlight reduces it and stimulates serotonin production. The body’s natural 24-hour clock, also called the circadian rhythm, also helps us with our sleep cycle. That is why it helps to go to sleep and wake up at about the same time every day.

Question: How much sleep do we need?

Answer: How much sleep someone needs varies from person to person and is based on age, gender and physical (and mental) demands during the day. It is believed that adults need between seven and nine hours sleep a night, teenagers at least nine per night, toddlers 10 to 12 hours and infants 16 to 18 hours per night.

Question: What happens if we do not sleep enough?

Answer: Brain function is easily affected if someone is lacking sleep. It can also cause poor overall wellbeing, a “short fuse”, inability to remember things or concentrate, and tiredness. If the period where lack of sleep is experienced increases, other parts of the brain such as language, memory and planning may also be temporarily impaired, and rational judgement may suffer. It also causes imbalance in stress and steroid hormone levels, making it difficult to feel “yourself” and function normally. Sleep disorders may result after regular and prolonged lack of sleep.

Question: What interferes with good quality sleep?

Answer: There are many factors that can disrupt a solid good night’s sleep. These may be physical, physiological, or emotional.

• • Relying on medication to get to sleep during a difficult period where sleeping is a problem, and then continuing to use it long term

• • Magnesium deficiency may cause problems sleeping

• • Alcohol interferes with REM sleep, and makes it unlikely that you will sleep through the night

• • Caffeine triggers adrenalin production, therefore the mind won’t be able to relax during the night

• • Poor digestion

• • Using backlit devices before bedtime or in bed interferes with melatonin (sleep hormone) production, making it difficult to fall asleep

• • Poor support from your bed

• • Emotional factors such as worry and stress.

Question: How can we improve the quality of our sleep?

Answer:

• • Set sleep as a priority and stick to a regular sleep pattern as much as possible

• • Refrain from eating or drinking coffee and alcohol at least two hours before bedtime

• • Moderate exercise helps to improve sleep

• • Keep your bedroom cool, dark and silent

• • Concentrate on diaphragmatic breathing – this activates the parasympathetic nervous system. Deep regular breathing promotes quality of sleep.

Question: What happens to our minds when we sleep?

Answer: We sleep in a cycle consisting of four stages. Each cycle takes 90 to 110 minutes. The first three stages are non-REM sleep (non-rapid eye movement sleep), followed by the fourth REM sleep stage. Non-REM sleep consists of light, true and deep sleep, lasts about 70 – 90 minutes and is followed by REM sleep. We experience between three and five REM stages a night. The brain stays active during sleep, and can be even more active than when awake during REM sleep.

Question: What happens to our bodies when we sleep?

Answer: The body slightly lowers the temperature, blood pressure and heart rate, therefore we use less energy. Breathing also slows down and becomes more even. Physiological activities related to digestion, cell repair, and growth is often at its peak during sleep.

Question: What are dreams?

Answer: Dreams are series of pictures, feelings and sensations that occur in our minds while we sleep. Dreams can vary in nature, for example scary, funny, strange, exciting or sad. They can even give inspiration or an idea to the dreamer. Why we dream certain things and the meaning and purpose behind cannot be explained. Dreams have been a hot scientific and philosophical topic throughout history and are recently being seen as a connection to the unconscious mind.

Dreams last between a few seconds to 20 minutes and normally occur five to seven times a night, mainly during the REM stage.

Question: What is jetlag?

Answer: Jet lag can occur during long distance rapid travel by aeroplane across different time zones. This causes the disruption of the body’s circadian clock, which will be out of sync with the destination’s day-night cycle. Even though the circadian clock is “built in”, it responds to environmental cues, the most important being daylight. It may result in difficulty falling asleep or waking up during the night, extreme tiredness and irritability. It is not so much the length of flight that is a factor, though this might add to general tiredness after travel, but the east to west (or vice versa) distance.

 

Sources
Weaver, L: (2013) Beauty from the inside out. Little Green Frog Publishing Ltd.
www.bbc.co.uk
www.healthysleep.med.harvard.edu
www.medicinenet.com
www.sleephomepages.org