I have recently read a book about sleep. ‘Why we sleep’ by Walker, M. has been a fascinating read. There are lots of gems in this book, but to save you time and/or to spark your interest to get the book, here are a few scary facts about sleep along with some pointers on how to sleep well.
You have a natural sleep cycle which is called the circadian rhythm which helps dictate when you feel sleepy and when you feel awake. This rhythm is why we feel sleepy after lunch. Teenagers circadian rhythm naturally differs from adults, making it hard for them to sleep before 11pm. We also have a thing called sleep pressure which builds and builds throughout the day. This pressure to sleep will only drop once we sleep.
You have a NREM phase which is the deep sleep phase, this is when memories are stored. It is bursts of electrical activity called spindles on long brain waves that store memories helping them to not be forgotten. REM sleep brain waves appear to look a lot like awake brain waves. This is when dreaming (considered a natural therapy, in most cases) takes place. The amount of REM and NREM sleep changes significantly throughout a person’s life span. For example, deep quality sleep reduces as you become older which contributes to cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s.
We need sleep before and after learning and without sleep we struggle to absorb new memories. Pulling ‘all nighters’ before an exam leads to a 40% deficit in learning. In those who are sleep deprived, there is no memory storing activity found in an MRI scan of the hippocampus.
Men who sleep 5 hours a night have smaller testicles that those who sleep 7 hours or more and a lack of sleep will age a man by 10 years. Sleep loss affects the immune system. With only 4 hours of sleep on one-night, one time, this leads to a 70% drop in killer cell activity. Lack of sleep will erode your DNA. Losing one hour of sleep is enough to impact your cardiovascular system, and so with daylight saving time, when we lose 1 hour sleep there is a 24% increase in heart attacks for that day. Likewise, there is a 21% reduction in heart attacks when we gain 1 hour sleep. Similar stats can be found for suicide rates and car crashes etc. The link between cancer and lack of sleep is so strong that the WHO has classified any form of night-time shift work as a probable carcinogen (a substance capable of causing cancer in living tissue). Ultimately, the shorter the duration of sleep and the poorer the quality of sleep, predicts mortality.
Remember, there is no such thing as making up for lost sleep. Sleep is a non-negotiable biological necessity. People are embarrassed to prioritise sleep and so currently there is a silent sleep loss epidemic.
Ways to improve sleep:
1. Stick to a sleep schedule - regularity is key to improve quality and quantity
2. Exercise but not too late in the day
3. Avoid caffeine and nicotine
4. Avoid alcoholic drinks before bed
5. Avoid large meals before bed
6. Some medicines can disrupt sleep, talk to your health care provider if you think this is the case
7. Don’t take naps after 3pm if you can help it
8. Relax before bed (meditate, read)
9. Take a hot bath before bed
10. Have a dark, cool, gadget free bedroom
11. Get some natural light during the day
12. Don’t lie in a bed waiting to sleep, do something else and then go back to bed when you are sleepy
https://www.ted.com/talks/matt_walker_sleep_is_your_superpower?language=en#t-552544
Walker, M. (2018) Why We Sleep. UK: Penguin.