Catchin’ Some ZZZ’s Meg H.
Are you tired right now? Have you ever realized that sleep is a very important for one’s everyday life? In many people’s opinion, sleep is the essence of how your day is going to be like. Without sleep, people experience many symptoms that relate to lacking sleep. In comparison to animals, they die when sleep deprived. Luckily, humans do not have that effect when needing to sleep. What is sleep and what happens when we sleep? Sleep is a condition where the nervous system is currently inactive, the eyes are closed, and the postural muscles are relaxed. When we sleep, there are four stages that occur during the process. The first stage is in progress when the eyes begin to move very slowly and the muscle activity slows down. Twitching and the suddenly feeling that you are falling occurs during this stage. In the second stage, our eye movement stops and the brain waves begin to slow down. Entering into stage three is when extremely slow brain waves begin to occur and it is very difficult for someone to be awaken. Lastly , in stage four, which can also be called rapid eye movement, there muscle activity during this stage. Stage four can also be referred to a deep sleep. As children, some experience nightmares and sleepwalking during deep sleep. Others experiences dreams during this stage. Each cycle lasts for about one and a half hours and we need to experience all four cycles to be fully rested for the next day. When you are awake around fifteen hours, the pressure to sleep become greater and greater which in other words mean it is time to go to sleep.
What are techniques in allowing someone to get more sleep? As having a schedule that is unbelievable, it is very hard to keep up on how much sleep one is getting. Also, the busy schedule allows one to feel that sleep is not a priority. There are some techniques that one can use to keep up on the numbers of hours sleeping to be fully rested for the day. One technique can be keeping a sleep journal. This journal can keep track of the number of hours one sleeps time when going to bed and time waking up), any awakenings during sleep, and any naps during the day. When recording this information, it will allow one to be aware of one’s sleep patterns and if one is getting enough sleep to be fully rested for the day. Another technique that can be used is to take a sleep vacation. When you have a week that is flexible or you really just are on vacation, go to bed at the same hour each night and wake up with no alarm clock. When doing this, it will not only allow you to pay off the sleep deprivation you retrieved but identify the exact amount of hours that your body needs to be fully rested for the day. The last technique that you could possibly use is not in taking food or drinks before going to bed. Eating and drinking before bed will allow you to be uncomfortable when sleeping and might allow you to wake up. One thing that is definitely recommended to not drink before bed is something with caffeine. Any stimulants before bed will most likely cause awakenings during the process of sleep.