ROLE OF SLEEP IN OUR LIFE

ROLE OF SLEEP IN OUR LIFE

BY: MAHA JAMAL

Importance of Sleep

One of the greatest wishes of most people is to get enough sleep. More than 45 percent of the world’s population suffers from a sleep disorder. So many people in the world are becoming or already are sleep deprived. It is crucial to get at least 7 or 8 hours of sleep. There are so many side effects of not getting daily adequate sleep. Sleep deprivation can cause illnesses such as heart attacks, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, asthma, other medical conditions and mental illnesses such as depression. If you continually drop below 7 hours of sleep, it will terribly ruin your body’s system.

Sleep and your weight

So many people that are suffering from obesity, binge eating disorder or simply just laziness, think it has to do with eating too much or not getting enough exercise. But what is the reason you feel lazy or never feel like exercising? It is SLEEP!!! Sleep plays a major role in helping your body function. When people drop below seven hours, your body releases high levels of ghrelin (the hormone that makes you hungry) and decreases the levels of leptin (the hormone that allows you to be satisfied). Lack of sleep causes you to crave unhealthy foods, and makes you eat even if you are full, since there isn’t enough leptin to tell your brain that you are satisfied. Also, without enough sleep you probably won’t have much energy to exercise and will gain weight from the extra calories you have consumed. This can eventually lead to obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance and other illnesses.

How does it affect school or work?

While we sleep, we rest our brain as well as the rest of our body. During this time, as the brain rests, it allows our memory to sharpen, helps muscles recover and sends our body a signal to release growth hormones. But when we don’t give our brain rest, then levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) increase, which causes pressure and stress on your brain, depleting its ability to recover. Sleep deprived students have a hard time concentrating in class and find it hard to remember what they have learned from tests. This causes marks to drop which later leads to problems like depression.

Stages of Sleep

When we sleep, we are not just resting our body. Our minds go through different stages of sleep. These stages are part of the sleep cycle. Your body switches from REM (Rapid Eye Movement) to non-REM sleep throughout your sleep cycle. The cycle begins with non-REM sleep. Non–REM sleep consists of four stages, each lasting from 5-10 minutes.

Stage 1:

This is when you are in light sleep. Your eyes are closed, but you can be awake easily. Sensations of falling may take place at this stage.

Stage 2:

You are still in a light sleep. Now your brain waves and heart rate become slower and your body temperature starts to drop. This is preparing you to enter a deep sleep in stage 3.

Stage 3:

This is the stage where you are in deep sleep. Your brain waves are very slow. People do not awaken easily, but if they are awakened, they will be confused for a few minutes about what is happening. The deep sleep stage is where the body repairs and regrows tissues, builds and strengthens bone and muscle and enhances your immune system. So many people who do not get enough sleep often do not even reach this stage of deep sleep and miss out on all the rest and repair our body gets.

Stage 4:

Your sleep deepens even more and lasts about 30 minutes. Things like sleep walking, sleep talking or bed wetting may take place by the end of this stage. After this, you drift off into REM sleep. REM sleep usually happens around 90 minutes after you fall asleep. The first cycle of REM sleep lasts around 10 minutes, but keeps increasing, having the last cycle last up to an hour long.

Stage 5:

REM sleep dreaming usually occurs in this stage. REM symbolizes, quick, very fast (rapid) eye movement, increased respiration rate and increased brain activity. Although the brain is very active during this stage, our muscles relax and don’t move. This is their time to rest and repair. This is also the stage when our growth hormone is released, so it is crucial to reach this stage during our sleep cycle.

After stage five, our body returns back to stage 2 and repeat the cycle again, about four or five times throughout the night. Since the length of our REM sleep increases after every cycle, it is important to get long periods of sleep each night in order to benefit from the repair that takes place during this stage. If we get short periods of sleep, we will not be able to go through all the stages we need in the sleep cycle to heal and stay healthy.

Overall, sleep is very important for our overall awareness, health and well being. It is very important to get enough of good quality sleep daily. Aiming for at least 8 hours daily (or more depending on your age), should allow you to go through all the stages of the sleep cycle, so that you are well rested for the great new day ahead. This will not only make you feel great, but will also keep you feeling energetic and prevent diseases and illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, heart stroke, lung disease, etc. Now there should not be a single reason for you to miss a few hours of sleep a night. Making a time table can help you organize your daily tasks so that you can fit in a swell sleeping routine.