Benefits of Sleep

These past few weeks have been crazy. I’ve been working for at least 60 long hours a week at the hospital; I recently took up another job as a content writer, which bleeds an extra 3 to 4 hours of my time daily; and I somehow have to find time to float a startup that I’ve been working on for some months now. Talk about spreading myself too thin. I feel like there’s nothing else to spread anymore.

I’m sure there are a lot of people like me out there who have no regard for their beauty sleep. Well, maybe after I’m done writing this, I would have to take my own advice.

Most of the perception that we have about sleep stems from the fact that we don’t understand what it really is and just how important it is to hit that biological shutdown button.

WHAT IS SLEEP?

Sleep is a periodic state of inactivity followed by loss of awareness and a decrease in responsiveness to the environment. Sleep is the body’s opportunity to recharge. Too bad I haven’t been giving my body too many opportunities these days

On average, here are the sleep requirements for various age groups:

1. Infants – 16 hours
2. Teenagers – 9hours
3. Adults – 7 to 8 hours

I probably need to binge sleep for at least a week to pay all my sleep debt.

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE SLEEP-DEPRIVED?

Four years ago, the Centre for Disease Control estimated that more than one-third of adults do not get the required number of sleep hours. The stats are probably worse now considering the rapidly increasing number of distracting activities clamouring for our attention these days. Personally, I wouldn’t have been bothered about the little sleep I get every day if not for the next piece of information I’m about to share with you.

TYPES OF SLEEP

Sleep can be broadly classified into two types:

1. Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep: Simply put, this is the time your eyes begin to move really fast under your eyelids. During this period, you get to dream too. Not many people experience REM sleep often.
2. Non-Rapid Eye Movement (Non-REM) Sleep: Kinda like the opposite of REM sleep. This type of sleep occupies most of your sleep time. 

 BENEFITS OF SLEEP

1. It helps in memory. When we learn new information, the brain needs some sleep before that memory can be effectively stored and consolidated.
2. We need sleep in order to conserve energy. We can learn from how the polar bears hibernate during winter.
3. It aids brain growth. The whole process of body growth, in general, is favoured during sleep. While we rest, new neural pathways are formed which helps in attention, memory and other brain functions.
4. Good sleep helps in putting our emotions in check. I guess that’s probably why we tend to get cranky when we don’t get enough sleep.
5. We need sleep for physical and psychological restoration. Think of sleep as our very own battery charger.
6. Sleep helps our immunity. Poor sleep makes us more prone to falling ill.

And yeah, I’m taking notes too don’t worry.

SLEEP PROBLEMS

1. Insomnia. We’ve already talked a bit about this already. Insomnia is when you don’t get enough sleep.
2. Excessive sleep. Sometimes, this manifests as a condition known as “narcolepsy” which is associated with sudden attacks of refreshing daytime sleep.
3. Sleepwalking 
4. Sleep talking
5. Sleep apnea. This has to do with obstruction of the airway when asleep. More common in people who are more on the big side.

TREATMENT

A few tips on how to get better sleep

• Before you go to your bed, prepare your mind and sleep environment. 
• Switch off the lights
• Avoid doing any other thing when you’re on your bed
• Avoid taking long naps in the day time
• Avoid rigorous exercise before bedtime. 

If you’re unable to sleep for long period of time, you should consult a doctor, you can do that on your flexicare dashboard to discuss treatment options.

I don’t know about you but all this talk about sleep has made me really sleepy. See you when I wake up next week.