Causes of Insomnia
Want to gain weight, age faster, and become the office grouch, not to mention an emotional wreck? Then deprive yourself of sleep on a daily basis. Just one or two hours less than what you need will do the trick.
One third of our lives are spent sleeping and for good reason. Our body is like a battery whose energy is drained during the day and needs recharging at night. Sleep is as vital and necessary to our survival as air, food, and water. Another way of looking at it is to imagine that you have an “energy bank account”. No matter how small the difference, you can’t keep making more withdrawals than deposits. Eventually, you will become bankrupt.
Sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation or sleep debt is not just missing sleep once in a while. It occurs when you lack sleep on a consistent basis. The ill effects of sleep deprivation are not obvious immediately but your body, mind, and spirit will eventually pay the price. The quality of your school and office work as well as performance in sports and exercise will be affected.
When you don’t get enough sleep, you are grouchy, slow-witted, unable to make good decisions or cope with problems properly, slow to react, absent-minded, forgetful, etc. Constant lack of sleep is a serious matter because it can weaken your immune system.
How do you know you are getting enough sleep?
Most adults need eight hours; some six and some unusual people need only four. How can you tell how much you need? The rule of thumb is that you can wake up without an alarm clock, you don’t get sleepy during the day, and have no problems falling asleep at night. Ideally, you should be asleep within fifteen minutes. If you fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow, it could be a sign that you are sleep deprived.
Dr. William Dement, a pioneer in the field of sleep research in the University of Stanford says, “If you get drowsy or sleepy anytime during the day, you are by definition sleep-deprived.”
Stages of sleep
There are two types of sleep – REM and Non-REM sleep. REM or Rapid Eye Movement Sleep is also called “dream sleep”. It is a time of mental renewal. Even though your muscles are paralyzed (good thing too, otherwise, you would act out your dreams), your mind is active and your blood pressure and heart rate rise. Non-REM Sleep is called “deep sleep”. This is the most physically restful phase of sleep. Both your body and brain slow down.
Dream sleep and deep sleep alternate within five to six 90-minute cycles. The dream phase gets longer as morning approaches. A person who has had six hours of uninterrupted sleep will often feel more refreshed than someone who has had eight hours of sleep but was awakened three times by text messages from an insomniac friend. This is because the first person had at least four complete cycles of sleep while the second person had incomplete sleep cycles.
Age and sleep
Human beings need varying amounts of sleep depending on their age. According to the U.S. National Sleep Foundation, toddlers need 11 hours plus a two-hour nap during the day, pre-schoolers need 11 to 12 hours, school-age children need 10 hours, teens need an average of nine hours, and adults need an average of eight hours.
The human growth hormone (HGH) is released during rest and sleep. Is it any wonder then that young children need the most amount of sleep?
As we age, we either sleep fewer hours or we sleep the same hours but the quality is no longer the same because we awaken more often. Just like the chicken or the egg joke, scientists are still figuring out which comes first – do we age because we sleep less as we get older or do we sleep less because we are getting older? One possible reason could have something to do with body temperature. The onset of sleepiness is associated with a drop in body temperature. Our bodies cool down as we get closer to our bedtime. Elderly people do not have as distinct a drop in body temperature as younger people and this could cause the restless sleep. This is why exercise may help an older person sleep better at night. Since exercise creates internal heat, the body counterbalances the heat with a prolonged cooling down period that brings on that sleepy feeling.
How exercise affects sleep
Studies suggest that regular exercise can induce deeper non-REM sleep, the most physically refreshing type of sleep. Participants in studies about how exercise affects sleep report falling asleep faster, sleeping longer, and waking up less frequently during the night compared to when they did not exercise.
A single exercise session will not affect the way you sleep that night. To see a positive effect, exercise has to be done consistently but some scientists believe that you should have sleeping problems to begin with. They say that people with normal sleeping patterns will not see any additional benefits in their sleep from regular exercise.
However, too much exercise will disturb your sleep patterns. In fact, sleeplessness is one of the classic signs of overtraining or excessive exercise.
An exercise prescription for better sleep would be to do some kind of moderate aerobic activity twenty to thirty minutes at least five times a week. However, you shouldn’t work out one or two hours before your bedtime because it will keep you awake. One reason could be that the nervous system is over-stimulated and takes some time to calm down. Another reason is that your body temperature stays elevated for a longer time and by the time it drops enough for you to get sleepy the rooster is already crowing.
Then again, each person is different. Some people have absolutely no problems going off for a thirty-minute run and then dozing off soon after they get home. Others are so sensitive that even a five o’clock workout will keep them awake that night.
How sleep affects exercise
Vigorous workouts and lack of sleep do not make good partners because sleep is when you repair muscle stress that has occurred during exercise. This is how the body gets stronger. Dr. Michael Colgan, author of “Optimum Sports Nutrition” writes, “Bodily growth and repair occur only during rest or sleep, never during training”. He mentions in his book that swimming great John Councilman of Indiana University would make his athletes sleep nine hours at night plus take a nap in the afternoon. The harder you train, the more sleep and rest you need to recover, otherwise, you will fall victim to injury and overtraining.
Lack of sleep and overeating
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Judith Wurtman found that 90% of the nurses she studied who worked the night shift gained weight. The nurses who did the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. “graveyard” shift gained more weight than those who did the 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift. One theory is that eating is the body’s way to compensate for fatigue caused by lack of sleep. Another theory is that two compounds that improve immunity, interleukin-1 and tumor necrosis factor, increase when you sleep. They are also known to suppress appetite. So when you lack sleep, levels of these compounds decrease and you lose one of your natural means to keep your appetite in check.
Burning calories while sleeping
Well, of course, you burn calories while you are sleeping. In fact, you are burning calories right now as you are reading this article. The only time you don’t burn any calories is when you are dead. Naturally, you burn much fewer calories while you are in la-la- land than when you are running on a treadmill. People with greater muscle mass will burn more calories than a person with less muscle mass because each pound of muscle requires 35 to 50 calories a day to maintain itself so it is not an exaggeration to say that lifting weights can make you burn more calories even while you sleep.
http://www.sleepwellguide.info
One third of our lives are spent sleeping and for good reason. Our body is like a battery whose energy is drained during the day and needs recharging at night. Sleep is as vital and necessary to our survival as air, food, and water. Another way of looking at it is to imagine that you have an “energy bank account”. No matter how small the difference, you can’t keep making more withdrawals than deposits. Eventually, you will become bankrupt.
Sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation or sleep debt is not just missing sleep once in a while. It occurs when you lack sleep on a consistent basis. The ill effects of sleep deprivation are not obvious immediately but your body, mind, and spirit will eventually pay the price. The quality of your school and office work as well as performance in sports and exercise will be affected.
When you don’t get enough sleep, you are grouchy, slow-witted, unable to make good decisions or cope with problems properly, slow to react, absent-minded, forgetful, etc. Constant lack of sleep is a serious matter because it can weaken your immune system.
How do you know you are getting enough sleep?
Most adults need eight hours; some six and some unusual people need only four. How can you tell how much you need? The rule of thumb is that you can wake up without an alarm clock, you don’t get sleepy during the day, and have no problems falling asleep at night. Ideally, you should be asleep within fifteen minutes. If you fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow, it could be a sign that you are sleep deprived.
Dr. William Dement, a pioneer in the field of sleep research in the University of Stanford says, “If you get drowsy or sleepy anytime during the day, you are by definition sleep-deprived.”
Stages of sleep
There are two types of sleep – REM and Non-REM sleep. REM or Rapid Eye Movement Sleep is also called “dream sleep”. It is a time of mental renewal. Even though your muscles are paralyzed (good thing too, otherwise, you would act out your dreams), your mind is active and your blood pressure and heart rate rise. Non-REM Sleep is called “deep sleep”. This is the most physically restful phase of sleep. Both your body and brain slow down.
Dream sleep and deep sleep alternate within five to six 90-minute cycles. The dream phase gets longer as morning approaches. A person who has had six hours of uninterrupted sleep will often feel more refreshed than someone who has had eight hours of sleep but was awakened three times by text messages from an insomniac friend. This is because the first person had at least four complete cycles of sleep while the second person had incomplete sleep cycles.
Age and sleep
Human beings need varying amounts of sleep depending on their age. According to the U.S. National Sleep Foundation, toddlers need 11 hours plus a two-hour nap during the day, pre-schoolers need 11 to 12 hours, school-age children need 10 hours, teens need an average of nine hours, and adults need an average of eight hours.
The human growth hormone (HGH) is released during rest and sleep. Is it any wonder then that young children need the most amount of sleep?
As we age, we either sleep fewer hours or we sleep the same hours but the quality is no longer the same because we awaken more often. Just like the chicken or the egg joke, scientists are still figuring out which comes first – do we age because we sleep less as we get older or do we sleep less because we are getting older? One possible reason could have something to do with body temperature. The onset of sleepiness is associated with a drop in body temperature. Our bodies cool down as we get closer to our bedtime. Elderly people do not have as distinct a drop in body temperature as younger people and this could cause the restless sleep. This is why exercise may help an older person sleep better at night. Since exercise creates internal heat, the body counterbalances the heat with a prolonged cooling down period that brings on that sleepy feeling.
How exercise affects sleep
Studies suggest that regular exercise can induce deeper non-REM sleep, the most physically refreshing type of sleep. Participants in studies about how exercise affects sleep report falling asleep faster, sleeping longer, and waking up less frequently during the night compared to when they did not exercise.
A single exercise session will not affect the way you sleep that night. To see a positive effect, exercise has to be done consistently but some scientists believe that you should have sleeping problems to begin with. They say that people with normal sleeping patterns will not see any additional benefits in their sleep from regular exercise.
However, too much exercise will disturb your sleep patterns. In fact, sleeplessness is one of the classic signs of overtraining or excessive exercise.
An exercise prescription for better sleep would be to do some kind of moderate aerobic activity twenty to thirty minutes at least five times a week. However, you shouldn’t work out one or two hours before your bedtime because it will keep you awake. One reason could be that the nervous system is over-stimulated and takes some time to calm down. Another reason is that your body temperature stays elevated for a longer time and by the time it drops enough for you to get sleepy the rooster is already crowing.
Then again, each person is different. Some people have absolutely no problems going off for a thirty-minute run and then dozing off soon after they get home. Others are so sensitive that even a five o’clock workout will keep them awake that night.
How sleep affects exercise
Vigorous workouts and lack of sleep do not make good partners because sleep is when you repair muscle stress that has occurred during exercise. This is how the body gets stronger. Dr. Michael Colgan, author of “Optimum Sports Nutrition” writes, “Bodily growth and repair occur only during rest or sleep, never during training”. He mentions in his book that swimming great John Councilman of Indiana University would make his athletes sleep nine hours at night plus take a nap in the afternoon. The harder you train, the more sleep and rest you need to recover, otherwise, you will fall victim to injury and overtraining.
Lack of sleep and overeating
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Judith Wurtman found that 90% of the nurses she studied who worked the night shift gained weight. The nurses who did the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. “graveyard” shift gained more weight than those who did the 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift. One theory is that eating is the body’s way to compensate for fatigue caused by lack of sleep. Another theory is that two compounds that improve immunity, interleukin-1 and tumor necrosis factor, increase when you sleep. They are also known to suppress appetite. So when you lack sleep, levels of these compounds decrease and you lose one of your natural means to keep your appetite in check.
Burning calories while sleeping
Well, of course, you burn calories while you are sleeping. In fact, you are burning calories right now as you are reading this article. The only time you don’t burn any calories is when you are dead. Naturally, you burn much fewer calories while you are in la-la- land than when you are running on a treadmill. People with greater muscle mass will burn more calories than a person with less muscle mass because each pound of muscle requires 35 to 50 calories a day to maintain itself so it is not an exaggeration to say that lifting weights can make you burn more calories even while you sleep.
http://www.sleepwellguide.info
posted by sleepdeprived at 7:19 PM
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