Dream On: The Importance of Sleep

DREAM ON WHY SLEEPING IS N SO IMPORTANT Getting good sleep may not be at the top of your priorities – BUT CHANCES ARE IT SHOULD BE. While the exact science behind why we need sleep is stil| under investigation, research shows that sleep shouldn't be taken lightly. While the health benefits of getting enough sleep at night are abundant, the CONSEQUENCES OF NOT GETTING ENOUGH CAN ALS0 BE CATASTROPHIC. We Really do Need Sleep 24 hours of sleeplessness makes a person as impaired as having a 0.10%o BLOOD ALCOHOL CONCENTRATION. (LEGALLY DRUNK) A week of 5-hour sleep nights also leaves a person in this "sleep drunk" state, according to a Harvard Study On average, PEOPLE SLEEP 20% LESS than they did 100 years ago 1912 2012 1/5 OF CAR ACCIDENTS involve driver sleepiness The number of car accidents declines when daylight savings yields an extra hour of sleep A recent study found that 4 U.S. Companies LOST $1,967 IN PRODUCTIVITY PER YEAR per sleep-deprived employee 1 IN 20 first-year medical residents makes a fatal FATIGUE-RELATED ERROR Some high-profile disasters have been attributed in part to mistakes by sleep-deprived workers: CHERNOBYL 600,000 PEOPLE exposed to cancer-causing radiation $235 BILLION damage Recovery still in progress after 25. YEARS EXXON-VALDEZ 258,000 BARRELS of oil spilled $3 BILLION worth of destroyed environment and wildlife THREE MILE ISLAND Core meltdown at a Nuclear Generating Station in Pennsylvania: Cleanup went on for 22 YEARS, costing $1 BILLION Plus an additional $2.4 BILLION in property damage What Happens When We Sleep, Anyway? 2 SLEEP OCCURS IN 5 STAGES: STAGE I (5-10 minutes) Very light sleep, easily awoken, muscle activity slows, sometimes a sensation of falling STAGE 2 (20 minutes) Body temp decreases, heart slows, brain movement slows with occasional bursts of rapid movement interspersed (called sleep spindles) STAGE 3 (transition to deep sleep) Extremely slow brain waves (delta waves) interspersed with smaller, faster waves STAGE 4 (30 minutes) Delta sleep: deep sleep, difficult to wake up from, very little eye movement, most likely phase for sleepwalking to occur in STAGE 5 (10 minutes to an hour) REM SLEEP: rapid, shallow, irregular breathing, eyes moving rapidly, muscles temporarily paralyzed. Brain waves increase to the same as awake levels. Heart rate increases, blood pressure rises, body ceases to regulate temperature. This is when most dreams occur. Most people experience 3 TO 5 REM CYCLES per night The sleep cycle repeats in this order several times a night More on REM Sleep (Rapid Eye Movement) REM Sleep only accounts for 25% OF TOTAL SLEEP (90-120 minutes) REM sleep kicks in about 70-90 MINUTES AFTER FALLING ASLEEP When people are awoken during REM they usually can remember their dreams Brain activity during REM sleep is very AWAKE REM SIMILAR TO WAKING BRAIN ACTIVITY Muscles are TEMPORARILY PARALYZED because production of three chemicals is blocked: Norepinephrine Serotonin Histamine REM sleep is the DEEPEST PHASE of sleep When ice are deprived of REM sleep, their ability to remember things DRAMATICALLY DECREASES Mice deprived of REM sleep also show a decreased ability to HEAL FROM WOUNDS REM and Dreams 4. When humans are learning new things during the day, the SAME ELECTRONIC BRAIN IMPULSES they used to learn during the day are "replayed" at night while they sleep This shows we further LEARN AND SYNTHESIZE INFORMATION through sleep Scientists theorize this may be one of the reasons we dream: the Cerebral Cortex, the conscious part of the brain, doesn't know how to interpret this resting brain activity, and so it creates dreams In a lifetime, we will spend 6 YEARS DREAMING WE FORGET 95% of the dreams we have 5 To Get Better Sleep If you struggle to get enough sleep, you're not alone. MILLIONS OF AMERICANS don't get enough sleep at night. Improving your sleep quality could vastly improve your waking life, too: try these tips to get better sleep at night so you can BE YOUR BEST SELF IN THE DAYTIME. LIGHT MAKES A DIFFERENCE Try to get as much NATURAL LIGHT as possible: open windows, spend your work breaks outside, and do something outdoors during the daylight When it comes time to head towards bed, TURN OFF THE COMPUTER AND TELEVISION. While you may think you're unwinding by watching a show or browsing the web, the light from the screen actually physiologically makes it MORE DIFFICULT TO SLEEP – suppressing your body's production of melatonin. THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT If you have a smart phone, investigate the apps available on the market that are geared towards helping you get to sleep – everything from AMBIENT SOUNDS to programs that will study and CHART YOUR SLEEP for you TAKE NAPS, BUT KEEP THEM SHORT While taking a midday nap has been shown to increase overall productivity, ANYTHING OVER 15-20 MINUTES will actually disturb your sleeping cycle and do you MORE HARM THAN GOOD CUT DOWN ON CAFFEINE Set a time that is your caffeine cutoff and STICK TO IT. Also, limit yourself, and if you need to drastically reduce your caffeine intake, do it by half a cup per day – it will be easier to do it gradually. SET A REGULAR BEDTIME and try to wake up at the same time every day. ROUTINE HELPS! Sleeping is still somewhat mysterious and is commonly underrated in importance, especially amongst college students and many working professionals. However, getting good sleep is a crucial element of maintaining good health – so do what you can to spend enough time dreaming and catching Z's on a nightly basis. End Brought to you by FRUGAL DAD Sources http://www.mrtraffic.com/sleep.htm http://theweek.com/article/index/202658/going-to-work-sleepy-as-bad-as-showing-up-drunk http://health.ninemsn.com.au/azindex/689685/how-much-is-sleep-deprivation-costing-you http://listverse.com/2007/10/29/top-20-facts-about-sleep/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster#Economic.cost http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_accident#Health_effects_and_epidemiology http://psychology.about.com/od/statesofconsciousness/a/SleepStages.htm http://www.sleepdex.org/stages.htm http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/excessive-sleepiness-10/sleep-101?page-2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_eye_movement_sleep http://longevity.about.com/od/sleep/a/sleep_stages.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_deprivation#Effects.on.the_brain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v-ASf55cov5F8 (Discovery Channel Lucid Dreaming Special) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v-7GGZC3X9WJU http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/sleep/articles/2009/10/29/millions-of-ame ricans-dont-get-enough-sleep http://www.helpguide.org/life/sleep_tips.htm http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/news/20030620/nighttime-computer-users-may-lose-sleep http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/10-tips-to-get-better-sleep