What is Sleep all About? Sleep Better
- Superior Lifestyle
- Jan 13, 2014
- 2 min read
Common sense tells us that we sleep at the end of each day in order to rest and rejuvenate our body and mind. That is partially true, however, scientists are not convinced that is the entire reason we sleep.
A certain amount of regeneration does take place while we sleep. Thanks to our Human Growth Hormone (HGH) Dead and dying cells in our body are replaced at a faster pace. Throughout our sleep certain growth hormones reach their peak activity and many enzyme reactions increase.
Sleep is also seen as a tool for maintaining our mental health. It is a period during which we can “tune out” the world and sort through the events of the day. With our dream process we are continually able to deal with and store new information and feelings.
Moreover, many researchers view our need for sleep as a behavioural pattern inherited from our primitive ancestors. Their survival depended, in part, on their avoiding the dangers of the dark night. Sleeping away the night in the security of the cave successfully accomplished this.
The Stages of Sleep
Sleep is a dynamic process that involves two types of rest: active and quiet. Active sleep is called REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement). It is preceded by quiet sleep (NREM sleep), which has four stages:
This stage lasts between 5 and 10 minutes. All bodily activity starts to slow down: muscles relax, temperature decreases, pulse and respiration become more regular, the mind wanders and one is easily awakened.
Bodily movement continues to decrease and one is soundly asleep, yet can be awakened by sounds. At this point the eyes become unresponsive to stimuli and start to roll back and forth.
By this time the body is almost totally relaxed and one is not easily awakened.
At this deepest level often called delta sleep, the muscles are completely at rest and there is little body movement. One awakens very slowly from this stage.
REM SLEEP … This is the stage where dreams occur. The level of one’s nervous and mental activities increase as well as temperature and heart rate. It is characterised by rapid darting movement of the eyes.
How much sleep do we need?
There is no standard amount of sleep that is right for everybody. The normal range of sleep for humans is between 5 and 10 hours, with 7.5 hours being the world-wide average. How much sleep you require may change as you get older and may vary with the state of your health, the weather, physical activity, job demands and your emotional condition. The true measure of how much sleep you require is how rested you feel when you wake up.
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