Points covered:
Non-REM sleep heals the brain and body
REM sleep heals the mind
Quantity of sleep
Quality of sleep
Regularity of sleep (sleep at the same time each night)
Type of sleeper (lark vs owl)
Sleep hygiene (routine, dark, cool, limit distractions)
Sleep matters so much to all animals that without it, we die. The primary types of sleep patterns are REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and non-REM. Dreaming has been reported in every stage of sleep, but is most closely related to REM, which tends to dominate near the end of a healthy cycle. While the burning mitochondrial furnace rebalances ATP, REM works to repair our emotional grounding, while non-REM performs daily housekeeping.
Healthy sleepers don’t have chronic mental illness. Does the lack of sleep cause the disease, or the disease, a lack of sleep? The only thing we’re sure of, they are a positive-feedback loop: a lack of sleep (or mental illness) leads to mental illness (or lack of sleep), and on-and-on. No matter how great our waking behavior– diet, exercise, social relationships, etc.– fixing our sleep is the first step to mental and physical health. We can’t do a thing without energy to fuel motivation. Therefore, should sleep issues become insurmountable, professional intervention is encouraged.
Sleep does more than physically and emotionally reset the body. It plays a primary role in memory consolidation, intuition, inspiration, motor-skill development– more and more reasons to get a good night’s sleep are constantly being discovered. So, how much sleep does one need? All of it. There’s no known upper limit; however, we know people who sleep longer die sooner. Is the sleep killing them? Of course not. It’s their chronic condition and / or lifestyle increasing sleep needs and mortality risk. Change the unhealthy habits / situations, and sleep requirements will follow suit.
A healthy lifestyle full of energy makes sleeping beyond need impossible, that is, once the body wakes, yawns, and stretches– nature’s signal of a successful night ready for a productive day. Plus, a good morning stretch feels amazing. For proper technique, look no further than our fellow domestic companions as they wake– the way a prone cat paws a rug, or a supine dog’s legs flex.
On average, people suffer when they aren’t consistently getting enough shuteye. Although this varies from person-to-person, for most, the absolute minimum is around seven hours. And “banking” sleep isn’t a thing– when sleep is missed, it’s missed. Getting twelve hours tonight will not totally recover the body from the four hours last night. However, a few solid days before a night where sleep will suffer, better blunts the impact, but nothing fixes it. This kind of “crediting” also works to increase vaccine efficacy, as sleep is vital for the operation of our immune system.
Foundational to its quality, sleep “hygiene” starts with routine. Timing, temperature, lighting, and chemistry are all critical considerations. The tricky thing about sleep is the effect our day has on our ability to fall asleep– a day full of dozing, stress, “hard” coffee, and sitting around snaking on sugary processed food is one end of this spectrum. On the other, healthy food, plenty of exercise, proper light exposure, etc., all work together to create abundant “sleep pressure,” the only thing that makes us “fall” and stay asleep. A strong signal, from the brain with proper bodily chemistry, releases this pressure.
We fall because sleep cannot be forced. If the body isn’t prepared, nothing the mind can do will change that. Getting into and out of bed at the same time, and knowing whether we’re a lark or owl (“morning” or “night” person), best places our body’s circadian rhythms for restful sleep. For instance, larks who go to bed after midnight, yet make those eight hours, do not reach the full benefits of those whose heads hit the pillow by nine.
To wake, the body’s core warms. Counter-intuitively, to fall asleep, we warm up the body to cool down the core. For many who struggle with falling asleep, a hot bath, warming pad, or simply a pair of comfortable socks are quick solutions, as they increase blood flow to and from the extremities by opening the capillaries. This can be particularly helpful for the elderly or anyone who struggles with their circulation.
Light, and its absence, is the force behind the absorption and creation of melatonin, a key signal that prepares the body for sleep. Lowering light levels, removing blue light, setting aside social media, and managing chemicals like caffeine and alcohol readies us for a productive night in bed. Once we’ve had that good night’s rest, getting as much light as soon as possible– preferably morning sunlight with its higher concentration of blue light– clears our sleep chemistry, energizes our brains for the day, resets our circadian rhythm, and manages a healthy cortisol cycle.
Allowing sleep pressure to naturally build over the day prepares us to fall asleep again, but once we arrive at bedtime, finally derailing the mind’s cognitive hold on the brain is the last step. This starts with routine as functional meditation– create a specific sequence of mindless events that lead to the head cradling the pillow. This could be picking tomorrow’s outfit, changing into pajamas, brushing teeth, arranging the bedding, etc. But, the most important challenge? Releasing our cognitive concerns.
Instead of dealing with deep issues once in bed, sit in deep thought before the attempt is made– preferably not in the bedroom. The ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts) in our head will scurry, so, use freewill to nip cognition in the bud. Once we’ve slipped into the sheets, allow those sentences, building in the mind, to evaporate. Whenever the urge for internal dialogue rises beyond control, speak gibberish, focus on nonsense, take a mental walk through the neighborhood, and simply observe the mind waning away under the rising body.
To release mitochondrial energy, cells cleave a phosphate from adenosine triphosphate (ATP), resulting in a diphosphate (ADP). Another signal that we’re ready for sleep comes from the brain’s adenosine receptors, recognizing an abundance of ADP. Caffeine doesn’t provide energy, but instead, blocks these receptors, meaning we don’t get the physiological signal we’re out of fuel– a reason so many partake in the morning, but few know how important it is to wait awhile for these receptors to clear before applying the drug.
Inherently, stress is neither toxic nor healthy, but simply the application of energy (mental / physical). Cortisol is a hormone associated with stress, and chronic stress is often the one most harmful, but without acute stress, we literally could not get out of bed. Optimally, this hormone rises with our bodies in the morning to peak soon after, preparing us to deploy that ATP throughout the day, as we make the effort to live our lives. While the day passes, cortisol levels naturally diminish. Therefore, a rise too late in the day (an intensely negative or positive event) makes it difficult to slow our heart, quiet our mind, and engage our parasympathetic nervous system– all basic requirements for healthy sleep chemistry. Devoid of added chemistry or emotional complications, falling asleep results from a consistent, boring sleep routine.
Before we sleep, we feel sleepy– the interoception of our Lower-Order Bodies signaling their preference for sleep. Ultimately, it’s our LOB’s call, and we can only wait for their trip to start. Dreams are usually some mixture of spirit (SFS body and tail) and soul (HOC / LOB relationship) involved in dialogue. Some of the time, it’s our spirit speaking to the body, but so much of the time, it is our body talking through our soul. This is why our “fever” dreams are so bizarre– our body’s in disarray, desperate to solve its serious problem, and these dreams are its narrative of sickly struggle, playing out onstage in full fidelity.
Waking dreams are when we know we’re in a dream. Taking control can be quite thrilling, but ultimately, dreaming is, most often, not for us (HOC). Dreaming is primarily intended to align the mind-body continuum. Although our spirit might provide useful premonitions we would be wise to pay attention to, or insights into solutions we might have never consciously considered, for the most part, most of the time, we have a lot to learn by simply observing this nightly dialogue, and are better served by resisting the urge to interrupt or interfere.
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