Sleep is very important for our health. No wonder we spend almost 1/3 of our lives on it. To be healthy and have a lot of energy every day, you need to get enough sleep.
Sleep needs and sleep phases
The daily need for sleep is an individual and innate feature. Children need much more sleep than adults. Some children sleep up to 22 hours a night. Older children and adolescents should sleep about 9 hours. For adults, the optimal time is 7-8 hours.
It happens that despite many hours of sleep, we feel "sluggish" in the morning, and sometimes we are drained of energy if we have slept for only a few hours. How does this happen? During sleep, the body goes through certain phases, the violation of which can negatively affect a person's functioning during the day.
Daily human activity is associated with a high frequency of brainwave oscillations, which decreases just before falling asleep. Then the person feels relaxed and sleepy. This is how the body prepares to enter the first phase of sleep. Its beginning is accompanied by hypnagogues, i.e. unconnected fragments of images and voices that are a message about loss of consciousness. When this happens, you fall into the light sleep characteristic of the second phase.
When your brain slows down, your blood pressure drops, your breathing becomes regular, and your muscles relax, it's a sign that you've entered the third, transitional phase of sleep. This is when the body falls into deep sleep and gets the most rest. This state lasts until the end of the fourth phase, and if something interferes with our sleep at this point, we won't remember it in the morning. In the first cycle, deep sleep lasts 60 minutes, but the closer to morning light, the shorter it is.
After completing the entire cycle, the process is repeated in reverse order, but instead of the first phase, REM (Rapid Eye Movement) occurs, which got its name due to the rapid eye movement during its duration. The return to light sleep most often occurs 90 minutes after falling asleep, followed by dreams that we remember after waking up.
Due to the cyclical nature of sleep stages, sleep in multiples of 90 minutes is considered the most effective. When we wake up after 4.5 hours, 6 hours, or 7.5 hours, we do not interrupt the sleep cycle and feel refreshed.
How does sleep affect health?
Sleep is a state of mental rest. It is a state of relaxation for the body as well as for the brain, as the mind organizes and stores information at night. Sleep allows you to record memories and knowledge, so you will achieve better results in your studies if you sleep immediately afterwards.
Sleep prevents obesity. Disturbed sleep patterns cause hormonal changes that stimulate appetite. After just two sleepless nights, there is a significant disruption in hormone levels and an increase in appetite. People who suffer from insomnia are less likely to cook for themselves and more likely to eat fast food and are more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease and hypertension.
Interrupted, restless sleep contributes to the development of diabetes.
Lack of sleep reduces your ability to concentrate and increases the risk of car accidents. After 17 hours without sleep, a person behaves as if they have 0.5% alcohol in their blood.
Taking a nap in the afternoon (at least three times a week for half an hour) has a positive effect on heart function and reduces the risk of death from coronary heart disease by 37%.
Chronic sleep problems can cause symptoms of depression and anxiety. This applies not only to insomnia, but also to frequent waking at night and difficulty falling asleep.
Sleep disturbances also have a negative impact on emotional state and mental performance.
Sleep improves the efficiency of the immune system. During sleep, the body fights viral and bacterial infections more effectively.
The secretion of hormones depends on the sleep rhythm - some hormones are secreted only during sleep (growth hormone), while the production of others drops significantly during sleep (for example, stress hormone).
During sleep, our body rests. Our heart rate calms down, our blood pressure normalizes, our breathing becomes steady and deep, and our eyes rest.
Our skin also rests during sleep, which is why people who sleep well have a good complexion. This is the result of a very dynamic process of tissue renewal – thanks to the growth hormone produced during sleep, they divide 10 times faster than during the day. Sleep improves blood circulation and the ability to eliminate toxins. Sleep is the best cosmetics!
Causes of sleep disorders
There can be many causes of sleep problems: from genetic predispositions, frequent jet lag, poor sleep hygiene, substance use, and the effects of more serious illnesses. Sleep disorders can also be caused by hormonal disorders and stress. In some cases, we cannot do without the help of qualified doctors, and there are areas that we can take care of on our own.
Alcohol. The body reacts to the substances we put into it. And before going to bed, it's best to just leave it alone. Alcohol, and especially its excess, is not conducive to good sleep.
Melatonin deficiency. Melatonin is a hormone that is regulated by light and affects the human body. Light in the context of sleep is called a circadian synchronizer. Therefore, the more proportional and rhythmic the presence of this synchronizer, the better for sleep.
Medications. You need to be careful with the medications you take. In particular, diuretics and drugs based on caffeine or other stimulants should be taken with caution.
What will help restore and normalize sleep?
The first thing we can do on our own is to provide the body with a constant rhythm of life. Get up and go to bed at the same time every day, spend your day actively, eat your last meal at least 3 hours before bedtime, and take care of your sleeping place. If possible, sleep with a window slightly open. This will allow for better air circulation. The temperature in your bedroom should be about 2-3 °C lower than in the living room and should be around 17-19 °C. This will ensure a healthy and restorative sleep.
If these simple things don't help, contact Amospring specialists for help. At your service:
Natural Adjuster capsule – allows you to create conditions that maximally promote healing processes in the body for general physiological and psycho-emotional rehabilitation, body recovery, cosmetic correction, pleasant and useful rest. After a course of sessions, sleep normalization, stress relief, reduction or complete elimination of depression (including seasonal depression) occur.
BIOPTRON: color and light therapy. It is a method that uses the balance of color and light and increases our energy to keep our mind, body and soul in a state of health, lightness of being and harmony. Color is a fluctuation of light waves that can weaken or strengthen our energy. Color therapy cannot replace traditional medical treatment of any pathology, but if you need to restore the balance of body and soul, color therapy will be an effective treatment method;
Braintronics anti-stress system, during a non-invasive massage, will help those who suffer from chronic fatigue and suffer from a lot of stress. In 10-15 sessions, you will get rid of chronic fatigue and be able to stay in a conscious state for 21 minutes while the program lasts. This will give you an incredibly fast recovery.
For more information about the procedures and to make an appointment, please call us at the phone number that you can see on the website in the Contact section: https://www.amospring.com/contacts
And remember that the last minutes before bedtime determine the quality of your sleep, as well as how you feel when you wake up. Try to think about pleasant things, dream and imagine your happiness!