How to Design a Healthful Sleep Sleep – that glorious slipping into a space where we exist and yet do not!  What is sleep – is a time of healing or is it a waste of time given the small hills of work we need to wrap up each day. Do we even need sleep…if yes how much do we need? What happens if we don’t get it? This blog addresses all these questions. After all, without a balanced lifestyle , there can be no health sustained. So, let’s delve deep into sleep… Why Sleep is Important Sleep – the most inactive time of the day is the time the body is actually active – albeit in a different way. It’s like the shop that needs to be shut during the night for maintenance to take place. Sleep is the time when cells repair, the hormones that relax the system and those that are key in bone and muscle health are released. Immunity cells build up during sleep. Another very important aspect is memory and cognition. Neurological and brain development occurs in sleep as well as there is consolidation of memory during sleep. Daytime learning both of information as well as emotions are processed and consolidated into memory during sleep. You can imagine how important that is for both academics and productivity across all age groups – from children to the older adult. It is to be noted how valuable that is for learning, academics and professional aspects. Growth hormone levels also increase during sleep. Growth hormone is also released in pulses during sleep. Lack of sleep affects the amounts produced. Growth hormone is crucial in children and adolescents for obvious growth and it is also required in adults – to promote healing, to reduce obesity and to promote weight control. Growth hormone has key roles of muscle building, tissue repair and metabolic balance in adulthood. It is during sleep that immunity build up takes place. Adequate sleep can help in decreasing inflammation – a key trigger of chronic diseases. Sleep allows the brain and body to slow down and engage in processes of recovery, promoting better physical and mental performance the next day and over the long-term. Adequate sleep promotes weight control as it ensures the balance of two hormones that control weight on a long term basis – Leptin and Ghrelin. A proper amount of sleep also keeps the stress hormone – cortisol at bay. This in turn has very key health preserving benefits. Chronic sleep deprivation is associated with increased risk for obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart diseases and stroke. In the current times of the Pandemic, it is relevant to stress on the fact that a good sleeping schedule does protect the body’s immune system. The Geography of Sleep: Let us understand how sleep works… There are multiple cycles of sleep, each cycle has two stages – The Non Rapid Eye Movement stage (NREM) and the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage. The NREM stage which is 75 – 80 Percent of sleep has 4 parts to it  Stage 1 –  a short 5 – 10 minutes, the time taken to dose off  Stage 2 – is again short – a 20 minute one where body processes slow down in preparation for sleep and memory consolidation occurs. Stage 3 and 4 are the deep stages of sleep – lasting for about 40 minutes where cell repair, growth and development occurs and metabolic balance is restored. The REM stage which can last about an hour is also a deep state of sleep where the brain waves really slow down and there is muscle atonia; dreaming occurs in this stage. This is again the stage when the body repairs itself and adjusts our metabolic balance. Certain points need a focused note to understand why we must have a good sleep hygiene: It is stage 4 of NREM and the REM stage where maximum health benefits occur. In the initial sleep cycles the stage 4 NREM and REM are shorter cycles and as the sleep cycles move ahead these stages become longer This means that to obtain 2 -3 hours of deep sleep adults (children and adolescents need a little bit more) must: Sleep for 7 – 9 hours to ensure 2 – 3 hours of deep sleep (Young Children need About 10 hours of sleep, adolescents 9 hours and adults 7 – 9 hours of sleep) Need about 5 cycles so that the longer periods of deep sleep occurring in the later cycles are accomplished Thus, you can see that if we sleep off late at night and get only 3 cycles then the body will not benefit as much. How is Sleep Regulated: Understanding how we actually slip into sleep and what really induces sleep is a fascinating topic. Our body’s natural cycles are called the circadian rhythm and it’s a beautiful process. The tiny pineal gland (a 7.4 mm long gland) in the centre of the brain that produces the hormone Melatonin (The darkness hormone) in response to yes- dim lights and darkness. Isn’t that a wonderful way to regulate? This hormone is synthesised and released out as the day ends, so that we can have a good night’s rest. Similarly, in the morning, exposure to sunlight increases cortisol – the hormone to keep us active and reduces melatonin – so that we are not sleepy during the day. In fact exposure to sunlight leads to some synthesis of melatonin in the skin too as well as it regulates the production of melatonin. The all-important question – How to Design a Healthful Sleep: Wake up right:  Let’s wake up and wish for the sun. Let us allow the natural sunlight to bathe us, let it in through the eyes to the pineal gland and let it regulate our circadian rhythm.  This will lead to production of activity inducing cortisol as well it helps regulate Melatonin – the sleep hormone. That is why the Surya Namaskar was … Continue reading A Beautiful Sleep