The Importance of
Sleep
for Health By Jessica Carter, a registered and licensed dietitian and the founder and president of Core Health & Nutrition, LLC. Jessica earned a master’s degree in nutrition and dietetics from Eastern Michigan State University and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Bemidji State University.
“…there will be enough sleeping in the grave...”
–Benjamin Franklin
T
he world we live in is fast paced, full of coffee and sleep deprived. We celebrate those who can work on little to no sleep and caffeinate all the others. In business we push to get more done in a days time and we value and admire those who say they work all night. Even old Ben seemed to feel sleep was a waste of time. In addition to famous quotes on the subject we also coin our own cute little phrases like “You can sleep when you’re dead.” These serve to encourage us to believe that this lack of sleep is worth something, that there’s a bigger payoff in the end. But is there? One thing that we don’t see popping up in conversation is how a human can go without food longer than they can go without sleep. Or that lack of sleep can cause heart problems, weight gain and memory loss, to name a few. These are the byproducts of less sleep and like most negative and depressing side effects, we conveniently brush them to the side. Sleep is one of the few consistent pillars of wellness and unlike some of the other areas of health, the need for sleep has never changed. There are no sleep “diets” or sleep shortcuts. There is only one way to fill the need, and that is to sleep. In our world of fast fixes and life hacks, this makes sleep less exciting to work on. But truly
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sleep can have the strongest impact on health, and if taken seriously, be the difference between good health and poor. Sleep is the time when our body hits the refresh button. This is when we physically repair ourselves and when we mentally clean house. We sleep in 90-minute cycles and have approximately five cycles a night. There are different stages of sleep in each cycle. The two most important stages are deep sleep and REM sleep. Deep sleep is the physical restoration stage and is what makes us feel the most rested the next day.
What happens in deep sleep:
• Blood pressure drops • Heart rate drops • Tissues are repaired • Energy is restored • Hormones released • Regulation of appetite • Growth occurs in children REM sleep is dream time. This is also when our brain does a sweep through and tidies things up.
What is going on in this stage:
• Short term memory is changed to long term memory • Energy is provided to the brain and body for the next day • Brain is as active now as when awake but the body is paralyzed Like with the other pillars of health, efforts must be made in order to reap the benefits of sleep and to get a good night’s rest. There are many resources and professionals that can help with specific sleep disorders or just general sleep concerns.