SLEEP
Sleep. Is it really a waste of our time?
Dalai Lama
What is sleep?
Sleep is a naturally recurring state of mind and body characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, inhibition of nearly all voluntary muscles and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, but is more easily reversed than the state of hibernation or of being comatose.
Most of us have a certain fondness for eating and sex. They are two highly esteemed motivated behaviors. But the amount of time, devoted to these behaviors in most amorous gourmands pales in comparison to the amount of time spent sleeping. Most of us will sleep for well over 175,000 hours in our lifetimes. This extraordinary commitment of time implies that sleep fulfills a critical biological function. Many changes occur in the body during sleep. It occurs in periods of approximately 90 minutes, which include increasing proportions of REM sleep as they repeat. Each stage may have a distinct physiological function and this can result in sleep that exhibits loss of consciousness but does not fulfill its pjysiological functions.
Modern research in the field of neuroscience is starting to reveal us the secrects, behind sleep. One of the main interesting views Russell Foster higlights in his talk is: “We treat sleep these day almost as an illness, which needs some sort of a cure. Because we do not do much we sleep, right? We don’t drink, we don’t sleep and we don’t have sex!”. Why would we sleep if instead we could gain even just a bit of our precious productive time?
Many of these questions are adressed in this inspiring TED Talk:
Advice for a better sleep
1. Transform your bedroom into a heaven for sleep (Make it as dark as possible)
2. Turn off all bright electronic devices at least half an hour before you go to bed
3. Make it slightly cool
2. Do not drink caffeine after lunch
3. Seek out morning light
4. Always listen to yourself and do what feels right for you
There are 5 types of brain frequences, measured with EEG
1. BETA state is present in our brain most of the time. When we are in normal waking state of consciousness, alert, focused or when we are performing different cognitive tasks and sensing surroundings. Usually this state by itself is uneventful, but we cannot underestimate its value. Many people lack sufficient beta activity, which can cause mental or emotional disorders suche as a depressin, ADD and insomnia. Stimulating beta activity can improve emotional stability, energy levels , attentiveness and concentration.
2. ALPHA state falls between wakefulness and sleep. It means a state of awake but relaxed consciousness and not processing too much information. When you get up in the morning and just before sleep, you are naturally in this state. When you close your eyes your brain automatically starts producing more alpha waves. This stage is usually a goal of EXPERIENCED MEDITATORS. Since alpha is a very receptive, absorbent mental state, you can also use it for effective self-hypnosis, mental re-programming and more.
3. THETA state means lights sleep or extreme relaxation. This stage includes REM-dream state, where most of our dreams at night occur. Often Theta waves are associated also with deep meditation, intuition, memory, vivid visual imagery and creativity. In this state most of new experiences integrates to our memory. We are able to experience integrative, emotional experiences and potentially change behavior or even increase retention of learned material. It can be also used for hypnosis and self-programming using pre-recorded suggestions.
4. DELTA state is a state of deep, dreamless sleep. Delta waves are the slowest form of brainwaves, which are often connected with regeneration. Your body starts to heal and reset its internal clocks.
5. GAMMA state is associated with the formation of ideas, laguage, memory processing and various types of learing. Gamma waves have been shown to desappear druing deep sleep induced by anasthesia, but return with the transition back to wakefull state.
COMMON MYTHS ABOUT SLEEP
ON AVERAGE WE NEED 8 HOURS OF SLEEP PER DAY!
How much do you need? We measured our sleep for 14 days straight and on average, we slept 7 hours and 10 minutes per day. We really want to highlight that you ALWAYS NEED TO LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. If you feel tired during the day or even in the morning, you may be sleep deprived. If you are feeling well and refreshed sleeping just 5 hours a day, maybe that is the right way to go for you.
WAKING UP EARLY AND GOING TO BED EARLY IS THE WAY TO SUCCESS
That is simply not true. There is no evidence that getting up early and going to bed early gives you more wealt at all. There is no difference in socioeconomic status.
ARE NEURAL NETWORKS OF SLEEP AND MENTAL ILLNESS PHYSICALLY LINKED IN OUR BRAIN?
Yes. They are physically linked in the brain. The neural networks that predisposes you to normal sleep and those that give you normal mental health are overalpping. Thant simply means if a big sleep disruption occurs (no sleeping pattern for a longer period of time), the probabiliy of some sort of mental illness to occur is higher.
CAN WE MANIPULATE OUR QUALITY OF SLEEP?
We are all aware of brain atrophies (shirinking) with age. Many rapid brain atrophies, which can have several causes are called dementias. But we all experience normal, aging shrinkage, which is according to science caused by loweirng the slow part of the brainwaves in our prefrontal cortex region.
According to the new science of Sleep-Engineering we can mainten a slower part of bainwaves, which are connected with healing and may have been guilty for a cognitive decline of older population. If we play sounds when they sleep, their slow brain frequencies strenghten, which results in better regeneration and also improves memory.
For even more interested readers, we prepared the list of some great reading and listening materials:
• What are dreams an what do they mean?
• Why Do We Have To Sleep?
How do you sleep at night?
What are your sleeping cycles and habits?
What do you do to sleep better?
We would love to hear some of your stories,
thoughts and comments.
Write your comments below!
Spiritual Warrior
Author
I was always curios. The waves of euphoric exploration on the newly-discovered topics carry me deeper into the ocean of knowledge. And then i start to write. As a psychologist and enterpreneur i developed a critical view of the world which offers unlimited possibilities for improvement. Because there is too much "false" teachings and personal growth guides out there, i decided to build my own knowledge base with science proven information and recent discoveries. I invite you to create it with me. Only with helping each other and spreading love through the Universe, we will all grow and raise our frequency of existence.