Sleep Pattern

Sleep is a natural state of unconsciousness, whereas your voluntary muscles are not used and your senses are not as active. It is a deeper rendition of relaxation, because while you are asleep your body does not readily react to outside stimuli. While you sleep, muscular, skeletal, immune, and nervous systems refresh themselves as your body uses less energy.

To relay information to your body, your brain releases chemicals called neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters relay information to your body that tells it to sleep. While you are awake, neurotransmitters keep your brain active and alert, but when it’s time for you to sleep, they slow your brain’s activity level down.

When you fall asleep, your body progresses through five levels of unconsciousness before you awake. The first stage is a light unconsciousness where your body still responds to most outside stimuli. However, in each of the next three stages you fall into deeper unconsciousness. The fifth and final stage is known as rapid eye movement, or REM. This is the deepest state of unconsciousness and you may not respond to most outside stimuli. Your body spends about 90 to 110 minutes in each of the five stages. After that, your brain emits neurotransmitters that reverse the sleep process and you begin to wake up.

Required Amount of Sleep:

The basic criteria for the amount of sleep you require is age. When you were an infant you probably slept about 16 hours a day, but as a teenager you probably slept about nine hours a night. As an adult your body ceases to grow, and your need for sleep decreases, but the decrease in sleep time varies with the person.

The average adult requires about seven or eight hours of sleep a night, but some adults sleep as little as five. However, others may require as many as ten hours. In addition, special circumstances can determine the amount of sleep required. For example, in the first trimester of pregnancy some women may require an additional three hours of sleep per night. Senior citizens sometimes require less sleep, but that is often because their level of activity slows down, and not because you need less sleep when you are that age.

Importance of Getting Enough Sleep:

Sleep, though, is not a discretionary part of your life; it is a necessity if you want to stay healthy. If you attempt to go without sleep for an extended period of time, your body will eventually force you to sleep. Your body has an internal clock, called circadian sleep rhythm, which recycles every 24 or 25 hours. This clock controls your body’s metabolism. When you are awake and need more energy, your clock increases your metabolic rate, whereas, when you are asleep your clock slows your metabolism. When something disturbs your circadian sleep rhythm, your body is stressed.

To compliment your body’s internal clock system your body implements a sleep-account. A simplified explanation is that it works similar to your bank account. You cannot withdraw any more money from your bank account than what you have in it. On the same premise, you must have sleep-credits in your sleep-account if you wish to continue to stay awake. If you do not have enough sleep credits, your body will shut you down. It makes no difference whether you are driving a car, or watching television, when you run out of sleep credits your body demands you sleep.

Because sleep is of vital importance to your health, the consequences of lack of sleep reads like a who’s who of negative health conditions. Sleep deprivation can instigate your inability to communicate it can lead to hallucinations, weight gain, and attention deficit disorder. It may adversely affect your heart rate, thus lack of sleep is instrumental in heart attacks. Sleeplessness increases the probability of your developing cancer, high blood pressure, or diabetes. It can lead to mood swings, a lack of growth hormones in children, and be the culprit for frequent colds and bouts with the flu.

Awareness:

If you don’t believe you are sleep-deprived, but you feel tired much of the time, you may have a sleep disorder. The types of sleep disorders are many and varied, and over 100 varieties are identifiable and classified into four distinct categories:

Whatever may be the reason, whether it is not enough sleep, or a sleep disorder, see your doctor if you have any of the symptoms listed above. The reason for any of them should not go undiagnosed.