Overview of Sleep Benefits - Physical, Mental, Emotional

Several years ago I heard a claim that blew my mind. The claim was made by an anthropologist and medical theorist who said that when the lights went on in our cities (back in the 1920s), the level of obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart disease went up. She was blaming the rise of these ills on lack of sleep because when the lights went on, we stayed up too long.¹

Bright, artificial lights changed our society, allowing us to disregard the natural cycle of light and dark. Instead of going to bed at nightfall as in ages past, people stayed up late to work and play. Edison's invention of the incandescent light bulb was the first time in history that light was separated from some kind of fire and the brightness of the new light soon rivaled daylight. Midnight was no longer the middle of the night and our biological rhythms, depending on the cycle of day and night that had developed over millennia, were upset.

The number of hours that we sleep compared to how long our grandparents slept has steadily decreased so that now most of us are seriously compromising our health, our mental abilities, and our emotional states.

I have always known the miracle of restorative sleep for myself. I can go to bed discouraged and disheartened and wake up loving life and eager for the day, very thankful for a good night's sleep. I have also seen the effects of sleep on others. One friend in my student days found sleep a waste of time in his busy life but when he sat down to read or study he would consistently fall asleep.

The study of sleep is a fairly recent science, getting going in earnest in the 1950s. REM sleep, the dream stage of sleep was discovered and explored. More lately, there has been a lot of study on the physical effects of sleep, effects on our brains and our hormones. And the more that is learned, the more we realize that our bodies and minds are an interconnected whole.

During sleep, our minds are working at re-packaging our short-term memories into long-term storage areas. If we sleep enough, we learn well, and when we sleep after learning, we consolidate what we've gained. We will be able to make better decisions, we will be more creative, we will produce more if we are well rested.

As a teacher, I'm very aware of sleepy students - students who often stay up late watching TV, communicating with friends via computer or playing video games. In schools, we see what seems like an epidemic of learning disabilities like ADD and ADHD. If you look up these diagnoses on the web, you will find them connected to sleep. Symptoms of ADD are very like sleep deprivation and if you have children with this problem, you may want to have their sleep patterns checked. They may have been misdiagnosed or they may have sleep problems as well as ADD. It may be that they need help sleeping better and unfortunately, medications given for ADD often interfere with sleep.

Our moods are affected by sleep. We are less irritable and simply enjoy life better if we have a good night's sleep. We can deal with crises better - with the curves our children throw at us, with difficult colleagues, with crucial decisions that have to be made at work. We get more done, make better decisions.

And it turns out our inner workings are able to function in our favour if we sleep well. Our hormones are affected by how much and how well we sleep. Hormones are regulating our appetite and metabolism, how we utilize the food we eat, even the food we crave. Without enough sleep, we crave fattening foods, and our hormones tell our bodies to store more fat. Hormones also control when our bodies use the stored fat.

Growth hormones, used by our bodies to heal us, are affected by sleep. Our immune system goes out of whack when we lack sleep.

Melatonin, a hormone that protects the immune system, helps regulate sleep, and inhibits cancer, is produced in the dark. This means we ought to pay attention to the cycle of day and night and sleep when it's dark, and be awake when it's light.

Sleep deprivation causes accidents. More and more it's being recognized that sleepy driving is as deadly as driving after drinking because sleep affects our alertness and our performance. There have been some high-profile accidents where sleep deprivation has been recognized as having a major role in the cause. The ones I came across again and again as I researched are the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska and the explosion of the Challenger on liftoff.

The more I read about sleep, the more amazed I am at it's effects on us and the interconnectedness of everything about us - our minds, our emotions, our physical bodies. Do yourself and others a favour and get enough sleep. For most of us, this is between 8 and 9 hours per night. If you are unable to get that much sleep, then nap for 15 minutes when you find yourself drowsy during the day. These lessons will give you suggestions for dealing with sleep debt.

The Promise of Sleep,² by William Dement is a book to be savoured for it's kindliness and wisdom. This book was published in 1999, just a few short years ago, and in it, Dr. Dement bemoans the lack of awareness and concern for the dangers of sleep deprivation. However, the tide is turning and Dr. Dement must be pleased by the new emphasis being placed on sleep. Recently, I've heard and read more about sleep in TV ads and newspapers so people are taking note of his concerns which is a good thing. If you go to bookstores, you'll find several books on sleep and if you search the internet, you'll find lots of information. This is a subject that justly deserves our attention.

Sleep is just as important as eating and drinking. There was actually a study that tried to determine what was most important for longevity - healthy eating, exercise or sleep. Sleep came out as being most important in giving long life. So here's to many long, good night's sleeps, and as a result, a safer, healthier and more enjoyable life for you and your loved ones.

To do:

Here's a first step you can take to getting enough sleep or managing your sleep debt: take an inventory of your sleep needs and patterns and the needs of your family so you can become aware of what you're doing right and what you can change to become healthier. Write it all down so you have a comparison when you change sleep patterns.

Use the charts (see link below) to keep a sleep diary for at least a week (including the weekend) listing when you go to bed, approximately how long it takes to fall asleep and when you get up. (if you nap, do the same for napping)
Keep track of how you feel during the day. A useful tool is the Stanford Sleepiness Scale. As a bare minimum, note how you feel an hour or two after you get up, in your 'afternoon dip', and during your evening arousal/alertness time.
Calculate your total nightly sleep times. Does it change on the weekend? When are your most efficient times? Are your peak performance times and sleepy times consistent? What foods do you crave, especially when you're tired?

Charts

Charts for Sleep Diary (PDF) (2 pp, 44K, About PDF)

If you don't have one, you can get a free PDF reader by clicking the 'About PDF' link above.

Footnotes:

1. Wiley, T.S. with Bent Formby, Lights Out, Pocket Books, New York, 2000. I heard the authors speak at a Learning Annex session and was fascinated by their findings. Their book is out of print but sometimes you can buy used copies. (back)

2. Dement, William C. and Christopher Vaughan, The Promise of Sleep, Dell Publishing, New York, 2000. This book is filled with gentle wisdom. There are many stories of how sleep has affected individuals and how discoveries of how sleep affects us were conducted. (back)

Contents

Overview of Sleep Benefits - Physical, Mental, Emotional

To do:

Charts

Footnotes: