You and I function according
to a natural cycle that repeats itself every 24 hours.
The name of this cycle is the circadian rhythm and it
controls our sleeping cycle and our waking cycle.
Interestingly, when it gets dark, the cells in the
retina of the eye send a message directly to a special
part of our brain. The pineal gland then produces
the hormone melatonin and this causes a drop in our
body temperature and sleepiness. At the same time,
there is a reduction in those chemicals in our body
which are responsible for arousal.
Most people are then ready for sleep.
This sleep is characterized by two distinct states,
non-REM sleep and REM sleep. Both states alternate
in 90 to 110 minute cycles while a normal sleep pattern
has 4-5 cycles so you can see how this makes up our
roughly 8 hour night’s sleep. However these
cycles of sleep have been compared to going up and
down a stairway.
Non REM sleep which takes up about 75% of the sleep
cycle has 4 stages ranging from light dozing to deep
sleep.
• Stage 1 is the dozing stage and a period
of very light sleep when we start to relax. It is
during this stage that you may experience the sensation
of falling and jerk suddenly into wakefulness which
is called a hypnic jerk.
• Stage 2 is characterized by a lack of eye
movements and a time of light sleep. You could still
be woken up fairly easily.
• Stage 3 is when deeper sleep is experienced
and you would become more difficult to wake up.
• Stage 4 is a time of very deep sleep and
if you are woken during such deep sleep, you will
probably feel sleepy and disorientated for several
minutes.
The deep sleep you experience in stages 3 and 4 is
called delta sleep and it is the most restful kind
of sleep.
REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement) takes up about 25%
of our sleeping cycle.
REM sleep is when most dreaming takes place along
with periodic eyelid fluttering, muscle paralysis
and irregular breathing. At this time, the brain blocks
signals to our body’s muscles so that we remain
immobile during our dreams and do not thrash about
and act them out.
Sleep is a very necessary and important function
in our daily lives and essential to our physical and
emotional well being. Without enough daily sleep,
our ability to perform even the simplest task can
be severely reduced. Sleep restores our body and mind,
allowing the body to rest and the mind to do a lot
of sorting out such as organizing our long term memory,
absorbing new information as well as repairing and
renewing tissue, nerve cells and even biochemicals.
The longer you stay awake, the more sleep you need.
So if you are awake for 36 hours, you may well need
to sleep for 18 hours to catch up again thereby allowing
the body to reverse the effects of sleepiness by sleeping.
The body reacts to a lack of sleep by having daytime
drowsiness so that you are inclined to go to sleep
early or to sleep in late. The ideal amount of sleep
you need is the amount needed to feel refreshed and
well rested in the morning so that you stay alert
all day.
You can therefore see how debilitating insomnia can
be and how we need to find out the reason or reasons
for any insomnia we may be suffering as well as treating
the condition itself.
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