SLEEP DEPRIVATION IS
TOXIC TO YOUR HEALTH
You can live for about three
minutes without air, three
days without water and
about 21 days without food. It
turns out you can only live
about 11 days without sleep.
soothing, drawing you effortlessly from
your dreams. Other popular options
include the SLEEP CYCLE ALARM CLOCK ,
because of its sensitive movement detec-
tion, its range of low-key alarms, and its
easy-to-read sleep reports, and the SLEEP
TIME APP , which uses a similar cycle-
based alarm. Sleep Time also has a cata-
log of “soundscapes,” which replicate the
noise of a natural environment, like a
beach or a rainforest, helping you to fall
asleep as well as wake up.
Fitness watches
Sign up for any race, and you’ll find
hundreds of runners synchronizing their fitness
watches. But they’re not just for athletes: Millions
of regular people are investing in high-tech watch-
es to help them track their steps, monitor their
heart rates, and improve their sleep patterns.
There are lots of advantages to fitness watches:
A wristwatch feels very natural on your body, so
you don’t have to share a bed with your phone. If
you’re active, you’re already downloading your
data so you can add your sleep report along with
miles run and calories burned.
The market is saturated in fitness watches, but
FITBIT is still the best-known name, thanks to its
early development and sleek designs. Like a phone
app or high-quality sleep monitor, Fitbit detects
your movements while you sleep and figures
out your “sleep stages.” When you’ve gathered
enough data, Fitbit provides “insights,” comparing
your sleep patterns to other people of your
age and gender.
Sleep trackers
Sleep trackers are everywhere, and they come
in a range of designs: Some are
panels that you stick under
your bed. Others are
bracelets, sculptures, and
even a glowing sphere. Unlike
your phone, the trackers
are specifically
designed to study your sleep patterns,
and as unobtrusively as possible.
Each device uses “actigraphy” to doc-
ument your physical movements during
the night. For example, the BEDDIT SLEEP
MONITOR is a long white strap that you
can fasten to your bedsheets. You barely
notice its presence, and it senses when
you’re shifting or rolling over. Many
trackers can also record your heart rate
and whether you snore.
Smart beds
The idea of a smart bed may seem
like science fiction. If you’re willing to
spend the extra money, these high-tech mattresses
can change their firmness based on your
physical needs.
The leading brand is SLEEP NUMBER , whose
mattresses are famous for changing their firmness.
Sleep Number uses a matrix of smaller pockets,
which inflate and deflate as the night wears on.
These mattresses can isolate certain parts of your
body, providing a firm surface for your shoulders
and a softer surface for your legs, or maybe vice
versa. One of the most significant advancements is
the elevating mattress, which can be a lifesaver for
people with severe snoring and even sleep apnea.
When the bed detects snoring, it will rise automat-
ically toward the top, shifting the sleeper’s head.
When you download your data, Sleep Number will
even give you a score for how well you slept.
THE SLEEP TRACKER BY EIGHT SLEEP is a cover
that you pull over an entire mattress. The cover
has a warming feature, which can be set on a
timer. The sleep tracker also has a smart alarm sys-
tem, and you can use the Eight Sleep app to com-
pare sleep patterns and recent exercise. You can
even connect your Eight Sleep
mattress to your Amazon
Echo. Feeling a little
chilly? Just tell Alexa to
warm up your mattress,
and the temperature of
your cover will rise. ❖
New science has finally given
us an answer to the mystery
of sleep. In 2013, Danish
scientists testing mice found
that as animals sleep, their
brains compress and grow
smaller. Roughly 75 pe rcent
of our brain mass is water
weight in the form of blood.
Our brains receive energy
from blood, so when the
blood is pumping, our brains
are plump. As we sleep,
various parts of our brain
shut down, and that reduced
power consumption lowers
the swelling across our
neurons. The brain’s blood
retreats, creating large
empty spaces.
It is what happens next in the
brain that makes sleep so
vital to our survival. Our
bodies leverage the
lymphatic system to push out
toxins. The lymphatic system
mimics the flow of blood
throughout our entire body
and works to remove waste
and byproducts as we
consume energy. Blood is
filled with nasty toxins, but
our bodies take the good,
and the lymphatic system
excretes the bad. The
lymphatic system works
throughout the entire body
with one exception: the brain.
As we cycle through five
sleep stages, roughly every 90
minutes, the cerebral fluid
flows in and out, gently
cleaning our brains of toxins.
This is evolution at its finest:
The brain takes aim at two
birds, using the cerebral fluid
both for protection and for
cleaning. Without any sleep,
toxins build up and kill us
after about 200 hours. In the
case of limited sleep, these
toxins kill us over time.
Doctors agree on the precise
level of sleep needed — at
least seven hours is necessary
per night — not five or six
hours because you think you
can handle it. That may be
OK in the short term, but
shortsighted thinking will kill
you eventually. Sleep
deprivation compounds, so
every night counts. None of
us are immune, no matter
how busy or important we
are. So, the next time you
start thinking about how to
better yourself, improve
productivity or stay ahead of
the herd, lose the bravado
and just go to bed.
— Jeff Stibel
(201) HEALTH | 2018 EDITION
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