REST AND RELAXATION | health & wellness || 21
Recent research results
“ Sleep plays an important role in regulating the hormones that influence hunger ( ghrelin , cortisol , and leptin ); that ’ s why sleep deprivation increases appetite and leads to overeating and weight gain ,” declared neurobiologist Adrian Owen of Western University , London , Ontario , Canada , who worked with the Medisys company , which completed a long-term cohort study . It also emerged that being in a wakeful state for an entire eighteen hours affects cognitive functions as negatively as a binge drinking session does . Concentration and the ability to perform certain tasks suffers . So driving a car when you ’ re chronically sleep-deprived is as dangerous as getting behind the wheel while drunk . And on the whole , Medisys ’ s study showed that regular sleep-deprivation increases the risk of depression , heart attacks , and strokes .
Read more at : www . digitaljournal . com / life / health / poorsleep-is-as-damaging-as-bingedrinking / article / 499370 # ixzz4wuvBiplW
Another recent study conducted by personnel at the MRK Polytechnic College showed that sleep deprivation causes the brain to “ eat itself .” The scientists compared the brains of three groups of mice . In the first group , the rodents slept as much as they wanted . In the second group , the mice slept less than eight hours . The third group was awake five days straight , that is , they suffered from chronic lack of sleep . The researchers studied the astrocytes and microglia cells . The former cleanse the brain of unneeded synapses , while the latter cleanse it of damaged cells and other waste .
The scientists established that with mice that slept a lot , the astrocytes were active in about 6 % of the synapses , in those that slept less than eight hours — in 8 % of the synapses , and in the animals with chronic sleep deprivation — in 13.5 % of the synapses . That is , when sleep was insufficient , brain cells destroyed more synapses and waste . The specialists noted that excessive activity of these cells can lead to negative consequences such as neurological disorders and Alzheimer ’ s disease .
And researchers at the University of California , San Francisco who analyzed data from more than three million women established that pregnant women ’ s sleep interruptions can lead to premature births , meaning births prior to 34 weeks of gestation . It was noted that among women with a sleep disorder , more than 30 % suffered from insomnia , and almost 60 % from obstructive apnea syndrome — interrupted breathing while sleeping — a kind of apnea that can end in death .
Why sleep is so essential ?
Sleep is responsible for the condition of the nervous system and for immunity and hormonal balance . When sleep is of poor quality , a person is more subject to infectious diseases and suffers more from aggravation of chronic pain , and hormonal disturbances and breakdown of metabolic processes can lead to diabetes , obesity , and even cancer .
Many stars think the secret to prolonged youth and beauty is in good sleep . The film diva Sophia Loren speaks out in favor of healthy sleep : her statement that “ Sleep , sleep , and sleep is the prime guarantee of beauty !” has become an aphorism . The singer Mireille Mathieu echoes her . Jennifer Lopez calls sleep her weapon , and Catherine Deneuve contends that sleep is an irreplaceable means of maintaining health and a youthful appearance . But in fact , good sleep gives you far more benefits than beauty . It improves your sense of physical well-being , supports high “ combat capability ” of the immune system , assures vigor and a generally high level of ability to work over the course of the day , promotes excellent mental concentration , protects against depression , facilitates improvement and maintenance of memory , aids in normalization of weight , and helps the body heal itself .
Correct process : stage by stage
Three to five sleep periods cycle through an average night ' s sleep . A sleep cycle typically lasts about ninety to a hundred ten minutes and consists of five stages that differ by brain activity . The first stage is drowsing , or semisleep , and then comes shallow sleep . Then there are two deep sleep stages characterized by slow brain wave patterns and comprising up to 75 % of the total sleep time . It is difficult to wake a person who is in these deep stages of sleep . Slow wave sleep is vital for our cells to carry out important restorative work . Three to four hours of slow wave sleep are necessary for physical restoration . And it is this deep , slow wave sleep that is responsible for your feeling rested when you wake up . The last stage in a sleep cycle is REM sleep , so called because it is accompanied by rapid eye movement , and which is also called paradoxical sleep because during this stage , the brain ' s activity looks the same as when you ' re awake . People dream most vividly during REM sleep , and if they ' re woken when dreaming , they ' ll remember the dream and can tell about it . The REM stage is enormously significant : according to scientific studies , information stored by the brain over the preceding day is processed during REM sleep , and information is also exchanged between the conscious and the subconscious .
But if you sleep poorly , snore , or don ' t get your sleep out and then fidget all day , if you experience difficulty getting to sleep or
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