Ever have that feeling that you don’t seem to have the energy you need to get through the day? Or are there days when you just don’t feel mentally sharp, or have you ever nodded off at a red light while driving your car? If you answered “Yes!” to any of these questions, you probably are not alone. In fact, the symptoms above are the result of many of us not getting the amount of sleep we need to wake up refreshed and ready to face a new day.
Most of us live very busy lives. Family obligations, chores, shift work, etc., all place heavy demands on our time. In order to fit it all in, we often trade sleep for activity. In fact, statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control show that many Americans are getting by with close to six hours of sleep each night; as a result, we end up carrying around a sleep debt that makes us feel drowsy, diminishes our mental acuity and slows our reaction times.
Everyone needs about eight hours of sleep every day to be at their best. If we get less than that amount, we feel slowed down and sluggish. But, when we get the proper amount of good quality sleep each night, or when we make up for lost sleep by “sleeping in” on the weekends, we generally wake up feeling refreshed, alert and in a great mood.
And, the benefits of good sleep go far beyond just feeling better in the morning. Sleep is not just lost time, it plays an important role in our daily restoration and is critical to our ability to be Fully Charged. While we may not realize it, our bodies and minds are very active while we sleep. During sleep, our bodies cycle through different stages. In the first portion of the night, we drop off relatively quickly into deep sleep. Our bodies lie very still and restore themselves by releasing chemicals and hormones that help our muscles grow and repair tissue damage. This is also when our bodies fight off infection.
In the latter portion of the night, we experience Rapid Eye Movement, or REM sleep. This is when our brain becomes active and we dream. It is also when the brain releases hormones and other chemicals that help clear and restore our brain’s function. During sleep, the brain makes sense of all the information it received the day before and consolidates our memories. Sleep provides our bodies and minds the time needed to fully restore and we wake up feeling refreshed and ready to go.
If we experience fitful or disturbed sleep then we miss the opportunity to drop into deep sleep and our bodily restoration can be hampered. Studies have shown that our bodies are much less effective at fighting off illness when we are sleep deprived. This nightly activity is so important to our health that if we miss just one night of deep sleep, then the next night our bodies drop into deep sleep more quickly and we stay in deep sleep longer to make up for what was missed.
And, if we get less than the eight hours of sleep we need, we miss out on the longest periods of REM sleep during which our minds are restored to peak performance. This reduces memory consolidation and makes it harder to recall information and even skills that we were exposed to the previous day. These are the mornings when we wake up feeling sluggish, tired and weary.
The good news is that we can take action to give ourselves the sleep we need. Everyone’s sleep need is slightly different. Some of us need a bit more or can get by on a bit less than the average of eight hours.
