Are you sleeping well?

We don't usually need to think very much about our sleep - it's just a part of life that we take for granted. When we can't sleep, though, it can be a real problem - insomnia. We need sleep to keep our minds and bodies healthy. If we carry on sleeping badly, we start to notice the effects.

What is sleep?

Sleep is the time of the day when our body is at rest and repairing the muscles in our body. During this period of time, our consciousness is suspended,. There are 5 stages of sleep:
1) Pre sleep - The muscles relax, the heart beats slower and body temperature falls
2) Light sleep - Woken easily without feeling confused, by loud nose or intense light.
3) Slow wave sleep – Brain generates low delta waves, blood pressure falls, sleep talk or sleep walk may take place.
4) Deep slow wave sleep – Rhythmic breathing, low muscle activity, very hard to wake.
5) Rapid Eye Movement (REM) – Brain waves speed up, muscle relax, heart beat rate increase, rapid and shallow breathing. Dreaming Occurs.

In the first 4 stages of our sleep, the brain is quiet with slight muscle activities. The body moves to different postures unconsciously to ensure blood circulation reaches every part of it. Hormones are released into the bloodstream and our body repairs itself after the wear and tear of the day.

The fifth stage of sleep, Rapid Eye Movement (REM), comes and goes, constituting 20-25% of our sleep time. During these spells of REM sleep, our brain is very active, muscles activities re very low, our eyes move quickly from side to side and we dream.

We move between REM and non-REM sleep about five times throughout the night, dreaming more as we get toward the morning.

Sleep is important, its constitutes about a third of our life, and it certainly affects the other 2 thirds if we don't get good sleep. It is important to understand how to achieve good sleep.

Sweet Dreams!!