Upon returning from my recent vacation, rather than feeling recharged and refreshed, I felt tired and run down.
Between the recent time change, traveling to the airport in the middle of the night to catch a 6 am flight (not to mention the whole airport process of ‘hurry up and wait’), going to bed and waking up at different hours, and not having my favourite water pillow with me, my body had become sleep deprived.
Recently I was reading that trying to work sleep deprived is the equivalent to trying to work intoxicated. Now, I don’t know about you, but I have no desire to see my chiropractor when they are feeling intoxicated, be it from alcohol or lack of sleep.
Fortunately after a couple of good nights’ sleep I was feeling more like myself and showed up at the office Monday morning refreshed and ready to go.
I’ve noticed that one of the biggest areas that is lacking with many of my patients is sleep. We all worry about diet, exercise, and mental health; however, the large majority of my patients are not prioritizing sleep.
Did you know that we spend about 1/3 of our life sleeping?
Proper sleep is essential for a healthy body, yet most people have no idea what proper sleep is.
According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine a healthy adult requires at least 7 hours of sleep a night.
In this post we are going to cover the benefits of sleep, the effects sleep deprivation has on the body, and we will finish by going over the different stages of the sleep cycle.
In future posts we will review our body’s Natural Rhythms and we will discuss some strategies on how to use this information to maximize our sleep.
I learnt a couple things while researching this topic so let’s dive in!
Benefits of Sleep
- Better memory and creative problem solving skills.
- Better athletic/overall performance (remember our last couple of e-mails).
- Sleep triggers the release of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) which plays a role in muscle and cellular regeneration (ie. healing), and sugar and fat metabolism.
- Increased immunity: decreased risk for the common cold and other basic illnesses.
- More resilient to daily stress.
Potential Consequences of a Sleep Deprived Body
- Brain Shrinkage: Decreased sleep affects the body’s ability to restore and heal our organs, including our brain.
- Increased Blood Pressure: Decreased sleep impacts our Central Nervous System which impairs our body’s ability to regulate blood pressure.
- Increased Risk of Diabetes and Obesity: Decreased sleep disrupts our body’s hormonal system causing it to get out of balance which can lead to an increased risk of metabolic diseases including diabetes and obesity.
- Shortened Lifespan: Decreased sleep increases our risk of all cause mortality.
- Increased Pain: Decreased sleep inhibits muscle and tissue repair increasing the likelihood of a repetitive strain type injury and chronic pain.
Different Stages of Sleep (The Sleep Cycle)
4 Stages of Non-REM Sleep
Stage 1: This is where we start dozing off. (10 minutes)
Stage 2: Heartrate slows down, Body Temperature decreases, we drop further into sleep. (20 minutes)
Stage 3&4: Deep Sleep or ’Slow Wave Sleep’
Our body builds muscle and bone, repairs tissue, and boosts the Immune System. (30 minutes)
Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep
This is when the eyeballs move around and dreaming occurs. This is also when we are the most ‘paralyzed’ and knocked out. Evidence suggests that REM sleep is the most important stage for restoring brain function.
An average sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes. Therefore if you get 7 hours of sleep, you will go through about 4.5 cycles. What’s interesting is that stage in the cycle you wake up in can dictate how you feel when you wake up.
For example:
Wake up in Stage 3 or 4 à chances are you will feel groggy
Wake up in Stage 1 à chances are you will feel refreshed
We can use the knowledge of sleep cycles to our advantage to wake up feeling refreshed.
- Assume: -it takes 15 minutes to fall asleep
-a full sleep cycle is 90 minutes
-5 cycles are 7.5 hours of sleep
- You want to go to bed 7 hours and 45 minutes before you want to wake up.
For example:
If you want to wake up at 5:00 am à go to bed at 9:15 pm.
If you want to wake up at 6:30 am à go to bed at 10:45 pm.
I have started incorporating this formula into my sleep routine and it has made a big difference in how I feel when I wake up.
If you know someone who is having trouble sleeping please share this information with them.
Dr. Rob
Westside Family Chiropractic