Sleep Tips - What is Sleep

When you need more time in a day do you cut back on your sleep?

Many people think that sleep is merely a "down time" when the brain shuts off and the body rests. I found out that I was wrong.

Sleep studies show that sleep has distinctive stages that cycle throughout the night. Your brain stays active throughout sleep, but different things happen during each stage. For instance, certain stages of sleep are indeed for us to feel well rested and energetic the next day, and other stages help us learn or make memories.

In brief, a number of vital tasks carried out during sleep help maintain good health and enable people to function at their best. Most adults need 7-8 hours of sleep each night. Newborns, on the other hand, sleep between 16 and 18 hours a day, and children in preschool sleep between 10 and 12 hours a day. School-aged children need at least 9 hours of sleep every night.

So I asked, “Does it really matter if I get enough sleep?” “Absolutely!” Not only does the quantity of your sleep matter, but the quality of your sleep is important as well. People whose sleep is interrupted don’t get enough of certain stages of sleep. In other words, how well rested you are and how well you function the next day depend on your total sleep time and how much of the various stages of sleep you get each night.

Performance: We need sleep to think clearly, react quickly, and create memories. The pathways in the brain that help us learn and remember are very active when we sleep. Studies show that people who are taught mentally challenging tasks do better after a good night's sleep. Sleep is needed for creative problem solving.Skimping on sleep has a price. Tough to focus the next day and can slow your response time.

Mood: Sleep also affects mood. Insufficient sleep can make you irritable and is linked to poor behavior and trouble with relationships, especially among children and teens. People who chronically lack sleep are also more likely to become depressed.

Health: Sleep is also important for good health. Studies show that not getting enough sleep or getting poor quality sleep on a regular basis increases the risk of having high blood pressure, heart disease, and other medical conditions.In addition, during sleep, your body produces valuable hormones. Deep sleep triggers more release of growth hormone, which fuels growth in children, and helps build muscle mass and repair cells and tissues in children and adults.

Another type of hormone that increases during sleep works to fight various infections.Hormones released during sleep also affect how the body uses energy. Studies find that the less people sleep, the more likely they are to be overweight or obese, to develop diabetes, and to prefer eating foods that are high in calories and carbohydrates.