Sleep is an active process. Your body might be still, but internally there is a large amount of cellular activity happening. This cellular activity is crucial not only for good health, but survival.
Our modern culture encourages productivity and glorifies busy-ness, making it easy to feel like you’re wasting time or being lazy when you sleep. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sleep is foundational to everything else in your life.
If you think sleep is a waste of time, consider this quote by Allan Rechtschaffen: “If sleep does not serve an absolutely vital function, then it is the biggest mistake the evolutionary process ever made” (Mignot, 2008). Since we are very vulnerable during sleep, and evolution essentially seeks to keep a species alive, there must be powerful reasons regarding why we need sleep, and so much of it, if it was worth risking the safety of alertness. Every living being on Earth needs sleep, even the most powerful among us (cue the sleeping bear).
In his book, Why We Sleep, sleep scientist, Matthew Walker, makes a strong case for the importance of sleep, referring to it as the “most powerful elixir of wellness and vitality, dispensed through every conceivable biological pathway” and “the single most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day” (2017). Lack of sleep does not just make you feel tired the next day, it undermines nearly every aspect of your brain and body. Insufficient sleep raises your risk for cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, heart attack, type 2 diabetes, weight gain, obesity, difficulty losing weight, memory issues, Alzheimer’s disease, anxiety, depression, emotional instability, irrational behavior, low testosterone, low sperm count, reduced fertility in men and women, depressed immune function, increased susceptibility to infections, injury, accidents, the list goes on (Walker, 2017). When we don’t get enough sleep, our bodies are more prone to being in the stressful state of “fight or flight” governed by the sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system pumps out cortisol which can break down body tissues and suppress immune function.
One important system activated during sleep is the glymphatic system. Neurotoxic waste substances accumulate in the brain throughout the day (Jessen, Munk, Lundgaard, and Nedergaard, 2015). The glymphatic system is what removes these brain damaging substances. Sleep dramatically increases glymphatic system activity while being awake suppresses activity (Jessen et al., 2015). This means, if you don’t get enough sleep, your brain doesn’t get a chance to clear out waste and is more prone to brain related disorders and symptoms. A brain that can’t clear waste is not going to function as well. Therefore, giving yourself enough time to get adequate sleep will help enhance productivity, rather than diminish it.
During sleep is when your body does most of its repair work. By allowing yourself to get enough sleep each night, you give your body a chance to heal damaged tissues, clear waste, release supportive substances like human growth hormone, and overall recharge so that you can be more productive, present, and calm during your waking hours. Walker recommends giving yourself an 8-9 hour “sleep opportunity” window each night. To determine when you should go to bed, count back 8-9 hours from the time you need to get up. For example, if you normally get up at 7am, you’d need to be in bed with the lights out by 10-11pm. See below for more tips on getting a good night’s sleep.
Tips to Get Good Sleep
Unplug. Blue light from screens suppresses melatonin, your “sleep hormone.” Unplug from all screens at least one hour, preferably longer, prior to bedtime.
Create a sleep schedule and stick to it. The body likes and is governed by rhythms. Going to bed and getting up at a different time every day will compromise your sleep.
Avoid caffeine and nicotine, two stimulates than make it harder to sleep.
Avoid alcohol. Alcohol might make you feel sleepy, but it actually leads to poor quality sleep by preventing deep sleep and causing nighttime wakings.
Sleep in a cool, dark room that is free from electronics. If you need to use your phone for an alarm, put it on airplane mode.
Get daylight exposure. Sun exposure during the day, especially first thing in the morning, helps train your circadian rhythm.
Avoid large meals close to bedtime.
Engage in a relaxing activity before bed to unwind: Take a warm bath or shower, go for a casual stroll, do some gentle yoga or stretching, read a lighthearted book (hard copies only! No Kindles), meditate, etc.
References
Jessen, N.A., Munk, A.S.F., Lundgaard, I., & Nedergaard, M. (2015). The glymphatic system - a beginner's guide. Neurochemical Research, 40(12). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4636982/
Mignot, E. (2008). Why we sleep: the temporal organization of recovery. Plos One, 6(4). Retrieved from http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.0060106
Walker, M. (date). Why We Sleep. New York, NY: Scribner.
