Falling out of sleep
Anna was already home past eight in the evening from her Tuesday lectures; perhaps from her tight schedules in the University – jumping up to bed right after our dinner brings her to a snore hahahaha.
Normally, I fall to sleep easily just as Anna; but it wasn't the case that night.
I drove to the nearby Burley Griffen, the Weston Park to change my mood and until I reached home a little over an hour – I was still trying too hard to get a sleep.
A strong sign that I am already in the realm of 40s? no reason to deny!!
Falling Out of Sleep by: Arvin Gumato Pareja
How is it possible to be sleep deprived without knowing it? Most of the signs of sleep deprivation are much more subtle than falling face first into your dinner plate. Furthermore, if you've made a habit of skimping on sleep, you may not even remember what it feels like to be wide-awake, fully alert, and firing on all cylinders. It feels normal to get sleepy when you're in a boring meeting, struggle through the afternoon slump, or doze off after dinner. But the truth is that it's only "normal" if you're sleep deprived.
You may be sleep deprived if you
Need an alarm clock in order to wake up on time
Rely on the snooze button
Have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning
Feel sluggish in the afternoon
Get sleepy in meetings, lectures, or warm rooms
Get drowsy after heavy meals or when driving
Need to nap to get through the day
Fall asleep while watching TV or relaxing in the evening
Feel the need to sleep in on weekends
Fall asleep within five minutes of going to bed
While it may seem like losing sleep isn't such a big deal, sleep deprivation has a wide range of negative effects that go way beyond daytime drowsiness.
The effects of sleep deprivation and chronic lack of sleep
Fatigue, lethargy, and lack of motivation
Moodiness and irritability
Reduced creativity and problem-solving skills
Inability to cope with stress
Reduced immunity; frequent colds and infections
Concentration and memory problems
Weight gain
Impaired motor skills and increased risk of accidents
Difficulty making decisions
Increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems
Is lack of sleep affecting your performance?
Lack of sleep affects your judgment, coordination, and reaction times. In fact, sleep deprivation can affect you just as much as being drunk.
Try the Sheep Dash test in the Resources section below to see how well rested you really are.
Myths and Facts about Sleep
Myth 1:
Getting just 1 hour less sleep per night won't affect your daytime functioning. You may not be noticeably sleepy during the day. But even slightly less sleep can affect your ability to think properly and respond quickly, and compromise your cardiovascular health, energy balance, and ability to fight infections.
Myth 2:
Your body adjusts quickly to different sleep schedules. Most people can reset their biological clock, but only by appropriately timed cues—and even then, by 1–2 hours per day at best. Consequently, it can take more than a week to adjust after traveling across several time zones or switching to the night shift.
Myth 3:
Extra sleep at night can cure you of problems with excessive daytime fatigue. Not only is the quantity of sleep is important but also the quality of sleep. Some people sleep 8 or 9 hours a night but don't feel well rested when they wake up because the quality of their sleep is poor.
Myth 4:
You can make up for lost sleep during the week by sleeping more on the weekends. Although this sleeping pattern will help relieve part of a sleep debt, it will not completely make up for the lack of sleep. Furthermore, sleeping later on the weekends can affect your sleep-wake cycle so that it is much harder to go to sleep at the right time on Sunday nights and get up early on Monday mornings.
Adapted from Your Guide to Healthy Sleep (PDF) - The National Institutes of Health
The Stages of SleepNon-REM sleep
Stage 1
(Transition to sleep) – Stage 1 lasts about five minutes. Eyes move slowly under the eyelids, muscle activity slows down, and you are easily awakened.
Stage 2
(Light sleep) – This is the first stage of true sleep, lasting from 10 to 25 minutes. Eye movement stops, heart rate slows, and body temperature decreases.
Stage 3
(Deep sleep) – You're difficult to awaken, and if you are awakened, you do not adjust immediately and often feel groggy and disoriented for several minutes.
Stage 4
(More intense deep sleep) – The deepest stage of sleep. Brain waves are extremely slow. Blood flow is directed away from the brain and towards the muscles, restoring physical energy.
REM sleep
REM sleep (Dream sleep) – About 70 to 90 minutes after falling asleep, you enter REM sleep, where dreaming occurs. Eyes move rapidly. Breathing is shallow. Heart rate and blood pressure increase. Arm and leg muscles are paralyzed.
Sleep is a state of consciousness that happens every 24 hours. It is a period of rest and recuperation for the body and much needed ‘down time' for the brain.
People vary in the amount of sleep they need, depending on their age, lifestyle, diet, personality and environment. Generally, we sleep less as we age and our sleep tends to be more broken. Newborn babies tend to sleep for around 16 hours out of every 24, while adults average seven hours and the elderly only six.
The body clock
Sleep is regulated by an internal ‘clock', which is tuned by the day–night cycles (circadian rhythm). When the sun sets, your brain starts to release ‘sleepy' chemicals, until eventually you feel the need to retire for the night. In the morning, exposure to daylight prompts your brain to release ‘awake' chemicals.
Sleep stages
Sleep isn't a static state of consciousness. We all go through various distinct stages of sleep, over and over, every night. Generally, the brain moves from light sleep to deeper sleep and eventually to rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep. REM sleep occurs regularly, about once every 90 to 120 minutes.
Brain waves in REM sleep are faster than in non-REM sleep. REM sleep is associated with dreaming and with stimulation of the parts of the brain used for learning, while body repair and growth tends to happen during non-REM sleep. It is important to get the right mix of both REM and non-REM sleep to maintain your natural sleep cycle and help you wake rested and refreshed.
Common sleep disorders
Sleep seems to be a complicated state of consciousness, since it can be disturbed in so many ways. Some of the more common sleep complaints include:
Insomnia– difficulties in getting to sleep or staying asleep. The most common sleep disorder in adults.
Jet lag – a different time zone throws off the body's internal clock, which takes a few days to reset. Working night shift can mimic the symptoms of jet lag.
Narcolepsy – extreme tiredness with intermittent sleepiness during the day, which can include involuntary napping.
Periodic limb movement disorder – muscle spasms of the legs that often wake up the sleeper. This is more common in the middle aged and elderly.
Restless legs – this feels like cramps or some kind of irritation in the lower legs, which makes the person need to move their legs or get up and walk around.
Snoring – breathing through the mouth while asleep, common among males.
Sleep apnea – the upper airway is blocked, causing airflow and breathing to stop for a time during sleep.
Sleep starts – common feeling of muscle jerks or a sensation of falling that happens when a person is just going off to sleep.
Sleepwalking – tends to affect children more than adults.
REM sleep behavior disorder – the sleeper tends to act out what's happening in their dreams, which could mean punching or kicking.
Treatment
Some disorders such as sleepwalking, sleep starts and snoring often don't require any treatment because they are harmless. Lifestyle changes can help relieve mild or occasional symptoms if they are causing an unwanted disruption to your life.
Insomnia, the most common form of sleep complaint, requires assessing and treatment of the cause (or causes) rather than insomnia itself. Some of the more involved sleep disorders need to be treated at a sleep disorder clinic. While snoring may be harmless (benign snoring), it may indicate a more serious medical condition, obstructive sleep apnea.
Where to get help
Your doctor
Sleep disorder clinic
Things to remember
Sleep is regulated by an internal body ‘clock' inside the brain.
There are various distinct stages of sleep, repeated throughout the night at 90 to 120 minute cycles.
Severe sleep disorders should be investigated and treated at a sleep disorders centre.
The power of sleep
Many of us want to sleep as little as possible—or feel like we have to. There are so many things that seem more interesting or important than getting a few more hours of sleep. But just as exercise and nutrition are essential for optimal health and happiness, so is sleep. The quality of your sleep directly affects the quality of your waking life, including your mental sharpness, productivity, emotional balance, creativity, physical vitality, and even your weight. No other activity delivers so many benefits with so little effort!
Understanding sleep
Sleep isn't merely a time when your body and brain shut off. While you rest, your brain stays busy, overseeing a wide variety of biological maintenance tasks that keep you running in top condition and prepare you for the day ahead. Without enough hours of restorative sleep, you're like a car in need of an oil change. You won't be able to work, learn, create, and communicate at a level even close to your true potential. Regularly skimp on "service" and you're headed for a major mental and physical breakdown.
It's not just the number of hours in bed that is important—it's the quality of those hours of sleep. If you're giving yourself plenty of time for sleep, but you're still having trouble waking up in the morning or staying alert all day, you may not be spending enough time in the different stages of sleep—especially deep sleep and REM sleep. By understanding how the sleep cycles work and the factors that can lead to those cycles being disrupted, you'll be able to start getting both the quantity and the quality of sleep you need.
The sleep-wake cycle
Your internal 24-hour sleep-wake cycle, otherwise known as biological clock or circadian rhythm, is regulated by processes in the brain that respond to how long you've been awake and the changes between light and dark. At night, your body responds to the loss of daylight by producing melatonin, a hormone that makes you sleepy. During the day, sunlight triggers the brain to inhibit melatonin production so you feel awake and alert.
This sleep-wake cycle can be disrupted by factors such as nightshift work, traveling across time zones, or irregular sleeping patterns, leaving you feeling groggy, disoriented, and sleepy at inconvenient times. The production of melatonin can also be thrown off when you're deprived of sunlight during the day or exposed to too much artificial light at night, disrupting the sleep-wake cycle and preventing you from getting the sleep you need.
When you're scrambling to meet the demands of modern life, cutting back on sleep can seem like the only answer. How else are you going to get through your never-ending to-do list or make time for a little fun? Sure, a solid eight hours sounds great, but who can afford to spend so much time sleeping? The truth is you can't afford not to.
Sleep consists of a series of distinct cycles and stages that restore and refresh your body and mind. Even minimal sleep loss takes a toll on your mood, energy, efficiency, and ability to handle stress. If you want to feel your best, stay healthy, and perform up to your potential, sleep is a necessity, not a luxury. Learn what happens when you're sleeping, how to determine your nightly sleep needs, and what you can do to bounce back from chronic sleep loss and get on a healthy sleep schedule.
Normally, I fall to sleep easily just as Anna; but it wasn't the case that night.
I drove to the nearby Burley Griffen, the Weston Park to change my mood and until I reached home a little over an hour – I was still trying too hard to get a sleep.
A strong sign that I am already in the realm of 40s? no reason to deny!!
Falling Out of Sleep by: Arvin Gumato Pareja
How is it possible to be sleep deprived without knowing it? Most of the signs of sleep deprivation are much more subtle than falling face first into your dinner plate. Furthermore, if you've made a habit of skimping on sleep, you may not even remember what it feels like to be wide-awake, fully alert, and firing on all cylinders. It feels normal to get sleepy when you're in a boring meeting, struggle through the afternoon slump, or doze off after dinner. But the truth is that it's only "normal" if you're sleep deprived.
You may be sleep deprived if you
Need an alarm clock in order to wake up on time
Rely on the snooze button
Have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning
Feel sluggish in the afternoon
Get sleepy in meetings, lectures, or warm rooms
Get drowsy after heavy meals or when driving
Need to nap to get through the day
Fall asleep while watching TV or relaxing in the evening
Feel the need to sleep in on weekends
Fall asleep within five minutes of going to bed
While it may seem like losing sleep isn't such a big deal, sleep deprivation has a wide range of negative effects that go way beyond daytime drowsiness.
The effects of sleep deprivation and chronic lack of sleep
Fatigue, lethargy, and lack of motivation
Moodiness and irritability
Reduced creativity and problem-solving skills
Inability to cope with stress
Reduced immunity; frequent colds and infections
Concentration and memory problems
Weight gain
Impaired motor skills and increased risk of accidents
Difficulty making decisions
Increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems
Is lack of sleep affecting your performance?
Lack of sleep affects your judgment, coordination, and reaction times. In fact, sleep deprivation can affect you just as much as being drunk.
Try the Sheep Dash test in the Resources section below to see how well rested you really are.
Myths and Facts about Sleep
Myth 1:
Getting just 1 hour less sleep per night won't affect your daytime functioning. You may not be noticeably sleepy during the day. But even slightly less sleep can affect your ability to think properly and respond quickly, and compromise your cardiovascular health, energy balance, and ability to fight infections.
Myth 2:
Your body adjusts quickly to different sleep schedules. Most people can reset their biological clock, but only by appropriately timed cues—and even then, by 1–2 hours per day at best. Consequently, it can take more than a week to adjust after traveling across several time zones or switching to the night shift.
Myth 3:
Extra sleep at night can cure you of problems with excessive daytime fatigue. Not only is the quantity of sleep is important but also the quality of sleep. Some people sleep 8 or 9 hours a night but don't feel well rested when they wake up because the quality of their sleep is poor.
Myth 4:
You can make up for lost sleep during the week by sleeping more on the weekends. Although this sleeping pattern will help relieve part of a sleep debt, it will not completely make up for the lack of sleep. Furthermore, sleeping later on the weekends can affect your sleep-wake cycle so that it is much harder to go to sleep at the right time on Sunday nights and get up early on Monday mornings.
Adapted from Your Guide to Healthy Sleep (PDF) - The National Institutes of Health
The Stages of SleepNon-REM sleep
Stage 1
(Transition to sleep) – Stage 1 lasts about five minutes. Eyes move slowly under the eyelids, muscle activity slows down, and you are easily awakened.
Stage 2
(Light sleep) – This is the first stage of true sleep, lasting from 10 to 25 minutes. Eye movement stops, heart rate slows, and body temperature decreases.
Stage 3
(Deep sleep) – You're difficult to awaken, and if you are awakened, you do not adjust immediately and often feel groggy and disoriented for several minutes.
Stage 4
(More intense deep sleep) – The deepest stage of sleep. Brain waves are extremely slow. Blood flow is directed away from the brain and towards the muscles, restoring physical energy.
REM sleep
REM sleep (Dream sleep) – About 70 to 90 minutes after falling asleep, you enter REM sleep, where dreaming occurs. Eyes move rapidly. Breathing is shallow. Heart rate and blood pressure increase. Arm and leg muscles are paralyzed.
Sleep is a state of consciousness that happens every 24 hours. It is a period of rest and recuperation for the body and much needed ‘down time' for the brain.
People vary in the amount of sleep they need, depending on their age, lifestyle, diet, personality and environment. Generally, we sleep less as we age and our sleep tends to be more broken. Newborn babies tend to sleep for around 16 hours out of every 24, while adults average seven hours and the elderly only six.
The body clock
Sleep is regulated by an internal ‘clock', which is tuned by the day–night cycles (circadian rhythm). When the sun sets, your brain starts to release ‘sleepy' chemicals, until eventually you feel the need to retire for the night. In the morning, exposure to daylight prompts your brain to release ‘awake' chemicals.
Sleep stages
Sleep isn't a static state of consciousness. We all go through various distinct stages of sleep, over and over, every night. Generally, the brain moves from light sleep to deeper sleep and eventually to rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep. REM sleep occurs regularly, about once every 90 to 120 minutes.
Brain waves in REM sleep are faster than in non-REM sleep. REM sleep is associated with dreaming and with stimulation of the parts of the brain used for learning, while body repair and growth tends to happen during non-REM sleep. It is important to get the right mix of both REM and non-REM sleep to maintain your natural sleep cycle and help you wake rested and refreshed.
Common sleep disorders
Sleep seems to be a complicated state of consciousness, since it can be disturbed in so many ways. Some of the more common sleep complaints include:
Insomnia– difficulties in getting to sleep or staying asleep. The most common sleep disorder in adults.
Jet lag – a different time zone throws off the body's internal clock, which takes a few days to reset. Working night shift can mimic the symptoms of jet lag.
Narcolepsy – extreme tiredness with intermittent sleepiness during the day, which can include involuntary napping.
Periodic limb movement disorder – muscle spasms of the legs that often wake up the sleeper. This is more common in the middle aged and elderly.
Restless legs – this feels like cramps or some kind of irritation in the lower legs, which makes the person need to move their legs or get up and walk around.
Snoring – breathing through the mouth while asleep, common among males.
Sleep apnea – the upper airway is blocked, causing airflow and breathing to stop for a time during sleep.
Sleep starts – common feeling of muscle jerks or a sensation of falling that happens when a person is just going off to sleep.
Sleepwalking – tends to affect children more than adults.
REM sleep behavior disorder – the sleeper tends to act out what's happening in their dreams, which could mean punching or kicking.
Treatment
Some disorders such as sleepwalking, sleep starts and snoring often don't require any treatment because they are harmless. Lifestyle changes can help relieve mild or occasional symptoms if they are causing an unwanted disruption to your life.
Insomnia, the most common form of sleep complaint, requires assessing and treatment of the cause (or causes) rather than insomnia itself. Some of the more involved sleep disorders need to be treated at a sleep disorder clinic. While snoring may be harmless (benign snoring), it may indicate a more serious medical condition, obstructive sleep apnea.
Where to get help
Your doctor
Sleep disorder clinic
Things to remember
Sleep is regulated by an internal body ‘clock' inside the brain.
There are various distinct stages of sleep, repeated throughout the night at 90 to 120 minute cycles.
Severe sleep disorders should be investigated and treated at a sleep disorders centre.
The power of sleep
Many of us want to sleep as little as possible—or feel like we have to. There are so many things that seem more interesting or important than getting a few more hours of sleep. But just as exercise and nutrition are essential for optimal health and happiness, so is sleep. The quality of your sleep directly affects the quality of your waking life, including your mental sharpness, productivity, emotional balance, creativity, physical vitality, and even your weight. No other activity delivers so many benefits with so little effort!
Understanding sleep
Sleep isn't merely a time when your body and brain shut off. While you rest, your brain stays busy, overseeing a wide variety of biological maintenance tasks that keep you running in top condition and prepare you for the day ahead. Without enough hours of restorative sleep, you're like a car in need of an oil change. You won't be able to work, learn, create, and communicate at a level even close to your true potential. Regularly skimp on "service" and you're headed for a major mental and physical breakdown.
It's not just the number of hours in bed that is important—it's the quality of those hours of sleep. If you're giving yourself plenty of time for sleep, but you're still having trouble waking up in the morning or staying alert all day, you may not be spending enough time in the different stages of sleep—especially deep sleep and REM sleep. By understanding how the sleep cycles work and the factors that can lead to those cycles being disrupted, you'll be able to start getting both the quantity and the quality of sleep you need.
The sleep-wake cycle
Your internal 24-hour sleep-wake cycle, otherwise known as biological clock or circadian rhythm, is regulated by processes in the brain that respond to how long you've been awake and the changes between light and dark. At night, your body responds to the loss of daylight by producing melatonin, a hormone that makes you sleepy. During the day, sunlight triggers the brain to inhibit melatonin production so you feel awake and alert.
This sleep-wake cycle can be disrupted by factors such as nightshift work, traveling across time zones, or irregular sleeping patterns, leaving you feeling groggy, disoriented, and sleepy at inconvenient times. The production of melatonin can also be thrown off when you're deprived of sunlight during the day or exposed to too much artificial light at night, disrupting the sleep-wake cycle and preventing you from getting the sleep you need.
When you're scrambling to meet the demands of modern life, cutting back on sleep can seem like the only answer. How else are you going to get through your never-ending to-do list or make time for a little fun? Sure, a solid eight hours sounds great, but who can afford to spend so much time sleeping? The truth is you can't afford not to.
Sleep consists of a series of distinct cycles and stages that restore and refresh your body and mind. Even minimal sleep loss takes a toll on your mood, energy, efficiency, and ability to handle stress. If you want to feel your best, stay healthy, and perform up to your potential, sleep is a necessity, not a luxury. Learn what happens when you're sleeping, how to determine your nightly sleep needs, and what you can do to bounce back from chronic sleep loss and get on a healthy sleep schedule.
