Sleep is your Superpower

Why read a sleep article?

Seriously, sleep is what parents forced us to do as kids, what we will surely do plenty of when we die, what only lazy people enjoy doing, and a very pointless time when we can’t actually appreciate any of lives’ pleasures or be productive. Sleep is useless. And besides, you don’t even feel sleepy throughout the day and you get your work done just fine. In fact, you’re one of those people who run on 5 hours of sleep and are still doing great, so why sleep? It’s just not worth it, right? No, and hopefully, by the end of this article you will think differently but, before diving into the greatest medicine of all times, let me start by saying two things. 

First, as pointed out by sleep expert, Dr. Matthew Walker, sleep is a “remarkable Swiss Army knife of health and wellness” and we are “socially, organizationally, economically, physically, behaviorally, nutritionally, linguistically, cognitively, and emotionally dependent upon” it (Walker, 2017). Don’t believe it? Keep reading.

Second, although scientists have discovered a very rare group of people who carry a gene called BHLHE41, which allows them to naturally survive on six hours of sleep, they are but an extraordinarily uncommon population that is closer to 0 than to 1% of the world population (Walker, 2017). Do you still think you’re the fraction of 1%? Then, let me also tell you this: according to Belenky et al. (2003), the brain adapts to chronic sleep deprivation by stabilizing performance at a reduced level, resulting in serious neurocognitive deficits in domains such as executive attention and working memory, over time (Durmer & Dinges, 2005). Due to these adaptations, people often do not recognize the harm done to their mental and physical health and assume this means they are getting enough sleep (Walker, 2017). Sound familiar?

* skip this is you are just looking for results*

Two factors determine when you want to sleep and be awake: circadian rhythm and adenosine. Located in the brain, the first works as your internal clock by generating a 24h rhythm that makes you feel alert during the day and tired at night (Walker, 2017). This is why, despite societal prejudice against night owls, people with later circadian rhythms naturally take longer to function early in the morning, as their prefrontal cortexes (the brain region responsible for high-level thought and logical reasoning) remain disabled. The second factor is a chemical substance that builds up in your brain throughout the day and produces a “sleep pressure,” such that the longer you’ve been up, the sleepier you will feel (Walker, 2017). This is why you experience a “caffeine crash” or feel more awake during certain parts of an all-nighter: caffeine blocks adenosine receptors, tricking your brain into thinking you are not tired despite the hormone increase. Once the drug wears off, your sleep deprived brain suddenly becomes aware of a significantly high amount of adenosine (Walker, 2017). But caffeine isn’t the only substance hindering sleep. As a member of a class of sedatives, alcohol may anesthetize you out of wakefulness but does not induce natural sleep; rather, it fragments your sleep, preventing repletion and suppressing REM sleep (whose importance you will read about later on).

During sleep, the brain experiences a recurring push-pull between NREM (non-rapid eye movement) and REM (rapid eye movement) stages that restarts every 90 minutes. Whereas NREM sleep helps transfer and secure newly learned information (in the hippocampus) into long-term storage sites of the brain (the cortex), REM sleep facilitates accurate recognition and comprehension to make intelligent decisions and actions (your emotional IQ), is vital to fetus brain maturation, and is when you dream. Dreams not only boost problem-solving and creativity (by amalgamating past and present knowledge), but also appease painful memories (Walker, 2017). 

* scientific explanation over, you may return*

Sleeping restores the body’s metabolic state, regulates appetite and impulsivity (fostering healthier food choices and better nutrient absorption), and lowers blood pressure while maintaining heart health (Walker, 2017). Sleep has special implications for children, adolescents, athletes, older adults, and health-care professionals. Insufficient sleep during childhood foretells drug and alcohol use during later adolescent years while also hindering learning abilities and memory (Walker, 2017). In adolescents, the issue is further exacerbated by misinformation whereby society associates longer and later sleep with indolence. However, during puberty, circadian rhythms are shifted forward, surpassing adult circadian rhythms and thus, explaining why teenagers often tend to fall asleep and wake up later. They are not lazy; instead, regardless of culture or geography, their bodies are naturally programed for later schedules and preventing them from attaining those morning sleep hours may cause colossal damage. In fact, studies have shown that delaying school start times by only 45 minutes increased students’ SAT scores by 158 points in verbal and 56 in math (Walker, 2017). And a 30-minute delay in school start times resulted in a 70% decrease in adolescent traffic accidents (mind you, when ABS – anti-lock brake technology – was introduced, accident rates were reduced by 20-25% and this was considered outstanding) (Walker, 2017). Unlike teenagers, older adults experience earlier circadian rhythms as well as degenerations in their NREM sleep cycles, making it harder to fall asleep. This does not mean they need to sleep less, but that they often feel unable to maintain their sleep schedule and duration. Yet, by sleeping less than 7h, older adults further degenerate their NREM sleep and become more vulnerable to several types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s (Walker, 2017). 

Additionally, while benefiting from all the aforementioned sleep consequences, sleep proves ever more impactful for athletes as the post-performance slumber hastens physical recovery, triggers muscle repair, and helps replenish cellular energy (Walker, 2017). And the statistics on health care professionals are staggering to say the least. In fact, residents working a 30h-straight shift commit 36% more serious medical errors, increase diagnostic errors in ICUs by 460%, and are 73% more likely to hurt themselves with hypodermic needles and scalpels (Walker, 2017). In Johnson et al.’s study (2014), an additional hour of sleep decreased the estimated odds for 1 or more patient care errors by 25.5%. Likewise, sleep has consequences to the wider economy and according to Hafner et al. (2017), if individuals who sleep under 6h started sleeping 6-7h, they could add $226.4 billion, $75.7 billion, $34.1 billion, $29.9 billion, and $12 billion to the US, Japanese, German, UK, and Canadian economies, respectively. 

Okay, so sleep may be a bit more important than you previously thought, but you work out and eat healthy most of the time so you’re actually making up for a potential lack of sleep, right? No, I’m sorry, you are not because the health damage caused by one night of poor sleep surpasses that by a similar lack of food or exercise (Walker, 2017). 

Consistently sleeping less than 7h per night – and no, making up on the weekends does not count because sleep doesn’t work like a bank – has deleterious effects. It weakens the immune system, increases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s as well as being in a car crash, contributes to major psychiatric conditions including depression, anxiety, and suicidality, and damages memory and learning (Walker, 2017). It also increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, facilitates weight gain and diabetes while hindering weight loss, and it hampers productivity. In males, sleep deprivation reduces testosterone levels and sperm count and is associated with smaller testicles and, in females, it reduces follicular-releasing hormone, dysregulates menstrual cycles, and increases the risk of miscarriage (Walker, 2017). 

Now, if you’d still rather take your chances with all the aforementioned illnesses and health damage, perhaps this will convince you. Do you want to take the COVID19 vaccine and be effectively immunized against the virus? Then sleep at least 7h per night consistently before you take it! Studies which evaluated antibody reaction and immune system health in individuals taking the flu shots and hepatitis A and B vaccines, found that individuals who slept less than 7h per night produced less than 50% of the immune reaction their 7-9h counterparts mustered (Walker, 2017).

Hopefully you are still reading (or have skimmed until the recommendations – as long as you sleep, that’s fine with me) and will strive for that 7h slumber every night. The following 13 recommendations are extremely important to enhance your sleep and replenish your brain, but the most important one is to maintain a sleep schedule such that you go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, no matter what. If you learn nothing else from this article, remember this and the fact that our herd immunity is partially in your hands.

1. Stick to a schedule

2. Try to exercise at least 30 minutes per day and avoid working out 2-3h before your bedtime

3. Avoid caffeine and nicotine – that includes coffee, colas, some teas, chocolate, etc.

4. Avoid alcoholic drinks before bed – or at all

5. Avoid late-night large meals/drinks

6. Avoid medicines that delay your sleep

7. If you nap, do so before 3pm

8. Relax before bed – creating a nighttime unwinding routine may help!

9. Take a hot bath before bed – the drop in temperature will make you feel sleepy

10. Create a dark, cool, gadget-free bedroom

11. Get daylight sun exposure for at least 30 minutes a day

12. Don’t lie in bed awake – if you really cannot fall asleep, get up and do something relaxing until you feel sleepy to avoid triggering worries or anxiety

13. Reserve the bed for sleep and sex – your bed should not be your office, tv station, recreation, or workroom

You have a daily, super powerful, and all-natural medicine at your disposal, free of side effects and expensive labels. Prevention is easier and cheaper than treatment and make no mistake, neglecting your sleep will require a myriad of health treatments in the future. 

References:

Belenky, G., Wesensten, N. J., Thorne, D. R., Thomas, M. L., Sing, H. C., Redmond, D. P., Russo, M. B., & Balkin, T. J. (2003). Patterns of performance degradation and restoration during sleep restriction and subsequent recovery: A sleep dose-response study. Journal of Sleep Research, 12(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2869.2003.00337.x 

Durmer, J. S., & Dinges, D. F. (2005). Neurocognitive consequences of sleep deprivation. Semin Neurol, 25(1), 117–129. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-2005-867080

Hafner, M., Stepanek, M., Taylor, J., Troxel, W. M., & van Stolk, C. (2017). Why Sleep Matters-The Economic Costs of Insufficient Sleep: A Cross-Country Comparative Analysis. Rand health quarterly, 6(4), 11. 

Johnson, A. L., Jung, L., Song, Y., Brown, K. C., Weaver, M. T., & Richards, K. C. (2014). Sleep deprivation and error in nurses who work the night shift. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 44(1), 17–22. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000000016 

Walker, Matthew. (2017). Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams. Scribner. 

By: Teresa Aires