I am struggling with sleep routine, I don’t have a good sleep schedule. I found out about why we sleep book, I don’t think I have enough time to read entire book because I need help at this specific moment. I’ve read why we sleep book summary from different blog posts & found several important concepts worth sharing and revisiting & convincing myself to act today.
Sleep is your life-support system and Mother Nature’s best effort yet at immortality.
Matt Walker
Men who sleep for 4-5 hours routinely have lower levels of testosterone (similar to people 10yr older than them) compared to those who sleep 7-8 hours.
So your wellness drops way more and makes you +10 year older when you don’t get enough sleep.
While reading book I found out the concept of sleep deprivation.
Don’t forget to read 12 takeaways from this book at bottom of page.
What is sleep deprivation & how it can affect us?
Sleep deprivation means not getting enough sleep. It can be for a short time or a long time. For example, if you only slept for two hours last night, that’s short-term sleep deprivation. But if you only get four hours of sleep every night for a few weeks, that’s long-term sleep deprivation.
When you don’t get enough sleep, it can affect your body and mind. You might feel tired all the time, get angry more easily, have trouble remembering things, or find it hard to think. It can also cause health problems like being overweight, getting sick more often, or feeling sad all the time.
So, it’s essential to get enough sleep every night, usually about 7-8 hours. It can help you feel better, be more productive, and keep your body healthy.
Back to our book summary.
One sentence summary of why we sleep
Getting enough sleep should be your top priority in life, even more important than anything else you do. It plays a crucial role in keeping you healthy, maintaining a healthy weight, improving your productivity performance, helping you recover from illness, and much more. Sleep affects every aspect of your life and wellbeing.
Sleep and heart disease
Matthew mentioned that not getting enough sleep is also a reason for heart attacks.
From a 2021 study on 500,000 people, researchers found that sleep deprivation increases risk of a person dying from heart disease by 45%.
Since, lack of sleep can increase blood pressure. And with this increased pressure in the veins takes a toll, and eventually, damages the artery walls. Which can increase chances of cardiac arrest.
So to simplify, if you want to lower you blood pressure naturally, just get enough sleep i.e, 7-8 hrs.
States of sleep
Sleep is typically divided into two main categories: non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. NREM sleep is further divided into three stages: light NREM, deep NREM, and a transitional period between the two.
- Light NREM (stages 1 & 2) sleep;
- Deep NREM (stages 3 & 4) sleep; and
- REM sleep.
Light NREM sleep, also known as N1, is the first stage of sleep and typically lasts for 5-10 minutes. During this stage, you may experience hypnic jerks or sudden muscle twitches, and your brain activity begins to slow down. This stage is often described as feeling drowsy or relaxed, and it is easy to be awakened from this state.
Deep NREM sleep, also known as N3 or slow-wave sleep, is the third stage of sleep and typically lasts for 20-40 minutes. During this stage, your brain activity slows down even further, and it becomes difficult to awaken you. Your body is completely relaxed, and your breathing and heart rate become slower and more regular. This stage is important for physical restoration and recovery, and it is also the stage where the brain consolidates memories and processes information.
The amount of time spent in each stage of sleep varies throughout the night and depends on factors such as age, sleep quality, and sleep disorders.
Generally, the first half of the night is dominated by NREM sleep, with more time spent in deep NREM sleep.
So if you don’t get 7-8 hours of sleep and miss any part of this stage, your thinking ability, creative thoughts, etc. you might miss fullest ability to execute tasks. You NEED to get both NREM & REM sleeps.
This is it for this part, entire summary will be long, and I’ll cover in next blog posts.
Important thing is takeaways from this book, which I shared below, take a look and sleep.
Sleeping 8 hours is most productive thing you can do.
5 reasons to read why we sleep book
- Struggling with sleep.
- Don’t have consistent sleep routine.
- Want to improve your performance.
- Curious about dreams.
- To think clearly.
12 Takeaways from book why we sleep
- Stick to a sleep schedule
- Exercise is great, but not too late in the day. Try to exercise at least thirty minutes on most days but not later than two to three hours before your bedtime.
- Avoid caffeine and nicotine.
- Avoid alcoholic drinks before bed.
- Avoid large meals and beverages late at night.
- If possible, avoid medicines that delay or disrupt your sleep.
- Don’t take naps after 3 p.m.
- Relax before bed. Don’t overschedule your day so that no time is left for unwinding. A relaxing activity, such as reading or listening to music, should be part of your bedtime ritual.
- Take a hot bath before bed.
- Dark bedroom, cool bedroom, gadget-free bedroom.
- Have the right sunlight exposure. Daylight is key to regulating daily sleep patterns. Try to get outside in natural sunlight for at least thirty minutes each day. If possible, wake up with the sun or use very bright lights in the morning.
- Don’t lie in bed awake.
Good bye🌟