Along with good nutrition, staying active and hydrated, healthy sleep is a pillar in the foundation for health and well-being. Sleep is a restorative process that our bodies use to repair our immune, nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems; which are all vital processes responsible for maintaining our mood, memory, and cognitive function (ability to process and interpret information), and plays a large role in the function of the endocrine (hormone) and immune systems. The circadian rhythm or “body clock”: We all have an internal "body clock" that controls when we are awake and when we’re ready for sleep. This clock typically follows a 24-hour repeating rhythm referred to as the circadian rhythm. This rhythm affects every cell, tissue, and organ in your body and how they work. Two processes interact to control this rhythm. The first is a pressure to sleep that builds with every hour that you are awake with the accumulation of adenosine in the body, a metabolic product that is broken down during sleep. The second process involves your internal body clock’s response to the effects of certain environmental conditions. Light, darkness, and other environmental indicators determine when you feel awake and when you feel sleepy by signalling the production of specific hormones responsible for regulating this rhythm. When it gets dark, your body releases a hormone called melatonin. Melatonin signals your body that it's time to prepare for sleep and helps you feel sleepy. The amount of melatonin in your bloodstream peaks as the evening progresses. Scientists believe this peak in melatonin is an important part of preparing your body for sleep. This is why the exposure to bright artificial light in the late evening can disrupt this process, making it harder to fall asleep. Such bright artificial light includes the light from a TV screen, computer screen, cell phone, tablet or even a very bright alarm clock. For this reason it is best to limit exposure to these types of light after 9pm at night. As the sun rises, your body releases cortisol, a hormone that naturally prepares your body to wake up. Types of sleep: The two basic types of sleep are rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM. Non-REM sleep includes what is commonly known as deep sleep or slow wave sleep. Dreaming typically occurs during REM sleep. Generally, non-REM and REM sleep occur in a regular pattern of 3–5 cycles each night. The patterns and types of sleep also change as people mature. For example, newborn infants spend more time in REM sleep. The amount of non-REM sleep peaks in early childhood and then drops sharply after puberty. Non-REM sleep continues to decline as people age. How much is enough sleep? Your ability to function and feel well while you're awake depends on whether you're getting enough total sleep and enough of each type of sleep. It also depends on whether you're sleeping at a time when your body is prepared and ready to sleep. The amount of sleep we require changes as we age. Generally sleep needs vary from person to person, but the table below shows guideline amounts different age groups. What happens when we don’t sleep enough? If you often lose sleep or choose to sleep less than needed, this sleep deficit accumulates into what is called your sleep debt. That means, if you routinely lose 2 hours of sleep each night, you'll have a sleep debt of 14 hours after a week. Some people nap as a way to deal with sleepiness. Naps may provide a short-term boost in alertness and performance but napping doesn't provide all of the other benefits of night-time sleep – meaning we cannot actually make up for lost sleep. Reasons to prevent sleep debt: 1 Sleep helps your brain work properly. While we sleep our brains are developing new pathways to help us learn and remember information. Plenty of research has shown that a good night's sleep improves learning whether that be learning math, how to play music or how to perfect a new dance routine, the bottom line being that sleep improves our learning and problem-solving skills. Sleep also helps you pay attention, make decisions, and be creative. 2 Sleep is vital for your physical health For example, sleep is involved in healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels. Ongoing sleep deficiency has been linked to increased risk of developing heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke. 3 Sleep helps maintain a healthy balance of hormones For example in the case of the hormones that make you feel hungry (ghrelin) or full (leptin), your level of ghrelin goes up and your level of leptin goes down when you are sleep deprived making you feel hungrier than when you are well rested. Insulin, the hormone that controls your blood sugar levels, is increased with sleep deficiency as your blood sugar level is raised during these times which can increase your risk for developing diabetes. 4 Sleep supports healthy growth and development Non-REM sleep triggers the body to release the hormone that promotes normal growth in children and teenagers which is also responsible for increasing muscle mass and cellular and tissue repair in adults. 5 Your immune system needs sleep to function Recurring sleep deficiency can change the way in which your immune system responds. Being sleep deficient can reduce our ability to fight common infections. 6 Lack of sleep can result in catastrophe: Lack of sleep may cause what is called microsleep. This refers to brief moments of sleep that occur when you are normally awake. We cannot control or prevent ourselves from entering microsleep as we are often not even aware of it. This is what happens to us when we drive somewhere and forget half the trip or completely forget a section of a lesson taught to us in school. Sleep deprived adults may feel capable of driving, however, studies have shown that sleep deficiency reduces your driving ability as much as, or even more than, being drunk. Sleep deficiency affects people in all lines of work not just drivers, such as doctors and emergency responders, pilots, students, lawyers, mechanics, and assembly line workers. The reduced response time, ability to make decisions and function adequately from lack of sleep can result in fatal accidents. Ways to improve sleep habits:
Rest well Lasting Lifestylers! Come join our DIVERSITY DANCE WORKSHOP to hear Danielle speak about all these topics IN PERSON!This is a great opportunity to bring questions you might have about all the information you have read in the blog posts so far, make it real and share it with the other real people trying to build a healthier lifestyle, just like yourself!
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AuthorDanielle Gemeliaris has been dancing for half her life and has always been passionate about food, nutrition and the science behind them. The knowledge she gained through her studies, as a dancer and her experience as a health and wellness coach through Herbalife, has made her uniquely qualified to help dancers better understand nutrition and the role it plays in their lives. She hopes to offer the readers of this blog the opportunity to gain a basic working knowledge of nutrition, the role it plays for dancers and learn how to make better more informed food choices in the future. Archives
April 2019
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