HEALTH: Sleep with Intention

What is the one thing in your life, that directly effects every aspect in life? What can make or break your day? And what do you, as an average human not get enough? Of course, as it is in the title, it's sleep. Most people don't know the science behind sleep, most don't know the importance of it, most don't thing they are able to get the right amount of sleep, and finally most people don't make it a priority. You on the other hand are different, if you don't know it, you are here to get more information.

Sleep is essential to boost all other aspects of your life, whether your mood, healing, memory, family life, business, and even your finances. Let's start off talking about the science behind sleep:

Science Behind Sleep:

(Sleep Infographic: https://historicalconquest.wixsite.com/gamingtheirsystem/sleep)

Sleep Cycles: The average human sleeps in cycles of 90 minutes but for you it could be 100 minutes or even 80 minutes. The way to find our timing, and this is essential, is to turn off the alarm clock for one week and log the amount of time you sleep. Watch when you naturally wake up, due to no outside forces. Most humans will sleep in 6, 7.5, or 9 hour intervals. The common intervals in those set amount of time is 1.5 hours, which means your sleep's REM cycle is 90 minutes long. In order to get the best sleep you need to conscientiously plan to sleep within those natural cycles. If you try to set your alarm or wake up in the middle of that 90 minutes, you will feel groggy, your sleep inertia will take longer to dissolve, and it will throw off your natural balance.

Again, sleep inertia is the time between when you open your eyes from sleeping to when you body is fully functioning. That grogginess is sleep inertia and you need to find ways naturally to overcome that (we will speak on this later).

Naps: Also don't be scared of naps. They can rejuvenate you during the day when your body may be slowing down. This pick me up can give your body the needed rest for the rest of the day:

“A group of Harvard scientists trained volunteers  to perform a visual task that required them to  learn how to recognize certain patterns as they  flashed quickly on the computer screen. When  the subjects were tested 10 hours later, those  who had taken a 90-minute nap did much better  than those who didn’t nap. In fact, they did as  well as people who got a full night’s sleep in a  previous study” – http://www.sleepfoundation.org/Alert/030730.cfm

Sleep on Memory: "During sleep, while your body rests, your brain is busy processing information from the day and forming memories. If you are sleep deprived, you are at risk of developing a number of serious health problems, such as hypertension, obesity, and diabetes, and your ability to learn and retain new information may be impaired.

"Imaging and behavioral studies continue to show the critical role sleep plays in learning and memory. Researchers believe that sleep affects learning and memory in two ways:

• Lack of sleep impairs a person's ability to focus and learn efficiently.

• Sleep is necessary to consolidate a memory (make it stick) so that it can be recalled in the future."

"There are different types of memories. Some are fact-based, such as remembering the name of state capitals. Some are episodic -- based on events in your life, such as your first kiss. And some memories are procedural or instructional, such as how to ride a bike or play the piano. For something to become a memory, three functions must occur, including:

• Acquisition -- learning or experiencing something new

• Consolidation -- the memory becomes stable in the brain

• Recall -- having the ability to access the memory in the future"

"Both acquisition and recall are functions that take place when you are awake. However, researchers believe sleep is required for consolidation of a memory, no matter the memory type. Without adequate sleep, your brain has a harder time absorbing and recalling new information."

"Studies involving memory tests show that after a single night of sleep, or even a nap, people perform better, whether on a test, in the office, on the athletic field, or in a concert hall." - WebMD

Make-up of the Cycle from the Center for Applied Cognitive Studies (centacs.com) :

“Studies show that the length of sleep is not what causes us to be refreshed upon waking. The key factor is the number of complete sleep cycles we enjoy. Each sleep cycle contains five distinct phases, which exhibit different brain- wave patterns. For our purposes, it suffices to say that one sleep cycle lasts an average of 90 minutes: 65 minutes of normal, or non-REM (rapid eye movement), sleep; 20 minutes of REM sleep (in which we dream); and a final 5 minutes of non-REM sleep. The REM sleep phases are shorter during earlier cycles (less than 20 minutes) and longer during later ones (more than 20 minutes). If we were to sleep completely naturally, with no alarm clocks or other sleep disturbances, we would wake up, on the average, after a multiple of 90 minutes–for example, after 4 1/2 hours, 6 hours, 7 1/2 hours, or 9 hours, but not after 7 or 8 hours, which are not multiples of 90 minutes. In the period between cycles we are not actually sleeping: it is a sort of twilight zone from which, if we are not disturbed (by light, cold, a full bladder, noise), we move into another 90-minute cycle. A person who sleeps only four cycles (6 hours) will feel more rested than someone who has slept for 8 to 10 hours but who has not been allowed to complete any one cycle because of being awakened before it was completed…. “

So sleep should be one of you highest priorities because it affects all other aspects of life including mood, memory, health, and much more. So please take these action items to heart and follow them in a way that meets your sleep cycles.

ACTION ITEMS:

1) Allow yourself a few days of sleep, waking up naturally without an alarm. Log when you naturally wake up. Calculate how long your sleep cycles are.

2) Begin to set your alarm for these specific time intervals. If you can't get 5 cycles in, allow yourself to get 4. Again, it's not about how long you sleep, but how many cycles you can complete fully and not waking in the middle of one of them. This will increase memory retention and sharpness.

3) Dedicate your bed to sleep and sex only. By not making it a place of reading and using your computer, you will create less confusion for your mind as to the purpose of your bed.

4) Follow up by reading the blog section called Sleep Inertia to learn the best ways to naturally wake up.