This week is dedicated to sleep. This e-mail and my quiz are on sleep. Some answers to the quiz will even be found in this e-mail. So let’s start.
Sleep is a required activity not an option. We spend about 1/3 to ˝ our lives sleeping, but know little about sleep. Without going into detail, know that there are basically five stages of sleep. Sleep is an investment in one’s good health, mental and emotional functioning and safety. The amount of sleep each person needs depends on many factors. Small babies require 15-16 hours of sleep, young people 8-9 hours, and adults 7-8 hours. Environment, illness, stress, mental condition are all factors affecting sleep at night. Sleep deprivation can be dangerous. Most automobile accidents that occur are due to drowsiness. Feeling sleepy during the time when you should be awake reduces efficiency at work, resulting in loss of revenue and can also lead to injury. Once in sleep there are two basic events of sleep: R.E.M. sleep (rapid eye movement) and N.R.E.M( non-rapid eye movement). NREM sleep (initial sleep) shows our brain waves slow down, the muscle activity of NREM sleep is low.
REM sleep is characterized by bursts of eye movement, whereas both eyes move in the same direction. Some scientists believe that eye movements of REM sleep relate to dream sequences. Our muscles in this sleep are almost catatonic.
General misconceptions of sleep:
Sleep is a time for the body and brain to shut down for rest.. Sleep is an active process. Although there are some modest decreases in metabolic rate, our major organs and regulatory systems do not shut down. Actually this is the time when the body repairs itself and releases growth hormone.
People need less sleep as they get older: Not as little as one might believe. Older people just don’t get more sleep for varied reasons. Older people have more fragile sleep and are often disturbed by light, noise and discomfort.
The body adjusts quickly to different sleep schedules: A person’s biological clock is difficult to adjust. You experience this when traveling through time zones, or even going through daylight savings time.
Sleep is important to our health and general fitness. Without proper sleep your training tanks. I’m sure you’ve experienced this. (Staying up late watching the Phillies) So to get the most out of your training you need your sleep. I can write volumes on this subject but I need to keep it short so just be advised………SLEEP!...Robert