By Elena Voropay

Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives
Charles Fisher, M.D.

Don't you wish that there would be more than 24 hours in a day? As your never-ending list of "things to do" grows longer, the most likely part of your day-to-day life to suffer a cut is a good healthy night sleep. After all, you may have all the reasons to think that sinking one third of the day into the oblivion is a terrible waste of time. For William Shakespeare, sleep was "the death of each day's life," and many of us follow his approach. However, modern science shows that we need to reevaluate our perspectives on the sleep cycle. Sleep is a very powerful tool in restoring and maintaining our health, both emotional and physical.

Why and How Do We Sleep?

At least 63% of us don’t get the recommended eight hours of shut-eye every night for good health, safety, and optimum performance, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Thirty-one percent of us sleep less than seven hours per night, and about the same number say they get less sleep now than they did five years ago. The length of an average night’s sleep for an adult has decreased by 20 percent since the last century, and totals at six hours and 57 minutes. Sixty-seven percent of adults report sleeping problems. Younger college students tend to voluntarily stay up longer and more often as compared to mature generation. Obviously, younger bodies have a greater ability to recuperate and adapt to changing environment. But here lies a problem – we might not sense the shortcomings of insomnia as well as older adults, but it doesn’t mean that we are not affected. In fact, sleep loss results in performance deficits, including slowed physical and mental reaction time, increased errors, decreased vigilance, impaired memory, and reduced motivation and laxity. So, what is the anatomy of a sleep cycle and why is it so important?

A night’s sleep is of two types and divided into four 90-minute cycles. The brain activity changes dramatically in each cycle. The first type is a shallow sleep when we dream and have rapid eye movements (REM). It is repeated four to six times during eight hours of sleep. Note that dreaming is essential for emotional and mental well-being. The second type, non-REM, is “quiet sleep.” There are four progressively deeper stages of non-REM sleep with no eye movement and no dreaming, followed by five to 35 minutes of REM. When we reach the fourth cycle, we are in a deep sleep where we are rebuilding tissues, strengthening our immune systems, and restoring the nervous system. Anything that interferes with our sleep interferes with our health.

Part of sleep's effect lies in hormones. During deep sleep, the production of growth hormone is at its peak speeding up the absorption of nutrients and amino acids into your cells and aiding the healing of tissues throughout your body. The hormone also stimulates your bone marrow, where your immune system cells are born. Melatonin, often called the sleep hormone, is also produced during sleep. It inhibits tumors from growing, prevents viral infections, stimulates your immune system, increases antibodies in your saliva, has antioxidant properties and enhances the quality of sleep.

How Much Is Enough?

No one knows how much sleep the human body requires. Experiments have shown that when people are kept awake for long periods, they lose their capacity to perform simple tasks. We all know from experience that we don’t think as clearly when sleepy. And if you try to stay awake in pursuit of accomplishing more, you are only cheating yourself. When you are sleep deprived, every task requires more time for its accomplishment. Statistically, it’s been shown that people who sleep too little don’t live so long.

One of the first sleep researches took place in New York City in 1959. One DJ decided to stay up for eight days straight to publicize a charity. At the end of that time, he had become paranoid and subject to hallucinations, hearing voices and sounds that did not exist. From a scientific point of view, the experiment proved useless because the DJ, in his sleepless paranoia, refused to answer researchers’ questions. Some other consequences of lack of sleep include difficulty focusing eyes, increase of desire for food, sharpened sensitivity to pain, anxiety, and tension. A number of studies indicate people who stay up at night face a higher risk of heart disease -- possibly due to the metabolic effects of working and sleeping unusual hours. It is known that chronically fatigued people have suppressed immune system functioning, increased risk of abdominal obesity and insulin resistance, decreased short-term memory, slower reaction time, and changed hormonal concentrations. Besides resynchronization of your performance and alertness rhythms, deep shut-eye rest will battle off the stress which accompanies your being in school.

Just Do It

If it seems that you are getting by with less sleep, think again. Organizing your life might be a good start on the way to getting the highest quality sleep possible is well worth the effort. Good nutrition and regular exercise can reduce the stress response and train the body to recover more quickly from psychological stress. Physical activity also helps you cope with daily tensions and tires the body so it is ready to sleep at night. Supplementation with B vitamins and amino acid Tryptophan (found in milk and turkey) will help in production of serotonin in the body, which induces sleep. Sleep well and prosper!