Favorite Ideas
- Scientists suggest that evolution produced sleep as our brains evolved capacities for creativity, intelligence, and emotional regulation. REM sleep, which supports these functions, is considered a key evolutionary benefit that made humans the dominant species.
- Sleep consists of 90 minute cycles of NREM and REM sleep. During NREM sleep, brain waves move in unison from the front of the brain to the back, moving memories from short term to long term storage. During REM sleep, the brain paralyzes the body and begins dreaming. Dreams heal emotional difficulties and help unconsciously solve problems. While we dream, our visual, motor, emotional, and autobiographical portions of our brains become active, while the prefrontal cortex becomes inactive.
- Whether you are a morning lark or a night owl, you have a natural circadian rhythm that governs the timing of your sleep cycle. Humans need about 7-9 hours of sleep each night. Melatonin can help you re-adjust your body clock after jet lag, but will not improve sleep quality. Contrary to popular belief, alcohol significantly impairs sleep, hindering our memory integration process. Science suggests that sleeping pills do not produce a natural sleep and have negative impacts on memory and health.
- Some animals dream, and some sleep with only half their brain at a time. There is no known factor determining how much sleep a particular species needs. Humans are the only species that use alarms to wake up at specific times. Since we discovered electricity, we adopted artificial indoor light, negatively impacting our sleep cycles. Modern smart technologies like bulbs and thermostats are reversing the trend, promoting sleep by dimming lights and cooling the room before bed.
- Reduced sleep weakens the immune system and causes faster aging. Sleep deficiency increases your chances of heart attack by 200%. It is a leading cause of type 2 diabetes. Rats die after approximately 20 days with no sleep. Not getting enough sleep can cause psychological diseases in teens and young adults, as well as Alzheimers and dementia in the elderly.
- Sleep deprived people are not aware of their impaired performance, which declines to that of a drunk driver after 19 hours awake. Every hour, someone dies in a car accident caused by inadequate sleep. Sleep deprivation erodes productivity in office workers and produces the 3rd leading cause of death - medical errors.
- Babies are asleep nearly the entire time they are in the womb. REM sleep is critical for development in the third trimester and for a while after birth. Sleeping in a hospital is difficult yet critical for patients, especially premature babies.
- Children and elderly people have early circadian rhythms, while teenagers have theirs shifted forward a couple of hours later. Schools often have start times too early in the morning for the natural teenage circadian rhythm. Students perform on average 200 SAT points better when high school start times are pushed forward 1 hour. Adequate sleep provides proper management of short and long term memory, and improves learning outcomes.
- Perhaps the best thing we can do for our physical health, emotional health, and intellectual pursuits, is get adequate sleep each night.