How Sleep Affects Everything About Us

Sleep affects almost everything about us. Sleep and dreams are related to consciousness, cognition, thinking, desire, memory, and emotions. Physiologically, sleep and dreams are related to the immune system, metabolism, congenital diseases, and endocrine systems. Sleep is the single most effective thing we do every day to reset our brain and body health. Sleep is an extraordinary elixir that can help you live comfortably in old age and live longer.

Our 24/7 society seems to be slowly taking away our sleep, but at what cost?

All the vital health systems in the body and brain are miraculously enhanced during sleep, and are visibly compromised when you don't get enough sleep.

Unfortunately, sleep is not like a bank. Suppose that you are deprived of one night's sleep (8 hours). Then you are back to sleep on the second or even third night, and while you'll get more sleep on those nights, you'll never get back all the sleep you lost. In fact, you may only get back less than 50% of those 8 hours lost.

Therefore, you will be carrying this sleep debt all the time. In other words, you can't accumulate sleep debt over the course of a week and then hope to pay it all off over the weekend. No matter how hard you try, you'll never get back all the sleep you've lost. Week after week, this sleep debt escalates, like interest compounding on unpaid loans.

Therefore, we should think of sleep as the best life and health insurance you can get. Thankfully, sleep is largely pain-free, free as far as medical advice is concerned, and the benefits can be repeated every night if you choose to.

Sleep is the single most effective thing we do every day to reset our brain and body health. Sleep is an extraordinary elixir that can help you live comfortably in old age and live longer. Here's what we know about this panacea of ​​nature.

What happens if you get too little sleep?

Lack of sleep is associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, and/or stroke. Even an hour less sleep can be detrimental.

There is a global experiment that involves more than 1.5 billion people in 70 countries twice a year. You know the experiment, it's called Daylight Saving Time (Daylight Saving Time, a state mandated move forward one hour to save energy). According to a 2014 study published in the journal Open Heart that looked at more than 42,000 hospital admissions for heart attacks, in the spring, when we slept an hour less, heart attacks the next day increased by 24%.

Even hormonal changes can occur when you don't get enough sleep. According to a small study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 2011, young healthy men who slept only 4 hours a night ended up with testosterone levels comparable to those 10 years older.

In other words, lack of sleep, even just a few nights, can "age" a man for more than a decade in terms of hormonal vitality. The same damage to a woman's reproductive health and hormonal status occurs due to lack of sleep.

There is also a strong relationship between sleep health and immune health. People who slept less than seven hours a night were nearly three times more likely to be infected with the common cold.

If you don't get enough sleep in the week before your annual flu shot, you may develop less than 50 percent of the required antibody response, making the vaccine much less effective.

Lack of sleep significantly increases anxiety and is associated with higher rates of depression. More recently, studies have shown that sleep deprivation significantly increases the chances of suicidal thoughts, suicide planning, and tragic suicide.

In contrast, proper sleep will bring quite significant health benefits in countless ways, developing our memory and learning abilities, and improving our immunity, physical fitness, and mental health.

One benefit of the Covid-19 pandemic that many (though not all) have experienced is greater freedom in their sleep time. When we had to commute and drop our kids to school, we were forced into an early morning routine.

With greater sleep freedom, we're basically seeing the "revenge of the night owls" as they start to sleep on their natural, 24-hour biological rhythm. I just hope this freedom is still there as we start to emerge from this Covid-19 pandemic.

How much sleep do we need?

Based on tens of thousands of scientific studies, most adults should aim for seven to nine hours of sleep a night. In fact, authoritative health agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), now require the average adult to get at least seven hours of sleep.

Based on abundant evidence, this reasoning is sound. For example, consistently getting less than six hours of sleep has been linked to a number of health conditions, including certain cancers, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and being overweight or obese.

Can sleep keep your brain healthy?

Lack of sleep is fast becoming one of the lifestyle factors most likely to influence your risk of Alzheimer's disease. Those with sleep disorders such as insomnia and sleep apnea, are significantly more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease.

In the Alzheimer's patients we see, there is a sticky, toxic protein that builds up in their brains called beta-amyloid. Along with another toxic protein called tau, it is a key component of the Alzheimer's disease cascade.

We now know that sleep deprivation is a causal factor leading to greater accumulation of beta-amyloid in the brain, establishing a pathway for Alzheimer's disease.

Prioritizing your sleep in youth and middle age may help reduce your risk of Alzheimer's, or at least slow its onset later in life. Even if you've been ignoring sleep until now, it's not too late to start. Clinical studies have shown that successfully treating sleep disturbances in middle-aged and older adults can delay the onset of dementia by 10 years.

Does caffeine really keep me awake?

A key factor in helping you fall asleep and then stay asleep throughout the night involves a chemical called adenosine. Think of adenosine as a sleepy chemical that gradually builds up in the brain throughout the day. The longer you stay awake, the more it builds up and the more sleepy you feel. Most of us experience a strong urge to sleep when adenosine levels peak after 12 to 16 hours of waking hours.

Because you can mute adenosine's healthy sleep signals with coffee. Caffeine, a psychoactive drug, enters your brain and basically blocks the receptors for adenosine. As a result, you lose the sleepy signal, making sleep much less likely to occur, and even if it does, it's easy to wake up halfway through.

The caffeine concentration peaks after about 30 minutes. The problem is, caffeine persists, and for a long time. In medicine, the term "half-life" is used when discussing the effects of a drug. Half-life refers to the time it takes your body to completely clear 50% of a drug dose.

For most people, the half-life of caffeine is 5 to 6 hours. Therefore, its quarter-life is between 10 and 12 hours. So if you have a cup of coffee at 2pm, 25% of the caffeine is still wandering around in your brain at midnight. Drinking coffee at 2 p.m. is the equivalent of tucking yourself into bed at midnight, but just before that, you gulp down a quarter of a cup of hot coffee in hopes of getting a good night’s sleep. This cannot happen.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against caffeine I love coffee. In fact, coffee has been linked to many health benefits, although this may be due to the powerful antioxidants in the beans rather than the caffeine itself. But like many things, when it comes to caffeine, the dose (and timing) determines the toxicity. For most people, limiting caffeine to one to three cups a day and stopping caffeine before noon will help you sleep better.

Can sleep keep you slim?

Have you noticed that when your sleep is so short, you want to eat more? We know why. Lack of sleep suppresses a hormone that signals food gratification, but increases the concentration of the hormone gastrin, which makes you feel hungry. Even though you're full and full, you're still going to want more. It's a proven secret for weight gain in adults and children.

Add all this together, and it becomes increasingly clear that the insomnia epidemic may be a key factor plaguing many obesity epidemics, along with the proliferation of processed foods, greater consumption, and an increase in sedentary behaviours.

Prioritizing sleep is one of the most powerful ways to regain control of your weight and waistline.

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Secret to success: go to bed

Secret to success: go to bed

10 strategies to help you get a good night's sleep.

Focus on:

Sleeping 8 hours a day won't affect productivity, but is essential for peak performance

If you don't take care of yourself, your life will be too short

No one sleeps less is okay, you are not an exception

Don't leave your phone next to you when you sleep

Get up early and exercise

Read and write a diary before bed

Some people are proud of themselves on getting less sleep. Because it proves that they are hardworking and determined.

 

And me?

I'm proud of the complete opposite.

We ordinary people only have so much energy to devote to our work, our relationships, and ourselves. Smart people know this and protect it carefully. Smart people know that getting 7-8 hours of sleep each night won't affect their productivity, but it's critical to working at their best.

1.    Beware of overtiredness

Arianna Huffington has quietly grown The Huffington Post into a behemoth, with about 200 million monthly unique visitors and 17 international editions. Her stake in The Huffington Post is worth an estimated $21 million. But there was a time when Arianna Huffington wielded wealth and power at the expense of living a good life. She regularly worked 18+ hours a day, seven days a week, for years - and then the sleep tax collector came. One day, Arianna Huffington fell headfirst on her home office desk, broke her cheekbone, and woke up in a pool of blood. Doctors at the hospital examined her several times.

Diagnosis? Excessive fatigue

Arianna is different from many overworked people. After this tragic incident, she looked at herself in the mirror and did one thing that too many people can't: she began to change. She realizes that life isn't all about work, putting your head down, exchanging sleep for a few more phone calls, watching a few extra minutes of TV, or meeting important people, there's nothing glamorous about them. So, despite being at her peak, both financially and professionally, she left The Huffington Post in search of what she called a "third yardstick" of success and launched Thrive Global, Through this project, she began to use the resources of scientific and philosophical wisdom to combat the growing epidemic of stress and burnout.

You can work hard, but also made sure to "take good care of yourself. Life is too short if we don't take care of ourselves, if we don't want to make changes, our lives will be shortened.

2.    You are not an exception

People say I can do just fine with just four or five hours of sleep. No, you don't. You say, I am an exception. No, you are not.

In a study conducted by scientists in the University of Pennsylvania, participants were divided into four groups: those who were sleep-deprived for up to 88 hours, and those who were allowed to sleep at night. 4 hours of sleep, one group slept 6 hours per night, and the last group slept 8 hours per night. The study made two important findings. One is that the physical damage in the 4-hour sleep group and the 6-hour sleep group was the same as that in the sleep deprivation group.

3.    Don't leave your phone next to you when you sleep

If your alarm is a real alarm and not a time app, your phone can be put in another room, and if your phone is in another room, you can't look at it while you sleep at night .

This means you won't know if you've received a text or email. This means that you won't have to scroll through social media all the time. That means you won't be staring at the screen.

4.    get up early

The morning is the most productive time of the day—the time when no one else is up, before you go out, and you won’t be disturbed or distracted. If we get up early, we are free.

Of course, when you wake up in the sun, you're more likely to relax in the early morning sun. man is born to work at sunrise and rest at sunset. "If you want to know the secret of success, if you want to execute on a higher level, you have to get into the habit of getting up early. You have to realize that you are at your best when you are in rhythm with the sun. .

5.    Get active every day

I walk and run almost once every 2 days. Doing this has nothing to do with burning calories or raising my heart rate or training for a marathon. "It's really stupid to work on building muscles, widening shoulders, and strengthening lung capacity.  The purpose of exercise is simply to "wear the body down" so we can get a good night's sleep afterward. .

Physical activity leads to better sleep, which promotes physical activity, which then leads to better sleep, creating a virtuous cycle. In "Why We Sleep," Walker wrote: "It's clear that a sedentary life doesn't contribute to good sleep, and we should all try to get some level of regular exercise, which not only helps keep our bodies fit and healthy," Walker wrote. , but also helps to ensure the quantity and quality of sleep.

6.    Go to sleep

You don't feel like an early bird...but it's mostly because you don't go to bed early enough.

When you're exhausted and worn out, when you've had a long day and all you want to do is just relax on the couch? This is exactly when you need a little more self-control to get up and go to sleep.

 A morning routine is fine, but a bedtime routine is also important. Relaxation is necessary.

7.    Write a diary before bed

"Is there anything better than seeing what one does all day? Think, sleep after this self-examination.

Here's what it takes to get a good night's sleep. A state of mind free from clutter. This is a state that will never be out of reach, as there are so many opportunities every day to throw you into confusion or thinking - responsibilities, dysfunctional jobs that make you stressful, contentious relationships, realities that don't meet your expectations . But journaling is a unique tool that helps us organize our thoughts.

Don't close your tired eyes and go to sleep until you've reviewed what you've done throughout the day: "What did I do wrong? What did I do? What responsibilities are left unfinished?" your own actions, then condemn yourself for those vile [or cowardly] actions, but also rejoice in those that are well done.

8.    Treat the weekend equally

It hardly matters what the problem is, and the solutions tend to be consistent routines. If you tell a sleep expert you're not sleeping well, here's what they recommend. If you tell a psychiatrist that you've been anxious all the time, that's their first recommendation. If you tell a productivity guru that your work output isn't what you want, that's where they start to tackle the problem. Tell the trainer that your dog is naughty, and that's where they start to fix the problem. Tell the strength trainer you want to get stronger, tell the writer you want to write better, tell the stoic you want to end the day in a calmer, more peaceful state—a consistent routine is the answer.

No matter which practice you implement, the best way to improve your sleep is to do it consistently 7 days a week.

9.    Napping can refresh the mind

Arianna Huffington's story inspired me that sleep loss not only reduces the quality of life...it even takes it. People get depressed when they don't sleep. will be exhausted. Will pass out in the bathroom and hit his head. "Sleep is the source of all health and energy". "Sleep is the interest we pay on that capital which is recovered at the time of death: the higher the rate of interest, the more timely the payment, the later the date of repayment."

If you want to live a good and long life, go to bed now, not later

10.  invest in sleep

When I made a little money from working for a few years, I went to the cheapest mattress store and bought the cheapest mattress, and I slept on it for almost ten years. I can't remember exactly when I decided to upgrade my mattress, but it was long after I could afford it. The point is: if sleep has benefits of one kind or another, and if it does save lives, then investing in sleep makes sense. Maybe that investment is buying a better mattress. Maybe bite the bullet and buy a reclining seat on an international flight. Figure out what makes you sleep better and consider it a good deal.

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The sooner the better when you get rid these 3 inconspicuous bad financial habits

Listen: Podcast

The sooner the better when you get rid these 3 inconspicuous bad financial habits

Your future financial situation is tied to your habits. It is almost everyone's dream to not be troubled by money, but most office workers are still worried about financial management. If this is the case for you, you might as well re-examine yourself now and quit bad financial habits to take back control of your money.

Bad financial habits are like a toxic relationship.

You know you should break up with him, but you hold on tight.

But the question remains - why is it so hard to break out of these destructive financial habits?

Sometimes we know nothing about them, and sometimes we are afraid to face the unknown. But wouldn't we be able to stand it without these habits? Can't we live without a Starbucks once a week?

I know a thing or two about money matters. I also lost all my money a few years ago due to a stupid financial mistake.

But I also learned that quitting some bad spending habits is actually a lot easier than you might think.

In fact, you can save yourself hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars a year by quitting these three common financial habits.

1. Procrastination on financial decisions

I always procrastinate when I need to make an important financial decision because I'm afraid of making the wrong choice.

I would spend hours browsing the web for articles and videos on personal finance, trying to train myself as well as possible before taking action.

But inevitably, by the time I was ready to make a decision, the opportunity had passed and I had missed it.

I've since learned that procrastinating on financial decisions is one of the worst things. It keeps you from taking advantage of those opportunities, and it makes you miss important information that could help you make the right decisions.

If you are also procrastinating making financial decisions, ask yourself two questions:

Are you afraid of making the wrong choice?

Are you worried about the consequences?

Once you've identified where your fear spots are, you can address them. Depending on your needs and goals, there are many great investment options.

For example, if you're looking for a short-term investment, consider opening a high-yield savings account.

If you're looking for long-term investments, consider stocks, bonds, or mutual funds.

Investing can be scary, but there's no need to delay making a decision about it.

The sooner you start, the sooner you'll see results.

 2. Not diversifying your income streams

When life hit me hard, I learned the importance of having multiple income streams.

I used to rely on only one source of income.

I live on a paycheck and don't have much savings for a rainy day. When the pandemic hit and I was suddenly laid off and lost my income, I was stuck.

This has taught me the importance of having different sources of income so that if one goes down, I have other sources to fall back on.

Start increasing your income stream.

Having multiple income streams is important for two reasons:

It can provide you with a buffer if one of your sources of income goes down.

It can help you grow your income faster.

Best of all, you don't need to go to great lengths for this.

If you want to have multiple income streams, then you need to consider what skills or assets you have that you can profit from.

For example:

Do you have writing skills? Then you can start a blog, make money with ads, or become a freelance writer. (That's my choice. When the time came, I quit my 9-to-5 job because my side hustle was already generating more income for me and I could develop multiple income streams from it).

Do you have a house that you can rent out?

Or do you have a car that you can use for your ride-hailing business?

There are many different ways to make money, so take some time to brainstorm and see what you can do.

Remember, it's never too late to start!

It might take a little more work at first, but it will be worth it in the end!

3. Spending consumption habits

Growing up, I always liked eating out and spending money on new clothes.

As a result, I quickly developed the bad habit of overspending on entertainment and unnecessary luxuries, and it was inevitable that I would not be able to make ends meet each month.

But thankfully, I was able to recognize my bad spending habits and develop a plan to correct them.

If you're struggling with overspending too, here are a few tips to help.

1. Follow the 50:30:20 rule

50% of income is used for basic expenses/needs: eg rent, insurance, utility bills, groceries, etc.

30% of your income goes to things you want: e.g. dining out, gym memberships, entertainment.

20% of your income goes towards saving and paying down debt.

2. Delay your gratification

Wait at least one to two weeks before purchasing any non-essential items online or offline. If it's really needed, it's still there. If it's just something you want at the time, it will gradually disappear from your life.

3. Don’t do window shopping

My psychologist friend told me: Window shopping is more dangerous than you might think (window shopping means just wandering the streets without buying anything). When your body touches an object, the brain is tempted to take pleasure in it.

So you end up buying something you don't really need.

By doing these three things, you can break the cycle of overspending and get your finances back on track.

Now you know the three most common bad financial habits that can wreak havoc on your savings.

But don't worry, these habits can be changed.

All you need is the conscious improvement and small steps you can take to get yourself back on track.

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