Sleep is Good…Good Sleep is Better

We know that plaques build up in the brain.  This is STRONGLY related to gradual brain degeneration.

When you sleep, your brain is cleaning itself.  Keep reading below to understand how critical good sleep is to every aspect of your health, but especially brain health.

Research has shown that after 2 weeks of 6 hours of sleep a night, you’re brain is functioning  just like you are legally drunk.  From the book Via Bold Endeavors: Lessons from Polar and Space Exploration:

…by the end of two weeks, the six-hour sleepers were as impaired as those who, in another study, had been sleep-deprived for 24 hours straight — the cognitive equivalent of being legally drunk.

But what did the chronically sleep deprived say when asked how they felt? “It’s not affecting me.”

Even 14 days into the study, they said sleepiness was not affecting them. In fact, their performance was terrible. What this means, is that if you are sleep-deprived, you are, by definition, a lousy judge of our own sleep needs.

Have you heard that sleep is important for your brain health?

By now, you know how important brain health is for tinnitus. In this course, we will discuss more of the specific reasons of Why sleep is important, but then we’ll get right to the most important part, How to sleep…and to sleep well. It’s not about just staying in bed longer. In fact, that can be counterproductive. Sleep needs to be restful, regenerative.

The National Sleep Foundation says this about sleep (1):

If sleep is cut short, the body doesn’t have time to complete all of the phases needed for muscle repair, memory consolidation and release of hormones regulating growth and appetite. Then we wake up less prepared to concentrate, make decisions, or engage fully in school and social activities.

References:

1. – Nat’l Sleep Foundation – http://sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/what-happens-when-you-sleep
2. – Nat’l Institute of Hlth article on sleep.: http://www.nih.gov/news/health/oct2013/ninds-17.htm
3.  – Glymphatic system: https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/labs/nedergaard-lab/projects/glymphatic_system
4.  – Brain Rules: http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Rules-Principles-Surviving-Thriving/dp/0979777747
5. – Children learninig study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24329882
6. – Recent sleep & learning research:  http://saramednick.com/htmls/pdfs/MednickINSOM04%5B8%5D.pdf