sleep!

Since I am a college student, this blog about sleep was a must have topic for me!

We as humans spend 1/3 of our lives sleeping!

Now, according to a study,
individuals with severe sleep deprivation ( staying awake 19-24 hrs ) scored worse on performance and alertness tests than people who are legally too drunk to drive (0.1 % )

Symptoms of Sleep Deprivation:

• day time drowsiness
• sleepy while reading
• sleepy while watching tv
• if you fall asleep the instant your head hits the pillow ( a well rested person only takes 15/20 minutes to fall asleep)

NREM sleep ( non rapid eye movement ) 75% of sleep time

• stage 1- relaxed/ half awake (10 sec-10 mins)
• stage 2- brain activity slows, you stop moving (10-20 mins) beginning of your actual sleep

^ - people awaken during these two stages say that they weren't really sleeping

• stage 3/4- blood pressure drops, heart rate and respiration slow, blood to brain shorten (20-40 mins)

^- people awaken in stage 4 feel groggy,  your in a "deep sleep"

REM sleep ( rapid eye movement ) 70-90 minutes after falling asleep

• breathing and heart rate go up
• brain activity is similar if you were awake
• experience first dream ( although you can in all stages )
• no muscle tone
• body can't move
• ideas are filed in long term storage

- if you sleep for 8 hours, your body cycles 5 times in the sleep cycle of NREM & REM

** IMPORTANT**

- memory may be impaired if sleep time is insufficient, as a result to memory impairment, the ability to learn new skills is also impaired. performance in learning a new skill does not improve until an individual has had 6 hours of sleep; performance improves even more after 8 hours of sleep!

  

things to remember when trying to get a good nights rest!

1. ideal sleep temperature is 62-65, temps above 75 and below 54 cause people to awaken
2. caffeine doubles sleep time
3. take no longer than 45 minutes of naps, you'll enter stage 4 of deep sleep and it will be more difficult to wake you up and you will feel more groggy
4. 7-9 hours of sleep a night is ideal for optimal health and growth 

Email me if you have any questions and need help on falling asleep and how to get a propers nights rest!

hope you were somewhat informed!!