‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring… except you because you’re up again watching 2-too many episodes of something on Netflix. But it’s okay because you usually only ever get 5 or 6 hours of sleep and you can function on that … right?
There are a lot of people, some of you even, who truly believe that they can get through their lives on less than the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep every night. We are here today to show you the evidence that suggests that although you may feel awake and are getting through your daily life, you may not be as awake as you originally thought.
When humans sleep several important processes occur to help us heal, create memories, process the day’s events, and basically keep things moving along as they should. For the body to recover it needs to cycle through a few sleep phases every night. This is why your trainers will tell you that on top of working out, eating well, and keeping stress low, you need to make sure you’re getting good sleep to make the most of your workouts.There are a few identified sleep disorders that can disrupt these sleep phases, and therefore decrease the efficacy of your sleep. Although there are over 100 different sleep disorders, they can be categorized into sleep deprivation (can’t get enough sleep), sleep fragmentation (disrupted sleep, middle insomnia), and events that occur during sleep like sleep apnea and restless leg (yes – that is a real thing!).
When these types of disruptions to your sleep occur you can experience a few different consequences. Your metabolism can be affected, and your ability to regulate blood glucose levels can be impaired. Your focus can lag throughout the day, and you are more likely to be irritable.
But for those of you who claim that you are able to function “perfectly well” on just 5-6 hours of sleep, pay close attention: your brain is actually trying to get the rest it needs while you are awake.
That’s right – parts of your brain are going into episodes of local-sleep in order to allow for all of those necessary sleep functions to occur. This means that although you may be awake, you do not have access to the full functioning capacity of your brain.
Ever felt like sometimes you wake up and start going through the motions of the day? All of a sudden you are at work but you don’t really remember the drive. You work the whole day, staring at your computer screen, and then your office neighbour is saying goodnight and you realize the work day is already over? This kind of mindless progression through the day is likely caused by these local-sleep episodes. Your brain will allow for the very basic functions to occur so you can move, and speak, and get menial tasks done, but you really aren’t at your best.
This research suggests that even our most ambitious friends and colleagues who seem to be superheros on 4 hours of sleep are actually more susceptible to make poor and risky decisions due to their lack of sleep.
If sleep can still occur in a brain that has lesions in the areas that control sleep, then sleep must be an absolutely critical function to our survival.
So go ahead, get nestled and snug in your beds. Appreciate the visions of sugar-plums dancing in your heads. Because sleep is essential and vital to your health, get your 7-9 hours and feel more like yourself.
