One of the most damaging things you can subject yourself to is sleep deprivation. Sleep is a necessary human physiologic need. Our autonomic or unconscious nervous system, which regulates the metabolic processes, is divided into the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems. During the day, we’re predominantly in the sympathetic when the operational metabolic processes take place. Our nervous system transitions to the parasympathetic mode when we sleep, which activates the repair processes such as making new cells, membranes, tissues, enzymes, hormones, and neurotransmitters, thus it is truly beauty sleep. In addition, allowing your adrenals to replenish reserves lets you wake up with more oomph than what you went to sleep with. Everyone knows how much better they feel physically and mentally after a deep sleep. You’re better equipped to seize the day.
People who avoid sleep are aging faster than they should because they don’t give their bodies, and especially their adrenal glands, a chance to repair. Think of your adrenals as a savings account. You only have what you deposited into them. If you continue to spend adrenal reserves, your adrenals won’t be able to keep up with the demand and your account will dry up, baby.
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which is associated with dreaming, is the time when the brain integrates information taken in during the day and consolidates it into long-term memory. REM sleep occurs about every ninety minutes, and the periods of REM sleep get longer as the night progresses. Between the seventh and eighth hour of sleep is when we can experience a solid hour of REM sleep.
When you don’t sleep enough, your brain carries a backlog of unprocessed information. Your brain simply goes on overload, and you either won’t be able to get to sleep because your brain is frantically processing, processing, processing everything that is backlogged. Or, when you finally do get to sleep, your brain will launch vivid dreams in an attempt to process this stored information. These dreams can wake you up and keep you awake with whirling thoughts.
Accelerated aging is not just the result of factory-food products, diets, and drugs. Lack of sleep is a huge contributing factor. Sleep deprivation weakens the immune system, accelerates tumor growth, accentuates glucose problems, and impairs memory, problem solving, and performance. What sleep deprivation does to your brain is very destructive.
from: Healthy, Sexy, Happy: A Thrilling Journey to the Ultimate You by Nancy Deville
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