what is sleep and why should you even care when people think about being healthy they think about
eating right and exercise but most people don't think about how important sleep is for their
health this includes both how much they sleep and the quality of sleep so let me ask you this
when you wake up in the morning how do you feel do you feel refreshed and ready to go or do you feel
sluggish and groggy and maybe even grumpy and this stat right here is crazy according to the cdc only
one third of adults actually get the recommended minimum seven or more hours of sleep every night
the most common reason for this is trouble falling asleep or staying asleep aka insomnia this could
be related to stress it could also be related to too much caffeine or alcohol or side effects
of medications it could also be related to other habits that you don't even realize
but there are other medical conditions that could be the root cause of the problem like sleep apnea
like depression whatever the reason not getting good sleep takes its toll on your overall
well-being and hugely impacts your productivity and not getting good sleep impacts your life in
so many ways what happens is we're too tired to work efficiently too tired to exercise
and our cravings for junk food go sky high not to mention we're more likely to be in a bad mood
it also impacts our ability to drive a car in fact drowsy driving is responsible for a good
portion of fatal motor vehicle accidents over time sleep deprivation increases the risk of
developing chronic medical conditions like obesity diabetes high blood pressure and heart disease
the good news is that there are ways to improve the quality and quantity of sleep that you get
a lot of people are quick to reach for sleep medication but usually that's not the solution
so in this video i'm going to help you understand what sleep is and other videos in the sleep series
that i'm doing we'll talk about different sleep issues that exist and ways that you can improve
upon your sleep so let's get started with talking about what sleep is when you sleep you go through
different stages of sleep there are two main types of sleep there's rem sleep which stands for rapid
eye movement and we'll get into that in a minute the other main part of sleep is non-rem sleep
during which thinking and most bodily functions slow down but movement can still occur every time
you fall asleep you enter non-rem sleep to be more exact in making the transition from wakefulness
into light sleep you spend about five minutes drifting off in stage and one sleep here your
body temperature slightly drops your muscles relax and your eyes often move slowly from side to side
you lose awareness of your surroundings but you're easily awoken then there's stage n2
which is considered light sleep and it lasts about 10 to 25 minutes here your eyes are still and your
heart rate and breathing are slower compared to when you're awake here your brain intermittently
disconnects from outside sensory input and begins the process of consolidating memories
stage n3 is considered deep sleep here your brain is less responsive to external stimuli
making it harder to wake up also breathing becomes more regular and heart rate and blood pressure
comes down a little bit there's less blood flow to your brain and during this deep sleep your
body renews and repairs itself the pituitary gland releases a pulse of growth hormone that stimulates
tissue growth and muscle repair the body releases more substances to activate your immune system
helping your body defend itself against infection deep sleep plays a large part
in restoring alertness and is responsible for allowing you to function at peak performance
both mentally and physically so that wraps up the stages of non-rem sleep but what about rem sleep
after non-rem sleep you shift to rem sleep which means rapid eye movement and that's exactly what
happens your eyes are moving rapidly underneath your eyelids and the crazy thing is that's really
the only part of your body that moves during this time except for your breathing which
is controlled by your diaphragm but other than that the muscles in your arms and legs
your core muscles are essentially paralyzed except for some minor twitches here and there
meanwhile the brain is super active as it races with thoughts because
it's dreaming your breathing body temperature blood pressure and heart rate go slightly higher
rem sleep is believed to restore your mind even more so than the deep sleep that we just mentioned
studies have shown that rem sleep facilitates learning memory and problem solving ability
about three to five times a night or about every 90 minutes you enter rem sleep
the first time you hit rem sleep it only lasts a few minutes but then the next time you hit
it it's a little longer and then the next time even a little bit longer and so on it increases
progressively over the course of the night and the final time you hit it it could be about a
half hour or so this is why it's important to get at least seven to eight hours of sleep per night
because you want to make sure that you're hitting that rem sleep as many times as you can ideally
around five or so if you only hit rem sleep three times you're not going to be optimizing your brain
power compared to if you hit that four or five times and if you want to learn more ways that you
can optimize your brain power and overall health make sure to subscribe to my channel and click on
the bell to get notified of when i post new videos and if you're liking this video hit that like
button which lets me know that you like it and now back to sleep or sleep architecture that is
when you sleep you go through different stages that we just talked about
it always starts with drifting off into that stage and once sleep which is part of non-rem sleep
then there's n2 then there's n3 which is considered deep sleep and finally there's rem
sleep where you're dreaming after rem sleep you repeat the cycle throughout the night
let's talk about your internal clock certain structures within your brain
like the suprachiasmatic nucleus and the pineal gland produce chemicals responsible for sleeping
and waking the control of sleeping and waking or this internal clock is known as your circadian
rhythm circadian rhythms make people's desire for sleep strongest between midnight and 6 a.m
especially between 2 and 4 am it also occurs to a lesser extent in the mid afternoon
the suprachiasmatic nucleus is where your internal clock is located which is in your hypothalamus
although the clock is mostly self-regulating it does take the brain's external sensory cues
for example the biggest external cue is light exposure to light during the day helps keep the
circadian clock on the correct time schedule exposure to light at night can shift sleep and
wakefulness to undesirable times and what about melatonin neurons in the suprachiasmatic nucleus
contain receptors for melatonin melatonin is a hormone made in the brain specifically in
the pineal gland it's made in a predictable daily rhythm melatonin levels start to rise once the sun
sets and decreases after sunrise melatonin makes you sleepy helping your internal clock stay on
track you probably know about how long you need to sleep to feel fully rested some people feel
great after getting only six hours of sleep while others are groggy if they only get nine
hours so how can this be explained well it looks like the people who feel great with less sleep
have a genetic mutation that at least partially explains this that's because scientists found
two mutations in a gene that affects circadian rhythms called dec2 zach so if you naturally
awake after six hours and feel great when you wake up without having to drink lots of coffee or take
naps maybe you have this genetic mutation and quite frankly i'm a little jealous so this video
covered the basics of what sleep is the main learning points for you to take away are these
number one deep sleep which occurs in non-rem sleep is especially important for body repair
number two rem sleep is especially important for learning memory formation and optimal brain power
number three in order to maximize deep sleep and rem sleep you need at least seven to eight
hours of sleep per night number four your internal clock is regulated by itself but also by external
factors like light if you can follow your internal clock which means go to bed when it's dark and
wake up when it's daylight now there's way more to sleep than i covered in this video
if you haven't already make sure to check out my video the six keys to a great night's sleep
this way you can maximize your chances of getting enough rem and non-rem deep sleep every night
and if you do this you'll be able to function at your peak performance see in the next one
you