In my first video, I showed you how to wake
up early and not be miserable.
Now, let's get into the science of sleep so
we can use that time more efficiently and
wake up refreshed.
What's going on guys!
J from MedSchoolInsiders.com.
So, why is sleep important?
You have all heard that you should get about
eight hours of sleep a night.
In reality, the amount of sleep that each
individual requires varies and it changes
with age.
For most of you, seven to nine hours should
be your target.
People generally underestimate the amount
they need.
While there are some people who naturally
require only six hours of sleep or even less,
chances are that is not you.
Doctors are taught in medical school how important
sleep is for health, cognitive and physical
function.
Yet they are some of the worst offenders when
it comes to depriving themselves of sleep.
So, rather than being a hypocrite and telling
you to get more sleep, I will instead go over
how to make those hours in bed go further,
but for the sake of completeness, let's briefly
remind ourselves why sleep is so crucial and
why sleep deprivation is bad.
First, your health suffers.
Long-term sleep deprivation has been linked
to some serious health consequences that you
do not want.
These include hypertension, diabetes, obesity,
depression, heart attack and stroke.
Your cognitive function declines as well.
Sleep deprivation has been strongly linked
with decreases in attention capacity and working
memory.
There are other cognitive functions that show
to decline such as reaction time, auditory
and visual spatial attention and serial addition
and subtraction tasks.
Sleep deprivation also increases rigid thinking
and makes it more difficult to utilize new
information in complex tasks requiring innovative
decision-making.
We also know that sleep is crucial for memory
consolidation; meaning, making things actually
stick.
Therefore, it's not surprising that sleep
deprivation also affects your long-term memory.
Third: physical function.
In a fascinating study conducted at Stanford,
researchers subjected college basketball players
to a five to seven week period of increased
sleep.
Participants obtained as much each night as
possible attempting to spend 10 hours in bed.
And the scientists then measured their physical
performance.
After this sleep extension period, subjects
had faster sprints, improved shooting accuracy
and scored better on assessments of physical
and mental well-being.
So now you know the health cognitive and physical
ramifications of not getting enough sleep.
But let's face it, you and I both know that
you will not be getting those 7 to 9 hours
every night.
So, what can we do about it?
One of the most important concepts to sleeping
better is understanding that quality is more
important than quantity.
Meaning, getting six or seven hours of high
quality sleep will do more good than getting
eight or nine hours of low quality sleep.
Studies have shown that average sleep quality
is more important than sleep quantity in terms
of health, balance, satisfaction with life,
feelings of tension, depression, anger, fatigue
and confusion.
You are probably already getting disturbed
during your sleep and you don't even realize
it.
Studies have shown that nocturnal noise, particularly
traffic noise can fragment your sleep even
if you do not wake up or acknowledge it.
It changes the amount of time spent in different
sleep stages, increasing the amount of time
in shallow sleep and decreasing the amount
of time in deeper slow-wave or REM sleep.
This has significant effects on sleep quality
and recuperation.
Even though people are unconscious and do
not notice these sounds while asleep, they
can differentiate between nights with low
and high degrees of noise exposure because
they feel better after quiet nights.
Now, in my own life, I have noticed periods
where I felt amazing after 6 or 7 hours and
times where I felt slow and groggy after 8
or more hours.
The secret was again sleep quality.
Maintaining a routine and regular sleep schedule
by going to bed and waking up at the same
time made a huge difference for me.
Sleeping in generally resulted in poor sleep
for two reasons: first, people in my house
or apartment were up making noise which disturb
my sleep even if I didn't wake up or remember
it.
And second, sunlight crept into my room which
disrupts sleep quality.
A simple solution to these problems would
be earplugs and a face mask or blackout curtains.
Links are in the description below.
Sleep occurs in stages, from stages one two
three four and REM, standing for rapid eye
movement which is when dreaming occurs.
When you first fall asleep, you're in early
stages of sleep and over time you go deeper,
having cycled through them, spending more
and more time in deeper sleep.
Because of this, power naps should be a maximum
of twenty or so minutes.
This is long enough to get you into stage
2 sleep which helps boost your memory and
creativity.
Longer naps are subject to increase sleep
inertia, meaning it sucks waking up.
If you nap for 30 to 60 minutes, you will
enter slow-wave sleep which is good for decision
making but you will wake up groggy.
REM sleep occurs at 60 to 90 minutes, but
again, you will wake up groggy.
Therefore, shorter power naps are your best
bet.
Taking naps that are too long won't only leave
you feeling groggy but will also decrease
the sleep that necessary for sleep onset.
That means it will be more difficult for you
to fall asleep at night.
Another interesting concept is coffee naps.
Here's how they work; drink a cup of coffee,
then take a nap for 20 minutes.
By the time you are waking up, the coffee
has been absorbed by the small intestine,
passed into your blood and is carrying out
its effects on your brain.
Some studies have even shown that coffee naps
demonstrate improved cognitive performance
compared to naps alone.
Now, while coffee naps are a good idea, consuming
caffeine before bedtime is not going to do
you any favors.
Caffeine shortens phases 3 & 4 of the sleep
cycle which are deeper phases of sleep.
Studies have shown that caffeine even six
hours before bedtime has a significant effect
on sleep disturbance.
Now, alcohol; alcohol may help you fall asleep
faster but the quality of sleep suffers.
It does technically increase slow-wave Delta
sleep patterns, which is a good thing.
But it also increases alpha activity which
generally occurs when you are resting quietly.
Combined, alpha and delta wave activity in
the brain translates to poorer sleep.
It also blocks REM sleep which is considered
to be the most restorative type of sleep.
It also doesn't help that it's a diuretic
and you'll be waking up to use the bathroom
more frequently.
What are your thoughts on power naps and specifically
coffee naps?
Have you tried them?
I would love to hear your comments below.
I hope you all found this video useful.
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in that next one.
