A Good Night's Sleep

Since Daylight Saving Time ends soon, on the 30th of October in Finland and on the 6th of November in Indiana USA, we will get one more extra hour to sleep. Wohoo!! I love to sleep and I think I'm the queen of naps. Nothing's better than taking you blanket and falling asleep middle of the day. Or going to bed early. I have never been a night time person because I start to yawn right around 10pm but then I am perky as a chipper bird in the early mornings.

Eight hours of sleep a day seems like a huge waste of time though, even if you like to sleep. After all, in this busy world we live in, those precious hours could be used much more efficiently like actually visiting your relatives you have been promising to visit for a year now (*sorry to all my aunts!!*) or cleaning the house.
Why do we need so much sleep then? I decided to research this a little bit because I find sleep very interesting. Did you know that science actually doesn't understand the importance of sleep all the way. What we do know is that sleep is a building process. And we think it restores the body’s energy supplies that have been depleted through the day’s activities. Sleep is also the time when the body does most of its repair work; muscle tissue is rebuilt and restored. We know that growth hormone is secreted during sleep. This hormone is important for growth in children, but is also important throughout adulthood in rebuilding tissues. For example, if you work out a lot to get muscle, you need to remember to rest because otherwise your muscles don't get the chance to grow.

To understand the importance of sleep, you should think of the body as a car. No car can keep going and going and going without a tune-up or oil change. If it’s not tuned, the car may keep running, but not as smoothly as it did when it was maintained properly. You can think of sleep as your body’s daily tune-up. We can function without a full tune-up, but we won’t be able to work or to think as well as we we are fully rested. And sorry all the ladies, I couldn't think of any other example besides a car but I hope you get the idea (*wink*).
Sleep is also a time for restoring mental energy. We spend all day thinking and creating, and that uses up our energy levels. When I was reading more about sleep online I found it very interesting that in a dream sleep the brain is actually very active but scientist are not really sure exactly what dreams do accomplish in our body. Some experts believe that dreaming is actually some king of clearing-out process. More sleep researchers think that dreams serve the function of helping to reorganize and store information that we have taken in during the day.

One good way to know, why we need to sleep so much, is to look at what happens if we don’t get enough sleep. It affects our personalities, our sense of humor and our ability function. We become cranky and we are not able to cope with stressful situations as well as if we were well rested. I notice myself being very short and getting bitchy when I'm tired and people ask me (stupid) questions.

Lack of sleep clearly affects our thinking. A sleep-deprived brain is truly running on four rather than eight cylinders (*another car refenrence, yikes!*). If we’re trying to be creative, the motor doesn’t work as well. We can perform calculations, but not as quickly. We’re much more likely to make errors. It’s because the brain’s engine hasn’t been replenished.

Sleep deprivation also affects us physically. Our coordination suffers. We lose our ability to do things with agility. Sleep improves muscle tone and skin appearance. With adequate sleep athletes run better, swim better and lift more weight. We also see differences in immune responses depending on how much someone sleeps. I notice lack of sleep on my face because I look much older. Saggy bags under my eyes, frown on my face... yuck! Sleeping keeps you looking fresher and younger.
The amount of sleep a person needs will vary from individual to individual. Most people require around eight hours. No one really knows how humans evolved to sleep an average of eight straight hours each night. Factors that influence human sleep patterns probably include our physical size, muscle mass, brain size and the ability to think. I need my 8-9 hours of sleep every night.
Since sleeping is indeed very important, it is good to know how to sleep better. Here are few tips from the book "1001 Ways to stay young naturally" for you to try to get more Z's.

*Don't take problems to bed:
Women are more likely than men to lie in bed worrying. Keep a notebook by the bed to jot down concerns or things you just have to remember, then let them go. If you stay up late finishing chores, make a weekly rota distribute tasks or cut back to essentials only.
*Scheduling sleep:If you crave an extra hour's sleep, but you can't fit it into a busy working life, add time incrementally by hitting the sack just 15 minutes earlier. After a week add another 15 minutes. Repeat until a month later you retire one whole hour earlier.
*Eat before bed:
Tryptophan is an amino acid that helps reduce anxiety and elevate serotonin, a brain chemical that promotes relaxation. In a recent study, mild insomniacs who ate a tryptophan-rich snack before bed reported more restful sleep and enhanced alertness next morning. Try a small chicken, tuna or egg sandwich on wholemeal bread (carbs promote sleepiness), a banana, glass of milk, oat cake or handful of almonds or sunflower seeds.
*Try visualization:Rather than counting sheep, put yourself in a peaceful place. Imagine lying in warm sand on a balmy beach. Reclining beside a tumbling waterfall or watching a golden sunset. Experience the scene with all your senses; what can you hear, feel and smell? In research studies at Oxford University, insomniacs who visualized themselves in a relaxing scene found sleep 20 minutes sooner than usual.

*Sleep thinner:
If you need a prompt to retire early, write this on a sticky note: "Lack of sleep may make me fat". Research at Columbia University Medical center found that people who got less than five hours' sleep at night were 50 percent more likely to be obese than those who slept for eight hours. Lack of sleep equates with raised production of an appetite-stimulant hormone, and that promotes the feeling of being sated.

*Invest in blackout blinds:Find curtains that block every chink of light from a bedroom. Close doors and unplug night lights. The less light in a room, the less body is prompted to release adrenaline-like hormone cortisol, which prevents easy sleep. To help you get into a restful mode, spend evenings by candlelight.

*Limit caffeine:If you have trouble sleeping, limit yourself to two small cups of coffee a day and enjoy them in the morning: the body can take up to 12 hours to clear caffeine. After noon avoid coffee, black tea and soft drinks.

Those are very good tips! And now, for the end of this post, I want to show something funny. Check out these pictures of Jinx falling asleep one night (*it is important for dogs to get their sleep too*). We were at my friend's place and she had made beds for us on the floor because she didn't have any extra beds. We decided actually let Jinx to sleep on the end of our bed that night. He was so weirded out because he's not usually allowed to sleep in our bed at home. But eventually he fell asleep. He was so cute!

Here's Jinx thinking: "My masters have gone crazy! They really let me sleep right here"

"Ok, whatever"

"I'm so tired"
"ZZZZZZzz"

Sweet dreams to everyone tonight!