Why do human being need sleep?

Not only human beings, mammals, reptiles, and birds need sleep to survive. Our body needs sleep and more importantly, our brain need sleep too. Sleep allows our brain to recharge and helps us to restore and rejuvenate many body functions. During sleep, our body's major organ and regulatory systems continue to work. While some parts of our brain are more active during sleep time to produce certain kind of hormones.

→ Recharge our brain – During sleep, it gives our brain a time to recharge. Our brain will take a “sleep” and do all the necessary repairing, rejuvenating, reenergizing and restoring.

→ Memory and Learning - During sleep, it gives our brain to reorganize information and long-term memories. It can also help us to process and integrate new information and recover memories.

→ Restore chemicals and Replace muscles – During sleep, it gives time to restore chemicals and replace muscles which are being exhausted during aware.

→ Immune System – Sleep can affect immune system. During sleep, it gives our body to replace and renew tissues, nerve cells and aging cells By strengthening our immune system, it helps keeping us from sickness.

→ Growth – Sleep can affect growth especially in children and teenagers when certain hormone is actively produce during sleep.

→ A rest of our heart and lungs – During sleep, it gives our heart and lungs a time to rest. Study shows that people with normal or high blood pressure can have a 20-30% reduce in pressure and a 10-20% reduce in heart rate.

What if we do not have enough sleep?

→ Heavy and groggy feeling

→ Trouble in concentration

→ Poor memory and poor judgment

→ Loss of energy

→ Fatigue

→ Drop in performance

→ Behavior and personality changes

→ Injuries and accidents

Sleep - Stages of Sleep

Stage 1 (Drowsiness) – Our brain gives the signal to our heart to beat at a slower rate, give signal to our body for a drop in body temperature, to our muscles for a slow in muscle activity and our eyes to more slowly under the eyelids. During this stage, it takes about 5 – 10 minutes for us to fall asleep.

Stage 2 (Light Sleep) – After a while, we are in light sleep. Our heart beat has slows, body temperature has drops, muscles has slow and eyes movement has stop. We can be easily waken up during this stage.

Stage 3 (Slow Wave Sleep) – We are now in deeper sleep and cannot be waken up easily. Some people may have a sleepwalk while Children may experience bedwetting at this stage.

Stage 4 (Deep Sleep) – We are in deepest sleep and is very difficult to wake up at this stage. If being awaken, we can be confused and disoriented for a few minutes.

Stage 5 (REM Sleep or Dream Sleep) – REM stand for rapid eye movement. We enter into REM Sleep after 90 minutes in our sleep cycle. Our eyes will move back and forth rapidly beneath our eyelids, our heart will beat faster and breathe less regularly. We can have 2 – 5 REM every night. We dream during REM sleep.

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