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broj poruka: 1992 | Mrzi me da prevodim. Samim tim sto je polu-sazvakano je I vise nego dovoljno. K one zna engleski, neka nauci…
Sleep is one of the great mysteries of life, like black holes and the origins of the universe. Sleep appears to be the prime time for the brain to clear out waste products and repair itself.
Effects of Not Sleeping Enough
Poor Memory and Concentration
You can’t recall details. It impairs your ability to think clearly the next day and decreases your problem-solving ability.
Heightened Stress Levels
Poor sleep can raise your levels of corticosterone, the stress hormone associated with road rage.
When your body is stressed, adrenaline increases your heart rate and blood pressure, makes your muscles tense, and slows your digestive processes. Chronic high stress can lead to a variety of health problems, including:
• Headaches
• Indigestion
• Increased anxiety
• Depression
• High blood pressure
Weight Gain and Pre-Diabetes
Poor sleep can increase your risk of gaining body fat, impair your ability to lose excess pounds, and make it harder for you to maintain your ideal weight. When you’re sleep deprived, leptin (a hormone that signals satiety) falls, while ghrelin (which signals hunger) rises, making you hungrier the next day.
Weakened Immune System
Poor sleep increases your chances of getting sick.
Accelerated Aging
It can interfere with growth hormone production, which helps you look and feel younger. Normally your pituitary gland releases HGH during deep sleep.
If you don’t sleep deeply, your levels of this hormone plummet.
Advanced Tumor Growth
Poor sleep increases your likelihood of getting cancer. This may be because melatonin—the hormone released by the pineal gland that helps regulate sleep
—appears to have anticancer properties. Melatonin is thought to play a role in inhibiting the proliferation of a wide range of cancer cell types and triggering cancer cell apoptosis (self-destruction).
Increased Risk of Heart Disease and Dying … from Any Cause
Poor sleep disrupts the master clock, which then disrupts the normal functioning of those tissues and cells.
Researchers have found that people with chronic insomnia have a three times greater risk of dying than those who don’t.
Clean Your Brain: The Link Between Sleep and Brain Health
Recent research has illuminated a key function of sleep: to clean the cells of your brain.
Your brain actually has its own, unique waste disposal system. Called the glymphatic system.
By pumping cerebrospinal fluid through your brain’s tissues, the glymphatic system flushes the waste from your brain back into your body’s circulatory system. From there, the waste eventually reaches your liver, where it is processed for elimination.
During sleep, the glymphatic system becomes ten times more active than during wakefulness.
How Much Sleep Is Enough?
Generally speaking, most adults need between six and eight hours of sleep every night.
Frequent yawning throughout the day is a dead giveaway that you need more shut-eye. If you tend to drift off whenever you sit or lie still or try to read, you need more sleep. If you have problems falling asleep, reading can be a powerful strategy to help you get to sleep at night.
Optimize Your Circadian Rhythm
The circadian rhythm
is the twenty-four-hour body cycle determined by the master clock in the brain—a group of cells known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus that’s located in the hypothalamus. Every cell and tissue of your body has its own twenty-four-hour rhythm, which is set by the master clock. The master clock synchronizes its twenty-four-hour pattern by the light-dark cycle of the sun.
Your body evolved over time to sync to natural day and night cycles. Our ancient ancestors slept at night in darkness and stayed awake in the exposure of bright daylight.
Maintaining proper light exposure is key to ensuring that you get the sleep you require.
The Role of Melatonin
Melatonin
is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland. It is both tied to and helps set the body’s circadian rhythm. It is released when the brain perceives dim light, and it contributes to the initiation and maintenance of sleep. In a natural environment—melatonin levels begin to rise around seven p.m. (depending on the seasons), then stay elevated until about seven a.m.
To Sleep Better, Use Light Wisely
Studies have shown that exposure to blue light at night delays the nightly peak of melatonin that triggers sleepiness, and it reduces the amount of melatonin released when the peak does come. Conversely, exposure to red light at night has a negligible impact on melatonin.
Amp Up Your Exposure to Daytime Light
Fling open the curtains when you wake up, and fill your workspace with bright light. Go outside and enjoy the sunshine—even in the wintertime
Use Electronics Mindfully at Night
The glow of televisions, smartphones, laptops, and handheld devices can all upset your circadian rhythm and promote wakefulness. Turn them all off at least an hour before bed.
Filter Blue Light in the Evening and Night
Aim to expose yourself to the red, yellow, and amber end of the light spectrum in the evening.
Make Nighttime Dark
Use blackout curtains to shut out ambient light from outside.
Consider using a sleep mask.
Create a Sleep Sanctuary
Remove distractions from your bedroom—computers, TVs, etc. Make this important room a place to rest
Keep It Cool
Studies show that the optimal room temperature for sleep is quite cool, between 60 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit (15.5 and 20 degrees Celsius).
Stay Consistent
Find yourself an easy going-to-bed routine, and stick with it as much as possible—meaning it starts at basically the same time each night.
Eat for Sleep
Almonds
Almonds are rich in magnesium, which is needed for quality sleep. A study published in the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine found that when the body’s magnesium levels are too low, it makes it harder to stay asleep.
Avocados
avocados are an excellent source of potassium. Potassium works synergistically with magnesium to improve sleep, among other things. It’s generally recommended that you take in five times more potassium than sodium.
Chamomile Tea
Drinking a cup of chamomile tea before bed is more than just a folk remedy. Researchers have found that it’s associated with a rise in glycine, a chemical that has sedative properties and that promotes muscle relaxation.
Try drinking a cup an hour before bedtime.
Cherries
these luscious fruits contain magnesium. Have a handful (no more) an hour before bedtime
Green Leafy Vegetables
Greens such as kale, Swiss chard, and spinach are loaded with minerals that promote sleep. They are rich in calcium, which helps your brain use tryptophan to manufacture melatonin. And they are excellent sources of magnesium.
My personal strategy is to drink a pint to a quart of fresh green vegetable juice every day.
Walnuts
They are a good source of tryptophan, an amino acid that helps your body make melatonin. And they contain their own melatonin, according to researchers at the University of Texas.
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simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level,
to breed a standard citizenry, to put down dissent and originallity.` |
