Your body works on a 24-hour cycle (circadian rhythm) to regulate your body’s core functions, including healthy brain function, maintenance of physical health and hormone regulation. You’ve probably heard the rule of thumb of 7 – 9 hours of sleep a night to help these processes – but there’s truth to these claims.
In order to complete all the body’s necessary functions, you require around 7 – 8 hours of sleep a day (Harvard Business Review). Your sleep is divided into four stages – stages 1 and 2 give your body time to unwind from the world. Stage 3 allows your body to enter deep sleep, dropping your brain and body activity to its lowest level during the cycle. The final stage is rapid eye movement (REM for short), where our brains become active and dreaming takes place. This is once cycle, and a full night’s sleep should experience three to four of these cycles.
Now you understand the basics of your sleep cycle, why does it matter how much sleep you get?
Why is sleep important?
Hormone Regulation
Our body is made up with hormones, all with their own functions. A lack of sleep can effect our immune system, and not in a great way! Have you noticed you are hungrier and more likely to grab a sugary snack if you’ve had a bad night’s kip? This is because cortisol (the ‘stress hormone’) helps to regulate your hunger hormone (ghrelin) and fullness hormone (leptin).
Maintenance of Physical Appearance and Muscle Tone
Numerous studies have associated shorter sleep with greater risk of weight gain. When you’re sleep deprived, your hormones ghrelin increases (making you feel hungrier) and leptin decreases (making us feel full). Sleep also allows your heart rate to rest, letting your body know it’s time to repair any tissues and cells made during physical exercise. Another restorative process our body undergoes is helping your recovery journey. Whether you’ve picked up the common cold or injured yourself, sleep enables the body to cytokines – a protein released by cells that controls the activity of immune system and blood cells.
Memory Formation
When your brain is starved of sleep, it struggles to concentrate, be productive and cognitively perform. Your brain has greater success at formulating, consolidating information and recalling memories. Learning and decision-making processes become harder when you’re sleep deprived, slowing down your reaction times to any stimuli – not ideal if you’re in a sports match! For deeper science on the relationship between cognitive function and sleep, check out this Harvard article.
Sleep Hygiene:
Now you know a few of the wonderful benefits sleep has on our bodies, we wanted to include a few sleep hygiene tips to improve your quality and quantity of sleep:
- Avoid caffeine – reduce your consumption intake about 8 hours before your bedtime to reduce activation of your adrenaline hormones
- Darken the room (or use orange lighting) – this helps produce melatonin (a hormone that primes you for sleep) to get you feeling sleepy
- Sleep on a regular schedule – your body can produce melatonin on a more consistent basis if you keep your cycle predictable for your body. A wind-down routine can be helpful for your body to predict when it’s time to rest.
- Reduce stressors – we know you’ve probably heard this before but it’s important to emphasise it. Stress activates your adrenaline hormone, which puts your body in a fight or flight scenario – not ideal when you’re trying to wind down for the night
These tips are designed to give you easy steps to improve your sleep hygiene to maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle. Sleep is amazing for regulating your body’s homeostasis, keep your brain active and sustain weight-loss and muscle tone for overall performance, whether you’re walking the dog or training for a marathon. Are your pillows hindering your sleep quality? Choosing the right pillow for your sleeping style is crucial to upgrading your sleeping quality.
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References:
- Besedovsky, L., Lange, T. and Haack, M. (2019). The Sleep-Immune Crosstalk in Health and Disease. Physiological Reviews, 99(3), pp.1325–1380. doi:https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00010.2018.
- Opp, M.R. and Krueger, J.M. (2015). Sleep and Immunity: A Growing Field with Clinical Impact. Brain, behavior, and immunity, [online] 47, pp.1–3. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2015.03.011.
- Leproult, R. and Van Cauter, E. (2009). Role of sleep and sleep loss in hormonal release and metabolism. Pediatric Neuroendocrinology, [online] 17, pp.11–21. doi:https://doi.org/10.1159/000262524.
- Brum, M.C.B., Dantas Filho, F.F., Schnorr, C.C., Bertoletti, O.A., Bottega, G.B. and da Costa Rodrigues, T. (2020). Night shift work, short sleep and obesity. Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome, 12(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/s13098-020-0524-9.
- Itani, O., Jike, M., Watanabe, N. and Kaneita, Y. (2017). Short sleep duration and health outcomes: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression. Sleep Medicine, 32, pp.246–256. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2016.08.006.
- Cooper, C.B., Neufeld, E.V., Dolezal, B.A. and Martin, J.L. (2018). Sleep deprivation and obesity in adults: A brief narrative review. BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, [online] 4(1), p.e000392. doi:https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2018-000392.
- Fry, A. (2021). Sleep & Athletic Performance. [online] Sleep Foundation. Available at: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/physical-activity/athletic-performance-and-sleep.
- Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School (2007). Sleep, Learning, and Memory | Healthy Sleep. [online] healthysleep.med.harvard.edu. Available at: https://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits-of-sleep/learning-memory.
- Field, A. (2009). Why Sleep Is So Important. [online] Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2009/01/why-sleep-is-so-important.