Two Benefits of Sleep That You May Not Know About
“There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.”
― Homer, The Odyssey
Is Sleep Really That Important?
We all need to sleep; however, some of us covet shut eye more than others. Some of us may be in the camp ‘I need my 8 hours, no matter what’, while others are in the camp of ‘sleep means that I’m missing out on an opportunity’. Regardless of your perspective, sleep is not only important for our everyday health, but may even have beneficial effects for our long term health.
Read on to learn about unseen aspects of sleep that can help your:
memory
cognitive ability
stress resiliency
and more!
1. Brain Flushing
Fluid flow, spaces between brain cells, implications
One of the top theories of sleep suggests that slumber is necessary to allow the brain to clean up and reboot from the previous day’s activities. This theory meaning that sleep actually results in a clearer mind. Think of your body’s lymphatic system, but for your brain. A 2013 study, with mice, suggests that sleep helps restore the brain by flushing out metabolic build-up from our waking hours. A system that drains waste products from the brain… yes, it is a real thing! When we sleep, versus being in a wakeful state, our glial cells, those surrounding our brain cells/neurons, decrease in size. This allows cerebrospinal fluid to flow through the system. This simple, yet intricate cleansing system is considered as a way to decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s!
2. Decreasing Stress
Never stressing is not realistic; however, increasing our resiliency to stress is! As mentioned before, sleep is theorized as a time to reboot and reset from our previous day. This is a time to process information, filter through the days memories, cleanse metabolic waste (see above), as well as reset our hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.
Our hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) Axis is the core of our stress response. It influences a cascade of chemicals that help our body know whether or not to be in ‘fight or flight mode’ which could be considered a high HPA axis activation. In a day and age where we are bombarded with stimuli, it is very easy to become over stimulated, stressed, reactive, or on edge. It is no one’s fault. It is a function of our hard-wiring and the time we live in.
From the available data it can be concluded that both objective and subjective decrements in sleep quality potentiate the stress reactivity of the HPA axis.
What does the science say?
So how are the HPA axis and sleep related? Winding down for bedtime and going to sleep occurs concomitantly with a low HPA axis activation. Consider this the opposite of a ‘fight or flight’ response. The HPA axis interacts with sleep in a multiplicity of ways and a growing body of research suggests reciprocal associations between sleep and activity of the HPA axis. (Tori Hudson). In addition to going to sleep, our HPA axis is responsible for our responses to stressors, real or perceived. It a practical sense, that means if you feel extra stressed and overwhelmed, that a nap or a good night of sleep can help you wake up feeling refreshed. Regular quality sleep can real be something to consider if it is not already a part of your lifestyle.
What does this all mean?
It is scientifically back that sleep is important. Knowing that is great, but what if sleep just isn’t happening? What if you are ready to transition from Surviving to Thriving?
Sometimes we need a little reset of our habits, our mindset, and maybe our HPA. If you’ve noticed yourself fatigued, stressed, on edge, sleepy, or carrying an extra bit of weight then consider Instinctive Cognition to get you on your way.
Our 21-day, 10 min/day, online program to teach you how to calm and focus your conscious mind. Instinctive Cognition is designed to help you reduce the stress response and optimize your performance. The program comes with two (2) baseline cortisol test kits to test your before and after stress levels, and an analog journal to help keep you on track.
REFERENCES
Cherry, K. (2019, July 29). How Sleep Helps the Brain Clean Itself. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/how-sleep-cleans-up-the-brain-2795924.
How Sleep Clears the Brain. (2016, March 31). Retrieved from https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/how-sleep-clears-brain.
Hudson, T. (2017, February 6). Cortisol and Sleep: The HPA Axis Activity Connection. Retrieved from https://www.integrativepro.com/Resources/Integrative-Blog/2017/Cortisol-and-Sleep.
van Dalfsen, J. H., & Markus, C. R. (2018, June). The influence of sleep on human hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity: A systematic review. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29126903.
Xie, L. et al. (2013). During sleep, metabolic waste products are removed from the extracellular spaces in the brain. Science, 373-377.
