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SLEEP IS YOUR SUPERPOWER
(summary of TED lecture)
The material is taken from a lecture by By Matt Walker (brain and sleep scientist) on TED talks. This article is a short summary of what he was saying.
“The alarmingly bad things both for your brain and for your body happen when you don't get enough sleep!”
“The alarmingly bad things both for your brain and for your body happen when you don't get enough sleep!”
Matt Walker
brain and sleep scientist
Interesting fact!
People need sleep BEFORE learning to prepare their brain, almost like a dry sponge ready to initially soak up new information, so without sleep they can't absorb new memories.
Hippocampus
Hippocampus is a structure that sits on the left and the right side of brain and serves as an informational inbox of brain. It receives new memory files and then holding on to them. In those people who have a full night of sleep, there is healthy learning-related activity. But sleep deprivation shuts down memory inbox, and any new incoming files just being bounced. The research showed a 40-percent deficit in the ability of the brain to make new memories without sleep.
People need sleep BEFORE learning to prepare their brain, almost like a dry sponge ready to initially soak up new information, so without sleep they can't absorb new memories.
Hippocampus
Hippocampus is a structure that sits on the left and the right side of brain and serves as an informational inbox of brain. It receives new memory files and then holding on to them. In those people who have a full night of sleep, there is healthy learning-related activity. But sleep deprivation shuts down memory inbox, and any new incoming files just being bounced. The research showed a 40-percent deficit in the ability of the brain to make new memories without sleep.
There are big, powerful brainwaves that happen during the deepest stages of sleep that responsible for that. They act like a file-transfer mechanism at night: shift memories from a short-term vulnerable reservoir to a more permanent long-term storage site within the brain, making them safe.
It's no secret that, as we get older, learning and memory abilities begin to fade and decline. But when people get older, their sleep gets worse as well, especially deepest stages of it. These two things are significantly interrelated. Disruption of deep sleep contributes memory decline in aging, Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
A new method called direct current brain stimulation was developed. Insertion of a small amount of voltage into the brain of young, healthy adults during sleep has a measurable impact: it amplifies the size of deep-sleep brainwaves and almost doubles the amount of memory benefit that people get from sleep.
A new method called direct current brain stimulation was developed. Insertion of a small amount of voltage into the brain of young, healthy adults during sleep has a measurable impact: it amplifies the size of deep-sleep brainwaves and almost doubles the amount of memory benefit that people get from sleep.
Sleep loss impairs cardiovascular system
There is a global experiment called daylight saving time. It shows that in the spring, when people lose 1 hour of sleep, there is 24% increase in heart attacks that following day. In the autumn, when they gain 1 hour of sleep, there is a 21% reduction in heart attacks as well as in car crashes, road traffic accidents, and even suicide rates.
Sleep loss weakens immune system
Natural killer cells are secret service agents of immune system. They identify dangerous elements, eliminate them and destroy a cancerous tumor mass.
With a lack of sleep, there was a 70-percent drop in natural killer cell activity, which was a concerning state of immune deficiency. So, there are links between short sleep duration and a risk for the development of cancer (cancer of the bowel, prostate and the breast).
In fact, the link between a lack of sleep and cancer is now so strong that the World Health Organization has classified any form of nighttime shift work as a probable carcinogen, because of a disruption of sleep-wake rhythms.
There is a global experiment called daylight saving time. It shows that in the spring, when people lose 1 hour of sleep, there is 24% increase in heart attacks that following day. In the autumn, when they gain 1 hour of sleep, there is a 21% reduction in heart attacks as well as in car crashes, road traffic accidents, and even suicide rates.
Sleep loss weakens immune system
Natural killer cells are secret service agents of immune system. They identify dangerous elements, eliminate them and destroy a cancerous tumor mass.
With a lack of sleep, there was a 70-percent drop in natural killer cell activity, which was a concerning state of immune deficiency. So, there are links between short sleep duration and a risk for the development of cancer (cancer of the bowel, prostate and the breast).
In fact, the link between a lack of sleep and cancer is now so strong that the World Health Organization has classified any form of nighttime shift work as a probable carcinogen, because of a disruption of sleep-wake rhythms.
Lack of sleep erodes DNA genetic code
In the research, significant 711 genes were distorted in their activity, caused by a lack of sleep. The half of those genes increased in their activity: genes associated with the promotion of tumors and long-term chronic, stress, and cardiovascular disease. The other half decreased: genes associated with immune system. Thus, there was a case of immune deficiency.
In the research, significant 711 genes were distorted in their activity, caused by a lack of sleep. The half of those genes increased in their activity: genes associated with the promotion of tumors and long-term chronic, stress, and cardiovascular disease. The other half decreased: genes associated with immune system. Thus, there was a case of immune deficiency.
Sleep loss impairs reproductive system
Men who sleep five hours a night have significantly smaller testicles and decreased level of testosterone. There are the same impairments in female reproductive health caused by a lack of sleep.
HOW TO SLEEP HEALTHY?
1) Avoid alcohol and caffeine
2) If you're struggling with sleep at night, avoid naps during the day
3) If you are staying in bed awake for too long, get out of bed, go to a different room and do something different. (Your brain associates your bedroom with the place of wakefulness, and you need to break that association. So only return to bed when you are sleepy, and that way you will relearn the association that you once had, which is your bed is the place of sleep).
MAIN RULES
1) Regularity. Go to bed at the same time, wake up at the same time.
2) Keep it cool. Aim for a bedroom temperature of around 65 degrees (18 degrees Celsius).
Men who sleep five hours a night have significantly smaller testicles and decreased level of testosterone. There are the same impairments in female reproductive health caused by a lack of sleep.
HOW TO SLEEP HEALTHY?
1) Avoid alcohol and caffeine
2) If you're struggling with sleep at night, avoid naps during the day
3) If you are staying in bed awake for too long, get out of bed, go to a different room and do something different. (Your brain associates your bedroom with the place of wakefulness, and you need to break that association. So only return to bed when you are sleepy, and that way you will relearn the association that you once had, which is your bed is the place of sleep).
MAIN RULES
1) Regularity. Go to bed at the same time, wake up at the same time.
2) Keep it cool. Aim for a bedroom temperature of around 65 degrees (18 degrees Celsius).
Remember, we can't catch up on sleep. “Sleep is not like the bank. You can't accumulate a debt and then hope to pay it off at a later point in time.”
So, sleep enough every day and stay healthy!
So, sleep enough every day and stay healthy!
If you want to watch the whole lecture, here it is: https://www.ted.com/talks/matt_walker_sleep_is_your_superpower
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