This post is a complement of my previous post- Science of sleep
Introduction
Author BruceBlaus [License: CC BY-SA 3.0]:
wikimedia commons Sometime in 2014, it was reported that an ardent football fan died after staying awake to watch the world cup for 48hours (2 days). While this sudden death was due to a stroke, further studies showed that an individual increases his or her risk of developing a stroke 4.5times, by sleeping for less than 6hours per night.
For some individuals, excitement about an upcoming event, pondering on deep matters, stress about some challenging to-do list, are some stresses that makes them stay awake at night. The above mentioned, are temporary stresses which keeps individuals awake at night. I call them temporary because these issues can be resolved.
There are also other individuals whose lack of sleep is caused by stress about losing sleep. This issue is at the frontline of insomnia, which happens to be the world's commonest sleeping disorder, and shouldn't be taken lightly because it could lead to even more severe damages.
Here is what happens just before sleep
The body sends signals to the brain, informing the brain of its tiredness. We also get signals from the environment, telling us its dark outside, and its time for sleep. This often causes a rise in sleep inducing chemicals like melatonin and adenosine, which then prompts a light sleep in us, that gradually grows deeper. Our body temperature drops gradually just before we fall asleep, which also sends signals to out brain, asking it to release melatonin, which in turn affects our circadian rhythm
At this time, our heart rate and breathing begins to slow down, while our muscles relaxes gradually. This stage of sleep is a "non-REM stage, and is the period when our DNA begins to get repaired, and our body cells are replenished, for optimum performance when we wake up.
It is also important to note that whenever we lose sleep, we endanger some aspects of our life, like our reaction time, proper learning, sound memory, etc. losing sleep may also cause abnormalities like inflammation, high blood pressure, hallucination in most cases, obesity, etc
Melatonin
Melatonin structure [License: CC BY-SA 3.0]:
wikimedia commons Melatonin is a sleeping chemical, with the IUPAC ID: N-[2-(5-methoxy-1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl], and chemical formula: C13H16N2O2. There are a lot of body functions which melatonin is involved with, some include regulation of our blood pressure, aiding blind people relate to night and day cycle, delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS), memory loss (dementia), circadian rhythm, etc. But for this post, i'l be focusing on melatonin as it relates to our sleeping and wakefulness.
Melatonin is also produced in plants and plays a vital role in the defense against oxidative stress. In humans, melatonin plays diverse roles, including the role of an antioxidant, medicine, and a hormone which regulates our sleeping and wakefulness. Medically, it is used for treatment in rapid eye movement sleep stage disorders. It can also be used for insomnia treatment
How melatonin works
The production of melatonin in humans decreases with age. Since one of the major works of melatonin is the regulation of night and day cycles, proper and regular production of this hormone is influenced by darkness. Darkness sends a message to the body, informing the body its sleep time, while light sends a reverse information, telling the body its time to wake up by decreasing the production of melatonin. So, most individuals who finds it hard to sleep, simply has a low level of melatonin. Melatonin can be synthetically made in the laboratory and used as medicine and also added from supplements, to help individuals sleep
Here is what will happen if you dont sleep.
Something remarkable happened in 1965. A 17years old high school student, decided to stay awake for 264hours, which is approximately eleven days. His purpose of doing this, was to see how man would fair without sleep.
Randy was normal the the first day, but his eye focusing diminished at a very high level. He later lost his ability to recognize objects by touching them on day 2. He became broody and scattered by day 3. By the eleventh day his short term memory diminished to a large extent, he also started hallucinating and became excessively paranoid.
Even though there was no observed long term physical or psychological impairment, it is not advised for any one to lose sleep that long, because it could eventually result in further abnormalities like Hormonal imbalance, illnesses, etc.
In my previous post, I spoke extensively concerning "sleep" and the science of sleep. Man is still on a concentrated quest on understanding why we sleep, but one thing is certain, sleeping is essential for optimum health. Adults are advised to sleep 7-8hours every day, while adolescents need about 10hours of daily sleep
When most individuals think of sleeping, all they have in their mind, is a time when a person's mind and body totally shuts down. This thinking is actually flawed, as the body doesn't "Shut down" when we sleep. There are lots of activities going on in the human body during sleep time. Our cells get restored and strengthened, our memory gets solidified. When we go out everyday, there are lots of activities going down in the brain. Sleep time, is one of those very important time where our body and mind processes the informations gotten from our daily activities
Is there anything like paying of sleep debt?
A lot of questions and curiosity has been aroused concerning the payment of sleep debts. Sleep debt is simply making up for the times you didn't sleep when you were supposed to. This sounds like an awesome idea. However, Scientists warn against doing this on a frequent basis. It's best humans maintain a regular sleep habit, because we work everyday, and all those activities we perform during the day, gets processed at night, leaving a night out might not have much effect, if we pay our sleep debt. But losing sleep on a regular basis can be very detrimental to our health.
Excessive sleep (hypersomnia)
Excessive sleepiness or hypersomnia is a sleeping disorder which is characterized by having a difficulty in waking up in the morning, sleeping during wake hours. people suffering from hypersomnia, often times suffer memory loss, appetite loss, anxiety, etc.
There are certain conditions that cause this sleeping disorder, but not having enough sleep by choice, is the most common cause of this disorder. Exchanging sleeping at night with working at night, thereby sleeping during the day. Other causes includes alcohol consumption, drugs, excessive cigarette smoking, depression, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, etc.
One very big negative effect of hypersomnia is the very fact thay patients who are suffering from this sleeping disorder can fall asleep anywhere, like on the steering while driving in public places, or at their work place. A statistics by national sleep IQ foundation states that 40% of individuals, have hypersominia at irregular intervals.
Conclusion
Hypersomnia is one of those disorders which man has a large control over, if we can just harness the power of our will. it is best we properly schedule our sleep and consciously avoid or rearrange any activity, capable of keeping us awake at night. Stay safe guys!
Thank you.
Reference
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