Sleep – The Secrets Unravelled

So we all love sleeping, don’t we?

It often feels like not working anymore. We all wish to relax, sleep, sleep and sleep. But why do we have this feeling, where all we want to do is Sleep? Can’t we stay awake for a week? A month? A year? This is even hard to imagine, right? Well, we need to sleep every day. After consistent hours of brain work, it needs rest, which is an essential process for all.

What is the truth behind the sleep-wake cycle within us?

Every day we wake up and find ourselves working the whole day until the night. At last, we find our beds to sleep in. The same process repeats for the rest of our lives. This is called the sleep-wake cycle of the circadian rhythms. Every single day our bodies make themselves comfortable enough to meet the demands of day and night. It adjusts itself with the circadian rhythm systematically. In short, the environment and day-night we experience control the circadian rhythms within. Some signals help the circadian rhythm to detect when to sleep and when to wake up. Hence, controlling the sleep system.

What happens during sleep?

Do you know that our brain works even when we are asleep or about to fall asleep? Research through EEG (a test that detects electrical activity in our brain) shows two patterns of activity. It involves the alpha and beta activity. The alpha activity involves regular brain waves of 8-12 Hz which takes place when we are resting quietly. Whereas, the beta activity involves irregular brain waves of 13-30 Hz. It happens when a person is thinking constantly about what to do next after waking up. For example; getting an ice-cream or thinking about cooking some food after waking up. When the person slightly falls asleep, they enter the first phase of sleep which includes theta activity (3.5 -7.5 Hz). Around 10 minutes after, people enter phase two of sleeping. Here the theta activity is present in the form of sleep spindles (12-14 Hz).

These are the waves that help to continue sleeping. K complexes are waves that occur at a sudden rate and can easily get distracted by noises around. For instance, when the person is sleeping and some noise disturbs the sleep. 15 minutes later or so one enters, phase three of sleeping which includes delta waves. And then after 45 minutes or so, stage four kicks in, where the delta activity is the highest. This is because we are now at the deepest level of sleeping where dreaming takes place. After this, comes a special phase of sleep which is the REM sleep. It is called so because rapid eye movements are going on altogether while sleeping. Dreaming takes place here but somehow if one wakes up during this phase, they are easily able to recall what the dream was and can easily narrate the whole dream. But usually, recalling dreams after waking up in between the other phase of sleep is somewhat difficult.

Common beliefs on dreaming

It is believed that if some activity happens around us or is exercised upon us while we are sleeping, then we may dream about it too or we would somehow link that to our dreams. Suppose if, while sleeping, we happen to smell some delicious food cooking at home, we would connect that to our dreams. For example; “I was at the library studying the book I wanted to read this whole time and upon completing the book the librarian offered me some free snacks.”

It is believed that dreams have a short span of memory, so it’s difficult to recall them. But in actual research, it has been proven that when a person is at the REM sleep phase and wakes up, they can still recall the dreams. Some people believe that they do not dream at all like normal dreamers. They still go through all stages of sleep as normal dreamers. Penile erection during sleep is often associated with dreams containing sexual content. Also, it is believed that if we dream about walking, we tend to walk during our sleep. If we dream of talking something intense to anyone, then it is assumed as sleep talking in our dreams.

What happens if we stop sleeping or are sleep deprived?

If we sleep for negligible hours, say; 1 or 2 hours every 24 hours, or try not to fall asleep, then it is witnessed that our body won’t be able to take it further. Thus, producing disturbances in our behavior. We behave aggressively while talking to someone (mood changes) and also fail to function properly. It affects mental health which decreases the ability to pay attention and this would affect physical health too. These disturbances will keep on growing if kept deprived of sleep and until one is put back to sleep. There will also be an increased urge for sleeping. This is because the circadian rhythm gets affected too. It fails to control the sleep-wake schedule if we keep on working until we provide some rest to our brain.

Did you ever experience jet lag and shift work?

This happens when the circadian rhythm gets disturbed due to the changes in our daily night-day environment. Suppose, if a person from India goes out for a vacation to the U.S for a month. Then, the first few days they might face jet lag. Their normal sleeping schedule would be disturbed due to the time zone difference. Due to this, the person faces difficulty, adjusting himself to the new environment as per the previous time zone. Reason being that our body’s internal clock fails to adjust to the new surroundings. The new time zone would signal the brain the time to sleep. It increases the urge for sleepiness in the person. Shift work occurs because of this when work shifts are frequently rotated. Such as changing day and night shifts at work.

“What if we take drugs to control our sleep?”

Drugs can affect our sleep to a great extent. Medical science has developed drugs both for increasing sleep ( hypnotic drugs) and reducing sleep (anti-hypnotic drugs). The hypnotic drugs make us drowsy and we easily fall asleep. But the side effects of such drugs are adverse. They leave us feeling drowsy the next day of their intake. The drugs show fewer effects after consuming them a couple of times. This leaves the consumer with the urge to take it once again. Eventually, it reduces life- longevity. In the case of anti-hypnotic drugs, the drug helps us to remain active and keeps one awake for a long time. Its prolonged use is risky as it results in loss of our appetite, disturbs our sleep cycle, increases anxiety, and the person gets addicted.

Health and Sleep: Is it connected?

It is well known that sleep and health are interlinked. Disturbed sleep schedule due to workload, stress, or consumption of drugs results in various kinds of sleep disorder. One such category of disorders is hypersomnia. It makes a person sleepy and drowsy with excessive sleepiness. Narcolepsy is a disorder that falls under hypersomnia. It occurs with a sleep attack, i.e a sudden urge to fall asleep at any time of the day, it lasts for a few minutes. One faces attacks of paralysis but is aware of the surroundings. While being paralyzed, the person experiences hallucinations (imagining objects, demons, ghosts, people, and sounds). The duration of the attack is a few minutes.

The other category is insomnia. It is the opposite of hypersomnia where one feels sleepless. They feel completely fine even without sleeping. The scenario is worse when drugs are used to cure the disturbances. It is called drug dependency insomnia. Sleep apnea is another form of insomnia, where the person is unable to sleep and breathe. After a few minutes when they fall asleep, they cease to breathe. Thus, intaking drugs to influence sleep is disastrous for the body and the brain. In many of the cases, it has been fatal.

One way to keep the sleeping patterns healthy is the practice of exercise, yoga, and meditation. Exercise or workout makes one tired and increases the urge to rest. Yoga and meditation are proven useful, calming the body, initiating a relaxed state, and peace of mind. If any person is suffering from a sleeping disorder, then yoga and meditation is the best way to reinstate the normal pattern.

Thus, sleep plays a crucial role in our lives and it should not be taken for granted. Various studies have proved yoga and meditation to be beneficial. Yoga, workout, and meditation reflect changes at a slow pace but for a long time.

WRITTEN BY:

MINHAZ HUSSAIN BORAH

REVIEWED BY:

MANVI MEHROTRA

LABHANSHI MITTAL

AASIS KAUR SETHI