Sweet dreamzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"Sleep is the best meditation"

Dalai lama

Hello everyone! 
Hope you all had a great sleep last night;) If not then this is the right time to read the article about the importance of sleep in our life! 
 From the day we are born till we die, there is one thing as a living creature that we have to do. And that is to sleep at night. 
As you know humans are not NOCTURNAL animals. It means we can't stay up at night and function well. To keep  our body working properly and smoothly, we have to sleep. 
As a newborn you sleep more hours than as adult and that is the main key for a healthy development of a child. 
You may have heard that “when you sleep you are growing” and that is true! Can you imagine life without any sleep? Sleep is a remedy for every exhaustion/ illness/ stress in life. No matter how hard of a day you had, if you get a good night’s sleep, you are ready to take on the next day.
Sleep helps in autoregulating all different systems of the body so it can work as a whole.
Night sleep is the time when all organs learn to relax and regenerate. Neurons make more connections in the brain. Any dysfunction between different system gets regulated on it's own with the sleep. You get more blood flow to the brain when you sleep. Sleeping regulates blood pressure and body temperature.

Our biological clock that helps us to go to sleep at certain time and wake up at certain time is called the "circadian rhythm".

This generation has been exposed to so many varieties of technology/gadgets and they all have screens! Spending too much time on electronics can do worse for the sleep for sure. People do not realize how much we use electronic in our daily life and we are all suffering the consequences of that in different ways.
In the current pandemic, self quarantine time, I think people have excessive use of electronics for work, learning, socialization, entertainment, news, and what not.
Again I can write a whole different article on effects of electronics on our mind and body some other time!
Today I want to point out that excessive electronic exposure to your brain gives signal that it is not time to sleep yet by lowering the melatonin. It is the chemical in brain, secreted by a pineal gland which helps to balance biological clock in our brain. It helps our body  to know it is time to go to sleep  when it is dark and wake up when it is bright sun out. So this way body can take a break and get rejuvenated! Unfortunately as I said earlier, humans are not NOCTURNAL but we are asking our body to work at night, spend more time on electronics at night and not realizing that we are messing up our biological sleep clock and that will affect the whole body functioning.
Currently more than 50% of people in USA are suffering from insomnia/ sleep issues.  Even in children sleep is the biggest problem.

What happens when we sleep?

• The body gets a break from all stressful responsibilities
• Relaxes muscles, organs.
• Improves blood flow to brain and all different parts of the body
• Stabilize autonomic nervous system (body temp, blood pressure, heart rate, breathing)
• Improves immunity
• Helps to grow neurons in our brain and also regenerate damaged cells
• REM sleep- dream sleep also helps to remove unwanted information and that helps with your mental health
• Stabilize endocrine secretions and lower stress hormones
• Avoid weight gain: when you sleep good, there will be less ghrelin (so less appetite) and more leptin( less need for food) so less weight gain. 

 Common causes for insomnia:

• Stress
• Emotional problems-depression, anxiety, mood dx
• Chronic medical problems/ pain
• Acute illness
• Medications
• Drug abuse
• Unhealthy life style
• Sleep disorders
• Too much caffeine/energy drink

Effects of lack of sleep:

• Low energy/ fatigue
• Poor concentration/memory/learning issues
• Lack of motivation
• Lack of creativity
• Increased body weight
• Headache/bodyache
• Weakened immunity
• Early aging/wrinkled skin
• Increase risk of depression, anxiety and other mood dx
• Risk of chronic health issues- diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, risk of catching infections, obesity, hormonal imbalance
• Relationship stress
• Risk of addiction to drugs
• Poor school/work performance
• Severe sleep deprivation can cause hallucination/ delirium

How much should we sleep? (source: Journal of clinical sleep medicine) in 24 hours

• Infants: 4 months to 12 months: 12-16 hours
• children 1-2 yrs of age: 11-12 hours
• children 3-5 years:10-13 hours
• children 6-12 years: 9-12 hours
• Teenage 13-18 yrs: 8-10 hours
• Adults: 7-9 hours
• seniors: 6-8 hours

How to improve our sleep?

• Bedtime routine: It is very important to keep your bedtime routine. It will help your brain to realize that it is time to sleep! 
• Keep regular bedtime. try to wake up at the same time. Go to bed only to sleep not to watch TV/phone.  
• Go to bed only when feeeling sleepy. If unable to sleep then come out of bed, read or do something boring till you feel like going to bed again. Never watch TV or get on phone/ipad if you can't sleep. That way you are making youself not to sleep more.
• Wake up on same time: If you want to keep you circardian rhythm stable, then no matter how late you go to bed , do wake up same time in the morning. So that way your next night sleep is not affected.
• Taking a shower in the evening also helps to relax your mind.
• Avoid electronics: When you use electronics, the brain lowers the level of melatonin which is the main trigger for sleep. No screen time 2 hours before bedtime.
• Avoid caffeine/ethyl alcohol.: any kind of stimulant drink can keep you up at night and can also cause hangover effect.  Avoid after 5 pm.
• Avoid heavy work out: heavy work out closer to bedtime will cause more oxytocin realase which will keep you more energetic and may casue trouble fallng asleep. If you need to do work out, consider early evening or morning.
• Light exercise: Recommend to have light evercise- small walk later in the evening as that can help you fall asleep.
• Avoid heavy meals: Heavy meals will need more time to digest and that will delay blood flow to brain and can disrupt sleep. Or heartburn/ indigestion will keep you awake.
• Meditation: Consider 10-15 minutes meditation/deep breathing before bedtime.
• Read a book: Read something that can give joy not excitement/fear/worries before bedtime.
• Listen to calm music: spiritual/ calm instrumental or meditating music. Some people like white noise to fall asleep.

• Avoid  long naps: People who take long naps during day time, may have trouble staying asleep all night. If needed , take 20 min power nap! siesta! Short nap can actullay make you more productive during the day time. 
• Aromatherapy: Apply or use in surrounding: essential oils or frgrances that you love. 
• Massage: You can do some oil massage on your arms/feet before going to bed. 

Still awake!! Have a great night. Keep dreaming!!

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

" Man should forget his anger before he lies down to sleep"

- Mahatma Gandhi