Sleep Time is Busy Time

We all know what we need to do to stay healthy and be able to keep up with our busy lives. Fresh fruits and vegetables are a must as well as exercise. We know to stretch before we exercise and to do both cardiovascular work-outs and weight training. We also know we need a good nights sleep but often think of it as a waste of time. There are so many things to do on a daily basis that we forget how much our bodies accomplish while we sleep.

According to an article Living Well; If you don’t snooze your body loses; sleep is a must, there is a lot of activity going on in our bodies while we sleep. Neural circuits in the brain are rewired, short term memory moves to long term memory; growth hormones are restored; blood pressure drops; cells in your organs are strengthened by protein synthesis. More importantly it is when the body breaks the stress pattern. This gives the body a chance to rest and restore itself before the next round of stress starts.

All of us deal with stress on a daily basis, some more than others but all to some degree. Some people even attempt to use an alcoholic nightcap to assist with reaching this time of regeneration. Unfortunately, alcohol is actually a stimulant so while they fall asleep and get one cycle of sleep lasting about 90 min the second half of their sleep is affected by the alcohol and therefore they don’t recoup as well as those whom don’t drink before bedtime.

If you tend to worry at night you might try a nightly routine of writing down your problems on a list and leave them on the night stand. A good nights sleep is well worth trying a new technique to stop the insomnia and move on to a good nights sleep. Keep in mind all the wonderful activity going on when you sleep. You don’t want to miss out!