Wondering Why You're Still Tired After A Good Long Sleep?
Did you know that the average person spends about one-third of their life asleep? While you sleep, your brain is incredibly active. It's not a dormant state; it's a time when your brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and even solves problems.
Ever wondered why athletes prioritise their sleep? It turns out that sleep loss isn't just a performance dampener; it's a game-changer.
Lack of sleep can negatively impact exercise performance in athletes, potentially causing autonomic nervous system imbalances, immune system dysfunction, and even slower cognitive performance.
Not only quantity but quality of sleep matters too. Let's understand a few occurrences that happen while we are asleep and why they make quality as important as quantity.
1. Total Sleep Deprivation (TSD): Imagine a night without sleep—total sleep deprivation. It's not just grogginess; it can actually decrease your mechanical pain thresholds.
This also means that your post-exercise soreness can increase!
Tolerance to pain reduces, making you more sensitive to pain. (1)
2. Slow Wave Sleep (SWS):
This is the deep, restorative sleep that your body craves. There are multiple stages.
During NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement) stages 3 and 4, your brain experiences high voltage slow waves, like a symphony in the delta band (less than 3 Hz).
Lasting between 70 and 90 minutes, it's like a vital checkpoint in the early night hours, ensuring you get the essential sleep. This is the time when growth hormone is released, crucial for physical and intellectual efficiency. Unfortunately, this superhero sleep is noticeably reduced in older individuals. (2)
3. Rapid Eye Movement (REM): REM sleep, occurs approximately 90 minutes into your slumber and repeats throughout the night. Marked by swift eye movements behind closed lids, this phase showcases heightened brain activity akin to wakefulness. REM is renowned for hosting vivid and memorable dreams, acting as a creative playground for your mind. It also plays a role in memory consolidation, contributing to learning and cognitive functions. While the exact purpose of REM remains a puzzle, its disruption has been associated with mood disorders and cognitive impairment, emphasising its crucial role in overall well-being.
So, it's not just about hitting the recommended 7-9 hours; it's about the quality of those hours that matters, ultimately that is what decides how you feel after waking up and throughout the day. For a few even 5hrs of sleep might be enough if quality was up to the mark.
Now the question is -
How to improve the quality of sleep?
Check out this short video for simple tools to improve your sleep.
