De ce dormim? - Lavinia Dinca Nutrition

A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything.
Irish proverb

How many hours did you sleep last night?

I wasn't aware of the importance of sleep until I started reading the book "Why we sleep" by Matthew Walker , a scientist and professor of neuroscience and psychology, who dedicated his career to the study of sleep.

Sleep can affect more than your mood. Its lack has extreme consequences: low immunity, increased risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer, obesity, Alzheimer's, but also mental illness such as depression and anxiety. Did I get your attention? Sleep is an ingredient for a healthy lifestyle, because in nature everything is logical, and the human body was created in harmony with it. And no, it doesn't work with coffee, unfortunately...

Sleep as part of the body's circadian biorhythm

The day has 24 hours (I hope it's not new info :D), but scientists have discovered that our inner clock is somewhere between 15-30 minutes longer. So, if there was no light as a regulating factor of the circadian biorhythm, in about 15 days we would end up sleeping during the day and staying awake at night. It's all due to eye receptors, sensitive to bright light in the blue spectrum and transmitting information directly to the brain, in a place called "the master clock" . This is how every morning, when the sun comes up, these cells notice it and tell the brain that it's time to wake up, increasing the level of cortisol (stress hormone) in the blood.

Okay, this happens naturally, but how many of us go to bed and wake up in the same time with the chickens? ...

Modern society has developed various factors of "intervention". How does this affect us?

In addition to the fact that we have artificial light available throughout the day, the screens of mobile phones, computers, televisions and other electronics that release blue light fool these visual receptors and change our circadian rhythm, becoming harder and harder to fall asleep at a decent hour. This is one of the reasons why we feel tired in the morning when the alarm goes off (besides the hearty dinner ) and for which on weekends we wake up at "lunch". If you use your phone before bed, one solution would be to set it to yellow light .

Another problem comes from the fact that we spend most of the time in closed spaces, with not very strong light, and the body does not know clearly if it is day or night, which affects our state and organs' internal biorhythm. The quality of the light is very important, so I advise you to stay in bright rooms during the day and reduce its intensity as much as possible in the evening .

And because I know that in winter we have to wake up in the morning, when it's still dark , I found the solution with a "smart" lamp (don't judge, it works!), which mimics very well sunset or sunrise. You can set the time to start lighting and the color spectrum to use, all in one application.

For those who work on night shifts , it can be more difficult to keep up with the circadian biorhythm and you need to make a more special effort to rest. Sleeping during the day, after working hours, will not be long enough and qualitative as during the night. Therefore, try to regain lost sleep with short periods of 20-30 minutes of sleep ("power naps") during the day if you cannot sleep for 8h straight, which can improve performance and restore alertness, as shown by various studies.

About sleep… myths or reality?

The rule of 8 hours of sleep per night

Studies show that the recommended number of hours varies with age, but also with each individual. Indeed, adults between the ages of 18 and 64 would be ideal to sleep between 7-9 hours a night . For the other age groups this interval differs: children need more sleep to regenerate and grow, while the elderly sleep less as the body slows down cell regeneration.

Just to mention, regeneration is the time when nutrients consumed during the day are used to rebuild damaged tissues (such as muscles !!!), but also to reconstruct the immune system and other organs in the body (go here for more details). However, I must say that this stage can be done on empty stomach, when digestion is not on focus and regeneration function can do its job properly! Therefore, various researches have shown that calorie restriction before going to bed can lead to an increase in muscle mass (at least we should be motivated to sleep for muscles) and an improvement in immune function. So, sleep and eating habbits go hand in hand and we get to be careful again when we have dinner (3 hours before sleep, right?).

Shall we go to sleep from 10PM?

For modern man, the ideal time to go to sleep is, indeed, 22:00, when the brain begins to produce the greatest amount of melatonin (the sleep hormone) and, so we have the most restful sleep (NREM -> deep sleep), which helps in stocking memories and get rid of the unuseful ones. In addition, if we push this hour towards midnight, we risk not reaching the minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep per night and accumulate a so-called "sleep debt" (as if the other mortgages were not enough). In other words, even if you sleep the required number of hours a few nights in a row, you may still have sleep to recover from previous "short nights" and feel tired. So, should we make a schedule?

Too much sleep is dangerous

People who usually sleep more than the hours recommended by researchers are at risk of getting sick, or already have a hidden health problem that needs to be investigated. Most of the time, because sleep and metabolism are closely linked (they are part of the same circadian biorhythm), those who sleep more can develop metabolic syndrome : excess fat around the waist, hypertension, blood sugar and increased triglycerides. A study shows that 29% of men and 25% of the women analyzed developed this syndrome.

How to have a restful sleep?

In addition to the other tips, I would suggest the following:

Try to do daily exercise - at least 5-6 times a week for 30-60min. "I don't have time" is not an excuse in this case and I stick to the idea that a healthy lifestyle means 50% nutrition, 50% sports and 100% mindset!
Create a sleep schedule that you can follow even during the weekends;
Build a sleep-friendly environment with warm light, a temperature set at around 20 degrees Celsius and a calm, relaxing sound;
In order not to keep your brain busy with thoughts that do not let you fall asleep, it helps a lot to keep a diary in which to put on the "To Do's" for the coming day, but also the unfinished things and the teachings of the current day;
Read a few pages before bed - I recommend fiction (even if you don't like to read, I guarantee it's more effective than a lullaby);
As I said before, eat a light evening meal , with fresh veggies, or at least vegan, 3 hours before bedtime, in order to have time to digest before going to sleep.

And below I let you a speech by the sleep expert Matt Walker, which is worth listening to: