The Importance of Sleep for Your Brain
For some people, it is a badge of honour to get by on very little sleep. It is almost validation that we are too hard working or too busy to get the suggested seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Some might even equate sleeping that much as being lazy. However the more that researchers and health professionals learn about sleep, the less we can pretend it is a waste of time--imagining we could be doing other more productive things. In fact, while we sleep the brain is very productive. It is as busy as when we are awake, but it is busy doing other things.
Recently brain researchers discovered that your brain physically cleans itself while you are asleep. During the day while the brain is working, it accumulates metabolites as waste products of functioning. When we sleep, a cleaning mechanism within the brain flushes out the metabolites.
As an aside, in Alzheimer’s Disease it has been found that there is a plaque called beta-amyloid that builds up in the brain. It is this kind of waste product that the brain cleans while you sleep. As a result, it is easy to see why doctors are now stressing the importance of getting a good night sleep as a way to reduce your risk of getting Alzheimer’s Disease.
To use an analogy, imagine someone working in the garage and at the end of the day had a lot of shavings, filing or dust all over the floor. Taking a water hose to wash it all out is the equivalent of how the brain cleans itself. This brain cleaning system works when we asleep, and it shuts down when we are awake.
Another job that the brain does while we sleep is take all the things that happened in the day and decide what is important. It then files, organizes, and re-organizes all the new information and new learning, and it makes some short-term memories into long-term memories. It is much like putting all the files on to a shelf so that they can be accessed at a later date.
Researchers are learning that the brain consolidates new learning while we are asleep. Whether you are learning a new motor skill, such as how to ride a bike, or a new language, or a new neighbor’s name, it is during sleep that the brain takes that new information and files it into previously learned information. It further organizes and reorganizes and puts together things that you might not consciously have thought of before. This is why upon awaking you may have a creative solution to a problem that was bothering you, or gained new insight or ideas. This is also why the suggestion to “sleep on it” before you make a decision is always good advice.
So what are some tips to getting enough sleep? A person should go to bed and get up at the same time every day, even on weekends, because that helps to establish your circadian rhythm. If this is established, your brain knows when to wake up, when to start getting sleepy and when to go to sleep. When you wake up it is important to open the curtains and let the light in so your brain knows it is time to wake up. This is easier in the spring and summer than it is in the winter in Saskatchewan. Therefore, in the winter, turn on your lights soon after you wake up. Optimally, it is best not to have coffee after 2 p.m. because the half-life of caffeine is thought to be about five to six hours for most healthy people. Since caffeine can cause sleeping problems if it is in your system, by not consuming caffeine after 2 p.m., it should make it easier to fall asleep at a reasonable time.
One of the most important life style changes affecting sleep, is the use of electronic devices. Specifically the screen light emitted from cell phones, computers, and other devices mimics the sunlight as far as our eyes are concerned and it tells your brain to wake up. This means you should not be looking at the screen from any electronic device too close to bedtime.
And finally, exercise helps you to sleep better, but you should not exercise to close to bedtime or you will not be sleepy. Regular exercise not only physically makes you tired, it also helps with chronic pain.
Don’t stress about losing a night or two of good sleep. It is the overall lifestyle that makes the biggest difference, and that is some thing that we can start to improve now.
It is simple to clean and organize your brain--just get enough sleep and it will automatically happen. How easy is that!?! Too bad our houses didn’t clean and organize themselves while we sleep overnight.
Remember, you make your brain, then your brain makes you!
