You can’t show up for other people if you don’t take care of yourself
The Power of Intentional Sleep
Taking care of yourself, requires exercise of the mind, body and soul. Today we will focus on one important aspect, the power of prioritizing and obtaining intentional sleep. Let’s dive into the science of sleep and its relationship with your brain and health.
Key Understanding and thoughts:
How does sleep affect brain plasticity? - “Brain Plasticity” – the brain’s ability to adapt to input – processing and remembering.
Sleep - promotes the removal of waste products from brain cells – “brain cells are highly sensitive to their environment – toxins can interfere with nerve function and damage cells, so it’s essential to quickly and efficiently remove waste products from the interstitial space.” – The Benefits of Sleep for Brain Health by Amy Paturel, M.S., M.P.H. - If you don’t get enough sleep then you can’t be in balance.
Everyone has an innate power and intelligence. You and only you are in control of how you use that power. One thing you must understand is that the power and energy we each hold within our mind and heart is subject to our physical energy, and our physical energy needs to be supported and guided and replenished by us every day - by sleep, by exercise, by meditation and by respecting the limits we have in time and space.
Health spans physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health, each of which are dependent upon each other, each of which we are in control of, and each of which takes effort, planning and attention to ensure. You cannot sacrifice one for the other, you must learn to keep them in balance with each other, that is part of the journey of life. When they are not in balance, something suffers and then there is a domino effect, as most things, as people, are connected and dependent upon each other.
Following the science, lack of sleep effects your emotions, your eating habits, your ability to perform, physically, emotionally and intellectually – upsets homeostasis.
Lack of prioritization and management of your time is going to spiral you into a place you shouldn’t be. Some of the effects, tiredness, irritability, stress, weakness, your eyes may bother you, your head may hurt at times, and you may just find yourself exhausted.
The great news is that all of this is fixable and solvable. Through planning and prioritization, you can free up time, create a schedule that is manageable, and get the proper sleep you need so your mind/brain can function at its highest capacity, your heart can be filled with energy and love and calmness, and you can truly accomplish what you desire. This however requires some work and effort and commitment by you, and it is important to seek those around you to help and walk beside you and lift you whenever you need.
When you love and respect yourself so much, enough to prioritize your time, reduce the distractions and procrastinations from your actions and activities, you will be freeing up time to do more than you could even imagine.
Important/Relevant Studies and Findings of the Power of Sleep
DINGES ET AL. (1997) – They tested subjects’ moods during normal sleep (7.4 hours) versus deprived sleep (4.98 hours). They tested if subjects reported different mood effects, and whether or not they experienced physical or emotional complaints over time by providing people a complaint book to record into. Findings – During deprived sleep positive mood decreases, and when you return to normal sleep it increases but at a deficit, as it takes a while to go back up. Physical and emotional complaints increase during deprived sleep – you believe that bad things are happening in your life, but in actuality you’re just not sleeping enough.
WALKER ET AL. (2002) – studied what happens to cognitive performance after sleep. Training and testing of cognitive and motor task after a long period of being awake versus after sleeping. Findings – the act of sleeping allows you to consolidate things and to better.
WAGNER ET AL (2004) – studied how sleep affects insight learning where you are thinking outside of the box and doing something new. They had subjects perform cognitive tests which involved learning stimulus-response sequences Findings – not only does sleep increase the number of insights you can have in a task, but it increases it three-fold.
Effects of Intentional increased sleep - Increases positive mood, increases cognitive function, boosts your immune system, and makes you happier.
Consequences of chronic lack of sleep (5 hours or less of sleep) – increasing risk of death, losing brain tissue, decreasing sperm count, increasing risk of hear disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity and stroke risk.
We are wishing you greater sleep, health and happiness.
