5-HTP by Michael Murray

Author:Michael Murray [Murray, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-57184-7
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2010-01-12T16:00:00+00:00

Sleep Patterns

Human sleep is perhaps one of the least understood biological processes. Surprisingly, scientists aren’t even sure why we need to sleep. Recently, though, researchers at Stanford University may have found an answer, and it has to do with the brain and its energy supply. In order to function, the brain can burn only glucose, the main form of sugar found in the body. Your muscles also use glucose. If your glucose supply drops too far, your muscles can also burn fat to make up the difference, but your brain can’t burn fat. Instead, your brain will tap into the energy stored inside cells in the form of another sugar known as glycogen. Before it can raid the glycogen cupboard, however, the brain has to release a substance called edenizine, which brings on sleep. Thus sleep takes place because your brain needs to build up its energy level, and the only way it can do so is when you are inactive and asleep. In a sense, the brain needs to shut down a few of its circuits so it can upgrade its energy supply.

The consequences of inadequate sleep can be dangerous—even deadly. Research has found that healthy men deprived of even a single night’s sleep have a 30 percent drop in the activity of their immune system’s tumor-fighting cells the next day. The electrical activity in the brain during dream sleep puts a stop to muscle activity, which allows the body to reconstruct damaged muscle tissue. Lack of sleep deprives your body of the time it needs to repair worn-out tissue. Research has also found that people who get only four and a half hours of sleep in a night experience a surge of high blood pressure when they awaken in the morning. In some cases, that surge can lead to stroke or other heart problems. Sleep problems add nearly $16 billion to the nation’s total costs for health care each year.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, each year two hundred thousand sleep-related accidents claim more than five thousand lives (other experts put the number at closer to twenty-three thousand deaths). Accidents caused by sleepy drivers also produce hundreds of thousands of injuries. Shockingly, a survey of physicians found that 42 percent of them admitted that they had caused the death of at least one person because they had been too sleepy to make wise medical decisions or perform surgery properly.

How much sleep do you need? That depends on who you are. Individual sleep needs vary greatly. Many people can get by on five or six hours a night. Others need nine or ten hours. There is no fixed formula.

Generally, though, and up to a certain point, sleep needs decrease with age. A one-year-old baby requires about fourteen hours of sleep a day. By age five, children need about twelve hours. Adults, on average, need about seven to eight hours. Women tend to require more sleep than men. As you may be aware, many elderly people do not sleep as long at night as their younger counterparts.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.