The Fertility Diet by Sarah Dobbyn

Author:Sarah Dobbyn [Dobbyn, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781471100116
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Chapter 24

Sleep

Good-quality sleep is essential for hormonal health, fertility and general well-being. Sleep deprivation raises stress hormones and causes hormonal imbalances, which increase the chances of infertility. 1

Our sleep consists of a number of different stages, quaintly referred to as ‘sleep architecture’ in the medical jargon. By monitoring brainwave patterns and eye movement, scientists have noted we have the following sleep states:

NREM sleep stage 1 (REM stands for ‘rapid eye movement’ and the N for ‘non’). This is the first stage of light sleep shortly after falling asleep. The brainwave patterns are in a relaxed state, less than 50 per cent awake, alert, focused brainwaves. Heart and breathing rate slow down and the blood pressure falls.

NREM sleep stage 2. A deeper level of sleep, with only relaxed brainwaves – the typical pattern found when in deep meditation or trance. Breathing and heart rate are even slower and blood pressure is low.

NREM sleep stage 3. This is the first stage of deep sleep, characterized by the presence of the slowest brainwaves. Eye movement is very slow and the body is totally relaxed. This is when the anterior pituitary gland kicks in with a burst of growth-hormone release – to keep you young and fertile. The body can carry out repair and regeneration in this stage of sleep.

NREM sleep stage 4. The deepest sleep of all. This is the stage where maximum growth hormone is released by the pituitary and where most repair and renewal can take place on a cellular level.

REM sleep stage 5. Dreaming. This stage of sleep, typified by rapid eye movement, amazingly shows brainwaves similar to a waking state. Yet the body shows an almost paralysed muscle state – except that this is the phase when a man can have an erection and a woman can have a clitoral engorgement (I guess it depends on how raunchy your dreams are!).

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