Sleep and Your Brain
Many of us look upon sleep as a huge, boring waste of time, but nothing could be
further from the truth: your sleep time is when your brain is literally
rebuilding itself and is critical for memory and neurotransmitter levels.
I would argue that
Sleep, Exercise and Diet: are your greatest and truest friends.
During the REM cycles of the night, the body replenishes badly needed stores
of neurotransitters. Particularly important is the rebuilding of seratonin and
norepinephrine, which are critical neurotransmitters used for learning and
retention that are normally depleted during the day. [17] In fact, during REM
sleep the cells that use seratonin and norepinephrine actually become
inactive, allowing the brain to more effectively rebuild itself. Again,
one secret to brain power is quality of sleep.
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Evidence is continuing to mount that lack of sleep helps lead to dementia. Of course,
this is no shock because anything that leads to increased arteriosclerosis, inflammation
and high blood pressure is bound to lead to troubles for your grey matter as I
discuss in this link on Sleep and Erectile Dysfunction. In
addition, scientists
recently found
that poor sleep also directly increases beta amyloid and the associated plaques that are
so characteristic of Alzheimer's. [27] You don't want plaque in your brain
anymore than you want it in your arteries!
Lack of sleep also whacks testosterone and growth hormone and both of these are
critical for proper male brain function and cognition. Studies have shown
that both are about linear based on the amount of sleep. In other words,
the more sleep, the more testosterone and growth hormone. You can read
more in my pages on Sleep and Testosterone and
Sleep and Growth Hormone.
Many sleep experts believe ten hours of sleep is optimal. The reason?
Well, for one thing,
they have found that cultures without all the insane busyness of modern life
typically sleep ten hours. Of course, to most of us that would seem
impossible. But it still pays to know their reasoning: studies have
shown that at ten hours we run at
optimum performance. In other words, if you have times in your day
where you need sheer speed and responsiveness, then ten hours is what you need.
In other words, lots of sleep is required for the brain to achieve its maxium
speed and responsiveness. (CAUTION: Too much sleep has been shown to
lead to weight gain, so be careful here.)
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cause erectile dysfunction or harden your arteries? 300 ng/dl? 400?
Find out what the studies say in Low
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In fact, some would argue that you are so efficient with this much sleep that it
more than makes up for the loss of time while you are sleeping. Here is a quote from Dr. Haas in
his excellent book Power Sleep that
perfectly describes this concept: "[Researchers] have demonstrated that
alertness significantly increases when eight-hour sleepers who claim to be well
rested get an additional two hours of sleep. Energy, vigilance, and the
ability to effectively process information are all enhanced, as are
critical thinking skills and creativity". [16]
If you are
looking for sheer mental and physical horsepower, sleep needs to be your engine.
REFERENCES:
16) Power Sleep, Dr. James B. Mass, 2001, p. 54.
17)
Power Sleep, Dr. James B. Mass, 2001, p. 41
27) Science, Science Express Index, DOI: 10.1126/science.1180962, Published
Online September 24, 2009, Submitted on August 24, 2009, Accepted on September
11, 2009, "Amyloid- Dynamics Are Regulated by Orexin and the Sleep-Wake Cycle",
Jae-Eun Kang, et. al
