Why is sleeping healthy?
Recovery
through sleep...
Research shows that sleep allows the body to...to recover of daily
stressors. In recent research it has been discovered that during sleep the brain cells
shrink, increasing the space between the cells by as much as 60 percent
and the cerebral fluid flows more freely between them. Harmful substances that
originate during daytime functioning and become this way during sleep
'washed away'. The shorter the sleep time, the smaller this washout effect.
Sleep stages
Sleep consists of a number of phases that occur every night in a number of sleep cycles (see also the figure): after a slumber phase you enter light sleep, then deep sleep and finally REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, also also called dream sleep. The sleep phases together form a sleep cycle of approximately 90 to a maximum of 120 minutes. Over the course of the night, the proportion of deep sleep decreases and the proportion of dream sleep increases. As a guideline for 'sufficient' sleep, 5 uninterrupted sleep cycles (approx. 7.5 hours) are often taken.
Health effects
of sleep...
The different sleep phases have important functions for health.
In this way, muscles, bones and the immune system are built up in the deep sleep phase
and during dream sleep the impressions and emotions from the day are processed.
Healthy sleep also gives a huge boost to our memory. All sleep stages
have a function in this. For example, deep sleep is good for remembering
factual information and events, while dream sleep, for example, mainly
stimulates creative and problem-solving memory.
Sleep deprivation
is really disastrous....
Sleep deprivation and disruption of the sleep-wake (bio) rhythm, for example, as a result
of night work, have a negative effect on brain functions such as concentration,
mood and information processing. Chronic sleep deprivation can lead to sleep deprivation over time
to physical and psychological disorders.