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Research by Cornell psychology professor James B. Maas
believes that if you get less than eight hours of sleep a night, you are
operating impaired; your creativity, productivity and alertness, as well
as your general health are all affected. "If we can get people sleeping eight hours, that would be
wonderful, although still not optimal," Maas went on to explain.
"Between the seventh and eighth hour is when we get almost an hour of
REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, the time when the mind repairs itself,
grows new connections and puts it all together. REM sleep occurs about
every 90 minutes, and the periods of REM sleep get longer as the night
progresses. If you’re a six-hour sleeper, you’re missing that last,
important opportunity to repair and to prepare for the coming day." In recent German research testing, two groups of volunteers were taught
a series of rules for solving mathematical problems involving the ordering
of numbers. One of these groups was then allowed to sleep, while the other
was forced to remain awake. Sure enough, the "sleep group"
proved twice as adept at applying these rules to solving the study's
problems as did their wakeful counterparts. These scientists studied the effects of missing two hours' sleep per
night on 25 men and women aged in their 20s. After a week, the
volunteers had become drowsier and did not perform as well in vigilance
tests.
Both sexes showed increased levels of inflammatory chemicals called
cytokines but only men had raised levels of a chemical called tumour
necrosis factor alpha (TNF), which may contribute to the development of
obesity and diabetes. Greater increases in TNF-alpha levels put men at
greater health risks from lack of sleep.
Lead researcher Dr Alexandros Vgontzas found that women tend to sleep
more soundly than men and are also less affected by the effects of sleep
deprivation. He also, believes women's sleeping habits may have evolved
to help them cope with crying babies and disturbed nights.
He thought it could help explain why women live, on average, seven
years longer than men.
Neil Stanley, of the Human Psychopharmacology Research Unit at Surrey
University said: "We know good sleep is central to good health. It
is wrong to perceive sleep as a passive state of unconsciousness, the
body is doing an awful lot while we sleep."
Mr. Stanley went on to say that the human body relies on a regular
rhythm and agrees that the production of many hormones are closely
related to the 24-hour body clock.
The information provided here is meant to be a beginning
to your own research and just food for thought, I take no responsibility
for your application of the information. You may come up with totally
different findings as the Net is a constantly and consistently changing
place. Keep learning.
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Lately,
the lack of sleep in our type A culture has been proven to really be
detrimental to our mental and physical health... as well as making us feel
lousy.
