H E A LT H
Sleep deprivation can kill
you. Here’s how to get
your 8 hours
W
e spend one third of our life sleeping. There
must be a good reason why nature makes us
sleep for this long. Large number of studies all
over the world has shown the beneficial effects of good
sleep.
Sleep deprivation, on the other hand, results in impairment of judgement, depression, heart problems, obesity
and drastic reduction in general well-being of an individual. In an extreme case, sleep deprivation has also
resulted in death through heart failure. In fact, the first
sign of sickness is fretful sleep.
How lack of sleep can make you ill
How lack of sleep produces ill health has remained a
mystery. Now, slowly, scientific investigations are solving this puzzle.
One of the accepted theories so far has been that sleep
helps in both consolidation and removal of memories.
We perceive the world during the day through our senses and it results in memory formation both shallow and
deep. Sleep, it seems, helps in consolidating and removing some of these memories uncluttering the brain.
Another recent, but fascinating, theory (backed with experiments) has shown that sleep helps in flushing out
toxic protein waste and biological debris from the brain,
formed during waking hours. It seems that during sleep
the relaxation of brain helps in opening up the channels
through which the debris flows into the blood streams
and is removed from it.
Studies have also shown that sleep helps flush out
harmful protein plaque (beta amyloid) which is responsible for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and
dementia. Thus good sleep is extremely essential for a
healthy brain and body.
The build-up of toxins in the brain due to inadequate
sleep also affects the body. Though there is very little
understanding of how this happens, a probable cause
is the passage of this information by the vagus nerve to
different parts of the body.
Scientific investigations have also shown that information of any slight change in the brain chemistry is transmitted to various organs by the vagus nerve, which
plays an important part in keeping the brain and body
in unison.
As the brain starts getting affected by the debris
build-up, the message via vagus nerve to various
organs might be to slow them down, resulting in
their lethargic action.
Meditation can help
Just like deep sleep, meditation also enables
dissolution of memories. In fact, deep sleep and
meditation have similar characteristics and it is
quite possible that during meditation the flushing
of toxins from the brain may also take place.
A possible mechanism could be that since meditation results in the relaxation of brain, it may help in
opening up the channels for flushing off the chemical debris.
Memory is formed both by producing new neural
pathways and certain chemical changes in the
brain. Memory removal therefore is affected by changes
in both these mechanisms.
In deep meditation (where the focus is on a single
thought for a long time, also called Sanyam) new neural
pathways are formed and the old ones get dissolved.
This dissolution may have a chemical signature thereby
producing toxic debris which needs to be flushed out.
How can we induce good sleep?
1. Generally when the body is healthy and the person
follows a good exercise regime, then this helps to produce deep sleep.
2. Production of deep sleep can also be helped by meditation. Studies world over have shown that long term
practice of meditation helps in toning both the mind and
body.
3. A good meditation practice to follow for quickly falling
asleep is to close the eyes and focus attention onto the
centre of forehead. This can be done just before going
to sleep and also when one wakes up at night and has
difficulty in falling asleep again.
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