Why we sleep download pdf

Diseases Linked to Sleep Deprivation In addition to the damage it causes the brain, sleep deprivation disrupts the normal function of many physiological processes, likely contributing to the following: Heart disease Diabetes Obesity and weight gain Reduced reproduction by affecting hormones and attractiveness Some cancers Aging Reduced athletic performance Death A Note on the Studies in Why We Sleep Many of the population studies cited in Why We Sleep are correlational—for example, their results show that people who sleep less are more likely to have heart disease, after controlling for many other factors.

Benefits of Dreaming and REM Sleep Walker says there are three ways dreaming and REM sleep are good for you: REM dreaming blunts emotional pain from memories—the brain seems to reprocess upsetting memories and emotional themes in a way that retains the useful lessons while lessening the visceral emotional pain. Shortform note: This works both ways: While sleep-deprived individuals view other people more negatively, other people also view sleep-deprived people as more unpleasant.

REM sleep creates novel connections and a higher-level comprehension of ideas, and increases your ability to solve creative problems. Shortform note: In fact, it may be possible to manipulate your brain to solve problems during sleep. Part 4: The Current State of Sleep Walker finishes by covering sleep disorders, sleep disruptors, and ways to get better sleep.

Sleep Disorders He explains that there are three sleep disorders that people commonly experience: 1. How to Get Better Sleep Walker provides a number of tips on how you can start getting better, less interrupted sleep.

Keep the same waking and sleeping time each day. Erratic sleep schedules disrupt sleep quality. Practice sleep hygiene—lower bedroom temperature, reduce noise, reduce light.

Avoid alcohol, caffeine, exercise, or long naps before sleep. Get some exercise, which may increase total sleep time and increase quality of sleep. But worse sleep on one night does lead to worse exercise the following day.

Eat a normal diet not severe caloric restriction of below calories per day. For those with insomnia, try cognitive behavioral therapy, which has been shown to be more effective than sleeping pills. Improving Sleep in Society Walker argues that sleep deprivation goes far beyond individual sleep practices. Walker offers ways to improve sleep quality in society: Employers should focus less on hours worked and instead implement flexible hours to suit personal circadian rhythms.

They can even incentivize sleep with vacation days or bonuses. Use sleep technology to improve sleep tracking and help you adjust your circadian rhythm when needed.

Educate the general public about the importance of sleep, in the same way schools have educational programs about diet and drugs. Promote sleep hygiene for hospital patients—hospitals can replace their harsh lighting and find ways to minimize beeping noises at night. Want to learn the rest of Why We Sleep in 21 minutes?

Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance. Connect with Dr. Humans evolved with this variation because having a mixture of morning people and night owls allows a population to reduce its vulnerability.

For example, as morning people go to sleep earlier say at 10PM , night owls can keep up the watch. Then as night owls get tired say around 4AM , the morning people are starting to wake. Walker argues that in modern times, the night owls are heavily punished, since early start times at work force night owls to sleep and wake up earlier than their bodies are optimized to. This reduces performance in the mornings.

Furthermore, by the time night owls peak in the afternoon, the work day has already ended. Shortform note Motor memory is associated with stage 2 NREM, which is concentrated in the last cycle of sleep.

The High Risk of Sleep Deprivation Walker warns that the combination of reduced concentration and an inflated sense of your capabilities in a sleep-deprived state is especially harmful during high-risk activities, like driving. To put the risk into perspective: Driving after having slept less than four hours increases crash risk Being awake for 19 hours being past your bedtime by three hours is as cognitively impairing as being legally drunk.

Adding alcohol to sleep deficits has a multiplicative effect on mistakes, not just an additive one. During REM Instead of jolting an actively sleepwalking person awake, gently guide them back to their bed. Insomnia Walker defines insomnia as making enough time for sleeping, but having insufficient sleep quantity or quality, for more than three months. Why are Shortform Summaries the Best? Shortform note: Black and green teas contain nearly a third of the caffeine in coffee.

Another source of caffeine is energy drinks, which not only contain nearly the same amount of caffeine as coffee but also have high amounts of sugar and artificial additives. Caffeine exposure during childhood could reduce NREM sleep, delaying brain maturation and learning. Shortform note: The U.

Additionally, sleeping pills can kick off a heavily medicated vicious cycle: Poor sleep practices or stress reduces sleep. Taking sleeping pills causes next-day drowsiness.

Caffeine use and naps reduce drowsiness, but also reduce ability to sleep at night, causing more sleeping pill usage. Tolerance of sleeping pills causes withdrawal insomnia when stopped, thus maintaining the habit. Suggestive causes: Increased risk of car accidents—possibly from grogginess, a side effect of some sleeping pills Increased risk of cancer—though there is only evidence of correlation, not causation, between pill use and cancer.

Increased infection risk especially prevalent in elderly subjects —pill-induced sleep may not provide the immunity benefits of natural sleep. Solutions for Employers Focus less on hours worked, and more on real productivity and output. Let people have flexible work hours to suit personal circadian rhythms. E-Book Details. Table of Contents. Part 1. This thing called sleep To sleep … Caffeine, jet lag, and melatonin: losing and gaining control of your sleep rhythm Defining and generating sleep: time dilation and what we learned from a baby in Ape beds, dinosaurs, and napping with half a brain: who sleeps, how do we sleep, and how much?

Part 2. Why should you sleep? Your mother and Shakespeare knew: the benefits of sleep for the brain Too extreme for the Guinness Book of World Records: sleep deprivation and the brain Cancer, heart attacks, and a shorter life: sleep deprivation and the body Part 3. Hurting and helping your sleep: pills vs. Hot Sixty Five Hours by N. Hot Elements of Retrofit by N. Hot Taxes and Tardis by N. Hot Lily. Walker by R. Save Our Sleep: Helping your baby to sleep through the night, from birth to two years by Tizzie Hall.

None Shall Sleep by Ellie Marney.