The Mechanisms of sleep
As someone who, just recently, seems to fall asleep whenever I sit down and witnessed several clients drift off to the land of nod whilst receiving a massage this week, I thought it would be interesting to learn more about the activity we all have in common throughout our lives.
The time we spend sleeping is very important as many essential functions take place. Long term loss of sleep can lead to serious character disorders, memory problems and abnormalities in hormonal secretions.
The process of going from awake to sleep is controlled by an internal body clock which is itself influenced by the passage of day into night. Sleep is caused by a build up of chemical substances deep in the brain, including serotonin & melatonin which are produced during our awake time and the influence of daylight. Without daylight, the cycle of our passage from awake to sleeping would be around 25 hours as has been demonstrated by experiments of people living in caves, space travel and the blind. In addition, meals, travel, leisure help to regulate our biological clock to 24 hours.
Sleep Cycles
Sleeping at night is not a single continuous event, but a succession of 4-6 cycles of 90-100 minutes each. Each cycle consists of slow wave sleep and REM sleep(rapid eye movement). As we fall asleep, our breathing slows down, eyelids close (obviously :)) and muscle tone decreases. We then move into a light, slow wave sleep where the breathing is deep and regular, muscle tone is low and at this point it is still easy to wake up. This is the stage most clients get to during a relaxing body massage. At the start of the night, this period lasts only a few minutes whilst at the end of the night, anything up to 45 minutes. Deep slow wave sleep follows, breathing and heart rate are low and all muscle movements have ceased and the sleeper no longer reacts to sounds. Waking up is difficult, and if occurs, can mean the sleeper experiences tiredness during the next day. This stage lasts 30-60 minutes at the start of sleep, then only a few minutes later during the night. REM sleep is a stage of agitated sleep with rapid eye movements, changing facial expressions, variations in breathing, intense brain activity. This is the period where dreams occur and all the info gathered during the day is memorized. Initially this stage lasts 2-3 minutes, increasing later in the night to 20 minutes. Each cycle is ended by a phase where the sleeper wakes for a few minutes. This waking can be real or virtual, it is a feeling of pleasantness and of being rested.
So while we are sleeping, what is actually happening to our body's? The muscles at rest during slow wave sleep receive a large amount of oxygen and nutrients including high energy molecules that will fuel them the next day, whist also eliminating waste such as lactic acid. Our hormones also go to work during sleep with higher levels of renin (controls arterial blood pressure), prolactin (hormone of desire and lactation) and growth hormone. Cortisone(relating to stress in the body) and melatonin (that which helps us to sleep) are at their lowest around 3am. Our memories are made as we sleep;during deep sleep data from our previous day is sorted and stored whilst connections to old memories is made during REM sleep.
We all know someone who has had insomnia even if we haven't had it ourselves. Sufferers can experience both physical and mental health consequences. There are several types of insomnia;
As someone who, just recently, seems to fall asleep whenever I sit down and witnessed several clients drift off to the land of nod whilst receiving a massage this week, I thought it would be interesting to learn more about the activity we all have in common throughout our lives.
The time we spend sleeping is very important as many essential functions take place. Long term loss of sleep can lead to serious character disorders, memory problems and abnormalities in hormonal secretions.
The process of going from awake to sleep is controlled by an internal body clock which is itself influenced by the passage of day into night. Sleep is caused by a build up of chemical substances deep in the brain, including serotonin & melatonin which are produced during our awake time and the influence of daylight. Without daylight, the cycle of our passage from awake to sleeping would be around 25 hours as has been demonstrated by experiments of people living in caves, space travel and the blind. In addition, meals, travel, leisure help to regulate our biological clock to 24 hours.
Sleep Cycles
Sleeping at night is not a single continuous event, but a succession of 4-6 cycles of 90-100 minutes each. Each cycle consists of slow wave sleep and REM sleep(rapid eye movement). As we fall asleep, our breathing slows down, eyelids close (obviously :)) and muscle tone decreases. We then move into a light, slow wave sleep where the breathing is deep and regular, muscle tone is low and at this point it is still easy to wake up. This is the stage most clients get to during a relaxing body massage. At the start of the night, this period lasts only a few minutes whilst at the end of the night, anything up to 45 minutes. Deep slow wave sleep follows, breathing and heart rate are low and all muscle movements have ceased and the sleeper no longer reacts to sounds. Waking up is difficult, and if occurs, can mean the sleeper experiences tiredness during the next day. This stage lasts 30-60 minutes at the start of sleep, then only a few minutes later during the night. REM sleep is a stage of agitated sleep with rapid eye movements, changing facial expressions, variations in breathing, intense brain activity. This is the period where dreams occur and all the info gathered during the day is memorized. Initially this stage lasts 2-3 minutes, increasing later in the night to 20 minutes. Each cycle is ended by a phase where the sleeper wakes for a few minutes. This waking can be real or virtual, it is a feeling of pleasantness and of being rested.
So while we are sleeping, what is actually happening to our body's? The muscles at rest during slow wave sleep receive a large amount of oxygen and nutrients including high energy molecules that will fuel them the next day, whist also eliminating waste such as lactic acid. Our hormones also go to work during sleep with higher levels of renin (controls arterial blood pressure), prolactin (hormone of desire and lactation) and growth hormone. Cortisone(relating to stress in the body) and melatonin (that which helps us to sleep) are at their lowest around 3am. Our memories are made as we sleep;during deep sleep data from our previous day is sorted and stored whilst connections to old memories is made during REM sleep.
We all know someone who has had insomnia even if we haven't had it ourselves. Sufferers can experience both physical and mental health consequences. There are several types of insomnia;
- Occasional insomnia (1-2 nights from time to time for a person who normally sleeps well) is the most common and is usually caused by worry
- transient insomnia may last a few days to a week. It, too, is caused by a particular stress or worry in the person's life
- Primary chronic insomnia does not have any defined physical or mental causes. It is the result of being conditioned into thinking sleep is a bad thing and is awake for long periods throughout the night if sleep is attained at all.
Although not a cure by any means, a relaxing gentle massage is a proven fix to giving someone with the first two types of insomnia, some welcome release and acts as an aid to a restful nights sleep. Clients who fall asleep on the couch, come back to me and said that they slept wonderfully following their treatment. Massage works on both the nervous and hormonal systems to release tension and stress, flooding the body with anti stress hormones and encouraging the body to want to curl up under a blanket and have a good sleep.
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