Why Sleep Is Vital for Your Brain Health

Why Sleep Is Vital for Your Brain Health

Do you know what goes on in your brain when you sleep? Most people recognize that they feel better after a good night’s sleep. But what many people don’t realize is just how essential sleep is for cognitive function and overall health. In this blog post, we will discuss the benefits of sleep, the harm of not sleeping, and what happens to your brain when you snooze!

 

Your brain is highly active while you sleep

Did you know that there is tons of brain activity going on as you sleep? It’s different from the brain activity that goes on while you’re awake. When you sleep, your brain is working hard to process information and consolidate memories. This is why healthy sleep patterns are so important for learning and retaining information.

Sleep deprivation can have serious effects on brain function including consequences for working memory, attention, and emotional reactions. That’s why it’s important to address sleep disorders if you experience chronic trouble sleeping.

To understand sleep better, let’s look at the five stages of sleep. 

 

What are the stages of sleep?

Through electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings that measure brainwaves, scientists have discovered our brains go through different sleep stages during a night of sleep. The brain produces brain waves of different frequencies during each stage of sleep. Each type of frequency is associated with a different stage of sleep.

 

NREM vs REM sleep

You’ve probably heard the terms REM and non-REM (NREM) sleep before. But what are REM and NREM exactly? 

REM sleep is a stage of sleep associated with Rapid Eye Movements, to put it simply. The non-REM sleep stage is associated with little to no eye movement. Why is this important?

During NREM sleep, the brain is less active and the brain waves slow down whereas, during REM, brain waves are more active. NREM is considered a lighter stage of sleep while REM is considered deep sleep.

 

The 5 sleep stages

There are five stages of sleep. The first stage actually is not sleep at all, it’s what happens right before you sleep: wakefulness. Then there are three stages of progressively deepening non-REM (NREM) sleep stages followed by a REM deep sleep stage.

Once the brain has passed through all NREM stages plus REM, this is considered one “sleep cycle”. Each cycle lasts about 90 to 110 minutes. The brain will pass through around four to five sleep cycles on an average night of sleep. NREM sleep makes up about 75% of our total sleep time while REM makes up about 25%.

The sleep cycles are as follows:

  • N1: Stage one is light sleep
  • N2: Stage two is deeper sleep
  • N3: Stage three is the deepest level of NREM sleep
  • REM: Stage four is when the brain becomes highly active 

The important thing for you to know about sleep stages and sleep cycles is that each time your brain passes through a sleep cycle during the night, the REM stage becomes longer each time. In other words, you will spend more time in REM sleep and less time in non-REM sleep as the night progresses.

So, why is REM sleep important?

 

The importance of REM sleep

Sleep specialists and health experts talk about REM sleep all the time. But what makes REM sleep so important?

During REM sleep, your brain waves appear similar to when you’re awake and your eyes move quickly in different directions. Your breathing and heart rate also increase while your muscles become temporarily paralyzed. REM sleep is also associated with vivid dreaming.

REM sleep allows our brains to consolidate memories and information and improve focus. It also has benefits for the immune system, helping you to stay healthy. Reduced REM sleep is associated with conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

 

How lack of sleep affects the brain

Getting insufficient sleep does not simply mean you don’t get the good benefits of sleep. Not getting enough sleep can actually be harmful to cognitive and emotional functions.

When you’re sleep-deprived, it’s harder to focus, react quickly, or remember information. Sleep-deprived people tend to get more emotional and have less patience. Lack of sleep also can lead to slower reaction times (putting you at higher risk of accidents) and affects learning.

Research shows that sleep plays a huge role in memory consolidation, mental health, and the brain’s ability to process information.

 

What happens to your brain when you sleep?

 

How does sleep affect emotional well-being?

While sleep is essential for cognitive functions, it is also crucial for your emotional health. During sleep, there is increased activity in the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for processing emotions. This may explain why dreams often have an emotional component.

You don’t need to be a sleep expert to know that how you sleep affects your mood the next day. This is because sleep, especially rapid-eye movement REM sleep, plays an important role in regulating and processing emotions.

Some researchers have theorized that sleep promotes connectivity between the amygdala (the structure in the brain that’s responsible for emotion) and the prefrontal cortex (the area of the brain that controls executive functioning).

Therefore, when you get normal sleep, you are better able to regulate your emotions because they are under the executive control of your prefrontal cortex. Conversely, when you don’t get enough sleep, the prefrontal cortex has a harder time regulating the amygdala and you may have difficulty controlling your emotions.

 

Sleep and mental health

Chronic sleep deprivation has been demonstrated to be strongly linked to mental health issues and psychological distress. Around 40% of people experiencing chronic insomnia also suffer from a mental health disorder.

Sleep deprivation can cause changes in brain function and neurotransmitter activity which can lead to moodiness, anxiety, and irritability.

Insomnia has been recognized as a risk factor for major depression and dysthymia, which is defined as persistent mild depression. There is sleep research that suggests the relationship between insomnia and mental health disorders can go both ways: mental health disorders can be both a risk factor and a consequence of disordered sleep. 

 

How does the brain control the sleep-wake cycle?

The hypothalamus is the region in your brain that contains a group of nerve cells that act to regulate sleep. Specifically, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is a group of brain cells that control the circadian rhythm.

Other structures in the brain that are responsible for the sleep-wake cycle include the brain stem, thalamus, pineal gland, basal forebrain, and amygdala. We’ll briefly explain how each structure is involved:

  • Thalamus: relays sensory information, is active during REM sleep but quiet during NREM sleep
  • Pineal gland: produces the hormone melatonin which plays an integral role in sleep
  • Basal forebrain: releases adenosine which acts as a nervous system depressant, can be counteracted by caffeine
  • Amygdala: processes emotions and becomes active during REM sleep

 

Sleep is an essential aspect of overall health

Sleep is an essential part of our lives, yet it remains one of the most mysterious. We now know that our brains are highly active while we sleep and that lack of sleep can have a significant impact on mental health. The five stages of sleep play an important role in restoring energy, consolidating memories, and regulating emotions. REM sleep is especially critical for emotional well-being.

Luckily, it is possible to influence your sleep. Breathing plays a crucial role in improving your sleep quality. By slowing down your breathing, for example by doing a breathing exercise, you can relax your body and mind and fall asleep faster.

Today there are tools that exist to help you regulate your breathing. An example of such a tool is Somnox. This huggable sleep companion measures your breathing rate in order to regulate and slow down your breathing. You automatically enter a relaxed state of mind to help you enjoy a peaceful rest at night.

Curious to see if Somnox can help you sleep better? Take the sleep quiz to find out.

5 Easy Breathing Exercises to Lower Blood Pressure

5 Easy Breathing Exercises to Lower Blood Pressure

When done for just five minutes a day, deep breathing exercises can lower blood pressure, boost vascular health, and sharply reduce your chances of developing cardiovascular disease. It almost sounds like an infomercial, but this is no gimmick. 

Extensive research shows that diaphragmatic breathing (aka abdominal breathing) has serious power when it comes to lowering blood pressure and has the potential to improve the health of billions across the globe.  

This article will explore how diaphragmatic breathing can naturally lower blood pressure, as well as share six simple yet highly effective breathing exercises you can start using today. 

 

What Is High Blood Pressure? 

More than 30 percent of the adult population worldwide, and nearly half of the U.S. population, experience a medical condition called high blood pressure, also known as hypertension.[*][*] The term “blood pressure” refers to the force of the blood pushing against the walls of the arteries. When someone is diagnosed with high blood pressure, it means the force of the blood on the veins is too high, specifically above 130/80 mmHg.

High blood pressure forces the heart to work harder and weakens the inside of the arteries, which can lead to life-threatening medical conditions like heart attacks and strokes. 

Several factors can contribute to high blood pressure, including smoking, a salty diet, obesity, stress, excessive alcohol consumption, and genetics. Fortunately, you can bring your blood pressure numbers down with lifestyle changes: exercising, limiting salt intake, maintaining a healthy diet, avoiding tobacco smoke, and practicing diaphragmatic breathing. 

 

How Does Diaphragmatic Breathing Affect Blood Pressure? 

To understand how breathing affects blood pressure, let’s examine what happens in the body when you take deep, diaphragmatic breaths.[*

  • You reduce the activity of your sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the “fight or flight” reflex.
  • You increase the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the opposite reflex—“rest and digest.” When this happens, your heart rate decreases, your blood vessels dilate, and your breathing rate slows. 
  • You increase blood flow to your body’s tissues, which reduces resistance in your blood vessels. 
  • Your diaphragm moves up and down, facilitating blood flow towards the heart. 

The combination of the above bodily processes naturally lowers blood pressure. This isn’t mere conjecture either—numerous clinical research studies have documented the beneficial effects of slow, deep breathing on blood pressure.[*][*][*][*

 

Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercises for Lowering Blood Pressure

The following breathing exercises for high blood pressure can be done virtually any time, anywhere. Aim to practice diaphragmatic breathing for five to 20 minutes a day.

30-Second Breathing

According to a study involving 20,000 Japanese individuals, taking six deep breaths within 30 seconds can significantly reduce systolic blood pressure.[*] Systolic blood pressure is the top number in a blood pressure reading. It measures the force produced by the heart when it pumps blood through the body. 

How to practice: 

  1. Set a timer for 30 seconds. 
  2. Take six deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth. 
  3. Repeat as needed throughout your day.  

 

Equal Breathing

Equal breathing, also known as box breathing, is a foundational deep breathing practice and a perfect exercise to begin with. As the name suggests, this technique focuses on taking steady inhalations and exhalations of equal duration. 

How to practice:

  1. Exhale slowly, releasing all the air from your lungs.
  2. Breathe in through your nose as you slowly count to four in your head.
  3. Hold your breath for a count of four.
  4. Exhale for a count of four.
  5. Hold your breath for a count of four.
  6. Repeat steps 2-5 for four rounds, or until you feel relaxed.

 

Alternate Nostril Breathing

Alternate nostril breathing is a yogic breath control practice that entails alternating breaths between the two nostrils. In a study of people with hypertension, those who practiced alternate nostril breathing 20 minutes a day for five days experienced a marked reduction in systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure—the bottom number of a blood pressure reading that reflects the pressure in the arteries when the heart rests between beats. The study participants also experienced a reduction in heart rate.[*

How to practice: 

  1. Raise your hand to your nose, as if you were going to pinch your nose shut with your thumb and pointer fingers. 
  2. Exhale fully and then close your right nostril with your thumb.
  3. Inhale through your left nostril.
  4. Open your right nostril and exhale through it while closing your left nostril with your pointer finger.
  5. Continue this rotation for five minutes.

 

Diaphragmatic Breathing with Somnox 

 If you feel like you could use some extra guidance in practicing diaphragmatic breathing, look no further than Somnox 2. Using robotic technology, this science-backed device expands and deflates as if it’s taking deep, diaphragmatic belly breaths. Somnox can be used to lower stress and induce relaxation any time of day, whether on your lunch break or before sleep

By simply cradling Somnox, you’ll unconsciously adopt the same slower-paced breathing rhythm. This reduces the activity of the sympathetic nervous system while increasing the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system. 

How to use: 

  1. Hold Somnox 2 and turn it on. Within minutes, you’ll subconsciously adopt its calm breathing pattern.
  2. Smart sensors respond to your breathing in real-time, matching your rhythm and gradually adjusting it to the ideal rate.
  3. Feel your nerves relax and tension release. 
  4. If you’re using it for sleep, continue deeply breathing until you fall asleep. With the help of Somnox 2, you’re sure to fall asleep quickly, stay asleep, and wake up feeling rested.

Take our online sleeptest to determine if Somnox is right for you. 

 

Breath Focus

This diaphragmatic breathing technique uses focus words, phrases, or images to induce relaxation. You can choose a focus image, word, or phrase that makes you feel relaxed or happy, or one that is simply neutral. 

Example words include “peace,” “calm,” or “relax.” You can also say a short phrase in your mind with each inhale and exhale. For example, “I breathe in calm” as you breathe in, and “I breathe out tension” as you exhale. Focus images may be something like a pristine, white sand beach or a calm lake.

How to practice: 

  1. Practice diaphragmatic breathing for a couple of minutes, breathing deep into your belly. 
  2. Begin the practice of breath focus by combining this deep breathing with your chosen word, phrase, or image. To do this, repeat your chosen word or phrase in your mind (or visualize your chosen image) while you continue to inhale and exhale.
  3. Continue for a few minutes or until you feel relaxed. 

 

Use Your Breath to Lower Your Blood Pressure

Diaphragmatic breathing is the quickest way to lower blood pressure without medications. Even more impressive is that it can lower blood pressure to a similar degree as blood pressure-reducing medications.[*]

Diaphragmatic breathing is especially beneficial if your high blood pressure is caused by stress or anxiety, but it will help regulate your blood pressure regardless of the cause. 

If you’re concerned about high blood pressure or the overall quality of your health, incorporate these simple breathing exercises into your routine starting today. You’re sure to be pleasantly surprised by how something so simple and natural can significantly impact your health and well-being

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia

What is cognitive behavioral therapy (also called CBT or cognitive behavior therapy)?

There are a lot of forms of therapy today, from massages to hypnosis. Therapy treatment has been hyped up in many creative ways to solve people’s psychological stresses, traumas, and other mental health problems. Therapy often gets a bad rap for taking too many sessions and being ineffective. But, there is a solid form of treatment that has been proven to be more effective despite taking fewer sessions. This treatment is called cognitive behavior therapy.

Cognitive behavioral therapy, CBT, is a form of talk therapy performed with a therapist or other psychiatric professional. This form of psychotherapy increases your awareness of inaccurate or negative thinking, helping you respond to different situations more effectively. CBT is useful for various issues such as depression, PTSD, stress, eating disorders, a sleep disorder or stressful life situations. Often, cognitive behavioral therapy is preferred because it requires fewer sessions than other types of therapy today. And, it focuses on the present, not the past.

Cognitive behavioral therapy works by changing your thinking pattern. Through CBT, you work together with your therapist to pinpoint the unhealthy or harmful thinking that is causing your mental health problems. The theory behind CBT is that if you can prevent these negative thoughts, you subsequently avoid negative emotions and actions. Through CBT, your quality of life increases as you think more positively and with better awareness.

If you notice that you experience sleeping problems because of stress and anxiety, you are not alone. According to research by Philips (2020), worry and/or stress was reported by 33% of the global respondents as the most limiting factor to a good night’s sleep. In our latest research, 71% of the participants improved on their insomnia complaints in 4 weeks. Click here to learn more about how Somnox can help you achieve a good night’s rest.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety

Anxiety is one of the common problems that cognitive behavioral therapy has been proven to treat. According to one study from 2015, CBT treatment for anxiety is both efficient and effective. CBT is all about changing your cognitions. For anxiety specifically, CBT is often paired with exposure therapy to achieve maximum results. You learn specific skills connected to the thoughts, emotions, and actions related to the anxiety disorder. Then, you are usually assigned homework to practice these new cognition skills outside. CBT for anxiety usually takes 20 sessions or less.

A study on cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety in children with autism spectrum disorders demonstrates the effectiveness of CBT in the treatment of anxiety. In this study, each week for 16 weeks, the parents of the children did CBT for 60 minutes a week, and the children did CBT for 30 minutes a week. It was found that 78.5% of the children who did CBT showed improvement through the treatment.

Over the long term of a different study, it was found that most adolescents who did CBT maintained gains over anxiety. Thus, CBT is effective in the short term, and the results are also maintained over a long period.

 

How does CBT work for insomnia?

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, CBT-i, consists of several procedures that you can follow for different insomnia-related problems. They all incorporate the basic CBT principal of the connection between thought, emotion, and behavior.

Stimulus Control Therapy

Stimulus control therapy involves reassociating the bed with sleep and not with wakefulness. In stimulus control therapy, you only lie in bed if you are sleepy. You rise at the same time every morning too. Even if it’s the middle of the night, if you aren’t feeling tired, you need to get out of bed. Your brain should be thinking that the bed is only for sleep and nothing else.

Sleep Restriction Therapy

Sleep restriction means that you are limiting the amount of time spent in bed. The goal of this is to prevent waking up in the middle of the night. You track your sleep efficiency so that most of the time you spend in bed is spent sleeping, not awake. You’re given a limited number of hours to be in bed, and that’s all you have to sleep. At first, it’s hard because you probably won’t get more than 7 hours of shut-eye, but slowly that amount increases as you become more efficient with your sleep.

Sleep Hygiene

By improving sleep hygiene, you’re changing lifestyle habits such as smoking, drinking too much caffeine late in the day, and inactivity. It also involves a bedtime routine that gets you physically ready for bed, such as showering, brushing your teeth and writing in your sleep diary.

Sleep Environment Improvement

Sleep environment improvement means creating a comfortable sleep environment: dark and cool, no TV, no bright lights, and little noise. You remove anything that could bother your sleep.

Relaxation Training

Through relaxation training, you calm your mind and body through meditation, breathing, and progressive muscle relaxation. Relaxation training helps you get in the right place with your mind and body for sleep.

Remaining passively awake

Remaining passively awake means avoiding any effort to fall asleep, making you less worried about trying to fall asleep. Not being worried about better sleep makes it easier to fall asleep.

Biofeedback

Biofeedback involves gaining awareness over the body by using technology. Through biofeedback, you can observe things such as your heart rate and muscle tension. Then, you can use this feedback to help identify patterns linked to your sleep habit.

Sleep Robot

This Sleep Robot helps you fall asleep by guiding your breathing, promoting a natural sleeping position, and playing relaxing music. It works really well as an easy sleep aid to help you fall asleep. The Sleep Robot can be considered as a branch of relaxation training and sleep environment improvement. Our validated and patented, drug-free sleep-aid uses continuous and precise breathing simulation to quiet the racing mind assisting you towards deep restorative sleep. Put your hands on the Somnox Sleep Robot and breathe along with the physical sensation of the falling and rising of the breathing pulse. Specifically designed to help you be at your best every day.

 

Is CBT effective for insomnia?

CBT is proven to work for insomnia, especially when compared to other sleep aids. There are numerous studies and institutions in support of this.

According to the Harvard Health Blog, CBT-i gives you the tools to manage your insomnia disorder better. Thus, you don’t have to take any sleep medication or sleeping pill that may have unwanted side effects, nor do you have to waste your money on sleep medicine.

In addition to this, a meta-analysis study conducted on children and adolescents also found that CTI-i is effective for insomnia.

And, CBT-i is also efficacious, as proven in another study on primary insomnia, which is insomnia not caused by other health problems.

 

What is the best therapy for insomnia?

The best therapy for poor sleep is CBT-i. As we’ve already explained in the last section, CBT-i is scientifically proven to be efficient and productive.

Compared to other forms of therapy, CBT-i doesn’t cost as much money as the sessions only last for a short time over a few weeks. There is little risk in doing CBT-i.

Many prefer cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia not only for its time and cost-savings but also for the tools it provides for a lifetime. It teaches you how to cope with insomnia and how to deal with it on your own. The ability to deal with insomnia an extremely valuable skill that you can take with you everywhere. This minimalist approach to therapy for insomnia has all of the benefits that one could need for becoming an insomnia treatment.

 

How long does it take for cognitive behavioral therapy to work?

The amount of time it takes for CBT to work depends from person to person. According to the UT Medical Center, though, you should see improvement by the end of the CBT sessions.

It’s important to remember not to go into CBT with too high of expectations. CBT will most likely help, but it doesn’t mean that it won’t take a long time or that you won’t relapse. CBT enables you to deal with new problems that arise and cope with them most effectively. If you go into CBT with the right mindset, then it could definitely help you.

 

How do you do CBT for insomnia?

CBT-i works upon the same CBT principle that our thoughts, emotions, and behavior are linked together. For CBT-i, you’ll probably go to a therapist’s office for your CBT-i sessions. Then, you will work together with your therapist to figure out how you can adequately battle your insomnia symptoms and how you can improve your sleep quality and total sleep time during the night. CBT focuses more on the present and less on the past, so don’t expect the stereotypical childhood trauma recollections with your therapist.

Often, you will have assignments or homework to do on your own to practice these new thinking methods to change your cognition. You can refer back to the CBT-i procedures that we’ve gone over for an idea of what you’ll have to do at home.

 

How long does it take for CBT for insomnia to work?

As with CBT in general, there is no sure way of knowing how long it will take for CBT-i to work. You should see some improvement by the end of the sessions with the therapist, but it could take much longer than that to cure your insomnia fully. Everybody is different, and everyone will progress at different paces.

 

Key takeaways

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a form of talk therapy that proves to be more beneficial than other types of treatments and remedies despite its simplicity and short-term commitment to sessions. CBT is so effective because it challenges the root of mental health problems: the negative thought. A negative thought can spark negative emotions and negative behaviors, and CBT works to nip this in the bud.

For insomnia, CBT is a great tool to manage and cure it. A notable aid for CBT-i is the Sleep Robot, which could help overcome your sleep problem. Overall, a combination of CBT-i and the Sleep Robot give you all of the tools that you need to cure your insomnia.

Healthy Habits to Practice While Social Distancing

Healthy Habits to Practice While Social Distancing

The COVID crisis has changed how you interact with society, which can be stressful, overwhelming and very strange. Even as things begin to reopen and return to a state of normalcy, you still may not feel comfortable doing some of the things you used to do. However, it is important that you remain mentally and physically healthy as society begins to reopen and adjust to a new normal.

Deal With Any Health Issues

You may be thinking that you need to put off any or all health issues that you have developed during this time because it is unsafe to visit your doctor’s office. However, that is no longer the case as Telehealth services have become more and more prevalent.

Telehealth is a resource that offers patients health-related services via telecommunication technologies. This will allow you to speak to a doctor about any health conditions that you have had or that have recently developed.

Many people have developed extreme anxiety or depression due to the stressful state of the world right now. Luckily many Telehealth companies are able to prescribe medications to help you with those conditions.

Using Telehealth is also a great way to take the pressure off any sensitive topics that you may feel uncomfortable discussing in person. Therefore, now is a better time than any to schedule a Telehealth appointment to discuss any health issues you may have been putting off such as erectile dysfunction. Utilizing Telehealth services to get information and erectile dysfunction medication, like Viagra, will not only provide you a secure and convenient online consultation, you will also be able to avoid any waiting room anxiety.

Get An Adequate Amount of Sleep

As mentioned before, there has been an increase in anxiety and depression-related illnesses since the COVID outbreak began. The same stressors that are causing those higher rates are also causing a change in sleeping patterns, eating habits, ability to concentrate and use of substances in citizens.

1 in 5 people suffer from sleep-related problems, which range from difficulty falling asleep, frequently waking up, and waking up early. The symptoms can weigh on you and have a significant impact on our quality of life.

As a result of inadequate sleep, many people turn to an easy solution, being medication. However, sleep medication can have adverse effects and be ineffective in the long run. So, you ideally want to get down to the root of the problem, which could be your sleep environment, being overly stressed, what you’re consuming and more.

There are many things that can help you have a better nights sleep and they include:

  1. Adjusting your sleep environment
  2. Meditation
  3. Investing in a sleep aid, like the Somnox Sleep Robot
  4. Reducing your use of electronic devices 1 hour before bed
  5. Not eating 1 hour before bed

Stay Active

You may or may not have noticed that you are more sedentary now than you ever were before. Although social distancing is benefiting you in many ways, it can also harm your physical wellbeing. With fewer places to go and fewer things to do, you are far less active. Even the simple task of waking up, getting ready and going into the office was a part of your daily exercise, but now most people likely wake up and move from their bedroom to the living room.

That being said, it is now vital to track your daily movement, to ensure you are getting enough exercise throughout the day to support a healthy mind and body. Research has shown, you should strive for about 150 minutes of moderate activity per week, which comes out to about 30 minutes 5 days a week. If you struggle to get in an adequate amount of exercise week to week, purchase a fitness tracker to help keep track of your movement, and also motivate you.

Eat Healthily

Along with a change in exercise and movement, social distancing can affect your eating habits as well. Many people may find themselves mindlessly over-snacking, out of boredom or stress, or not eating enough due to reduced activity or anxiety.

It is just as important to track your eating and drinking habits as it is to track your exercise habits because they compliment each other. You should aim to maintain a calorie deficit, so you need to adjust your amount of consumption based on the amount of exercise you’re getting each week.

You should avoid consuming foods that are high in salt, sugar and fat and focus on fruits, veggies, lean proteins and whole grains. You should also avoid drinking your calories in the form of soda and high sugar juices and switch to healthier alternatives like seltzer water. These foods and drinks will help you maintain a healthy weight and keep you energized and alert.

Get Outside

Lastly, another important aspect of staying mentally and physically healthy during this time is to get outside and enjoy nature. Getting sunlight and fresh air is an integral part of remaining healthy. Just taking a walk outside has been proven to reduce anxiety and depression, which also reduces your heart rate and blood pressure.

Also, proper exposure to sunlight can improve your mood and overall health, as the sun causes your skin to produce vitamin D. Vitamin D plays an active role in preventing or fighting illnesses such as arthritis, eczema, thyroiditis and more. Sunlight also triggers your brain to produce serotonin, whereas darkness triggers your brain to produce melatonin. According to Healthline, serotonin is known for boosting your mood and helping you feel calm and focused. Melatonin, however, is known for making you sleepy. So, try to get out of your house 1-3 times during the day for proper sun exposure, with the use of sunscreen, of course.

Although COVID-19 has drastically changed the way that you are able to do things, it shouldn’t hold you back from being your best self, both mentally and physically. There are plenty of things you can focus on that you may have put off before like confronting your health issues, adjusting your sleep patterns for better quality and making sure you’re eating and exercising correctly. Maintaining all of those activities will make you feel healthier and ready to take on the world before you know it.

Want To Boost Your Immune System? Improve Your Sleep Quality

Want To Boost Your Immune System? Improve Your Sleep Quality

Getting your body to its strongest and healthiest shape may have been lurking around your list of 2020 goals. With the current pandemic however — all plans to boost your immune system and body’s strength must now take top priority.

To achieve this, usual suspects like diets, vitamins and supplements are resorted to. But there’s another proven method to strengthen and boost your immunity. A method so easy, you can do it with both eyes closed: getting a good night’s sleep.

With its healing and restorative powers, we’ll be examining the general benefits of sleep and the special role it plays in improving your immunity. We’ll also be checking out what happens when you cut corners with sleep. Next to that we look into why 7+ hours of a night’s rest are essential for a healthy immune system.

At the first signs of a fever, it isn’t uncommon for friends and family alike to advise that you attempt a little rest to sleep it away. Have a headache? Get some sleep. Beginnings of the flu? Go lie down. There’s hardly any ailment whose first course of treatment doesn’t recommend some good old-fashioned rest and relaxation. But is there any basis to this?

When it comes to the question of sleep boosting your immune system and keeping illness at bay ⁠— you cannot dispute its effectiveness. Studies have shown that skimming on sleep can impact how easily susceptible the body becomes to disease-causing pathogens like bacteria and viruses. The amount of sleep you get at night influences your convalescence period. Quality sleep is likely to shorten it, and insufficient sleep only lengthens the recovery process.

Sleep works magic for immunity. Because of that, the immune system shows its thanks by improving the quality of sleep, allowing for better and deeper rest.

 

Sleep quiz

Benefits of sleep

When it comes to the benefits of sleep, its value in keeping morning crankiness at bay, banishing under eye circles or even magically fortifying beauty is widely accepted.

Beyond these benefits however, getting between 7-8 hours of sleep every night can greatly improve your body’s well-being in many important ways.

Here are 5 ways getting a good night’s rest could keep your body buzzing with energy and good health:

Sleep reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke

If it could, your heart would probably whisper ‘thanks’, whenever you kept to your bedtime, and postponed your favorite Netflix series till the morning.

In a study conducted on over 150,000 American adults, those who routinely slept 7-8 hours a night, showed a 25% reduced risk of having a stroke.

Good quality sleep also decreases the work your heart performs, as blood pressure and heart rates go down while sleeping.

It is important to note that the magic number for a good night’s sleep, rests between 6-8 hours. Anything below or above could prove dangerous to your heart’s health.

Sleep helps with weight control

If your morning workout has ever left you wishing you could lose weight while asleep, then we have a little news for you.

While sleep won’t have you losing ten pounds overnight, 7- 8 hours of rest at night could aid in weight control. Being sleep deprived can leave you unmotivated to exercise in the morning. A study shows it also encourages the brain to crave comfort foods like high carb snacks.

Adequate sleep helps prevent this. With healthy rest, you encourage your body’s regular production of Ghrelin (the hunger hormone) and Lenin (the hormone that tells your body to stop eating).

Sleep is important for maintaining a good mood 

There’s a reason getting only a little sleep at night can leave you feeling plenty irritable, cranky and just downright miserable come morning.

Sleep has been proven to affect the mood. Studies have shown that even a partial deprivation of sleep can leave you feeling stressed, angry and mentally exhausted. Normal sleep can have a reversal effect on your mood.

Sleep increases productivity

Here’s a suggestion you might raise a brow at. The next time you feel unmotivated or uninspired at work? Make sure you get between 7- 8 hours of sleep later at night and subsequently after.

This is because insufficient and inconsistent sleep is proven to induce stress on the brain. It affects the rate your brain functions, translating to decreased work productivity.

With adequate sleep, you reduce your chances of burnout, improve your memory and make better decisions.

Sleep can help to prevent inflammation

Ordinarily, inflammation occurs as our body’s response to fight off disease-causing pathogens. Unfortunately, sometimes this response can be against harmless cells in the body, leading to auto-immune diseases like arthritis and lupus. 

This reaction can trigger because of a lack of sleep. Insufficient sleep has been shown to increase the levels of inflammation in the body.

Consistently getting quality sleep can help prevent inflammation brought on by poor sleeping habits.

Boost your immune system with sleep

Sleep and immunity operate on a two-way street. When disease-causing microbial organisms activate the immune system, it usually triggers an increase in the length of sleep and its intensity. When you don’t sleep well (enough), your immune system will weaken. In addition to being more susceptible to pathogens, you produce less sleep-inducing substances, so you will sleep less deeply. This sleep then assists the immune system in fighting off diseases.

By enhancing the length and intensity of sleep, the body’s defense system is strengthened. The production of hormones necessary for the countering of harmful organisms occurs during rest. Transmitters like cytokines which help to increase and regulate the immune system’s response to infection and inflammation are produced during the body’s deep sleep. Cytokines such as interleukin are also instrumental in inducing fatigue.

After assisting with defeating inflammation and infections, a good night’s sleep also ensures that your immune system remembers how to keep the bad guys out. It achieves this by strengthening the response memory of the immune system, allowing it to respond faster and more effectively to previously encountered microbes.

You produce infection fighting antibodies during sleep

Imagine this: your body is a war zone under direct attack from disease-causing pathogens. For protection, your immune system releases macho T-Cells with three things on their agenda:

  1. Recognize the pathogens
  2. Attach to them using adhesive proteins called integrins
  3. Eliminate them

There’s a snag however. Present in your body are molecules like adrenaline and prostaglandin which prevent your T-Cells from attaching, suppressing your immune response. This is where sleep comes in.

Research has shown lower levels of these molecules are produced while sleeping, allowing the T-Cells less interference to do their jobs.

Sleep helps in the production of Cytokines

To fight off infection and inflammation, the body relies on a group of proteins called cytokines.

These cytokines produce an immune response to attack and are produced and released during sleep.

What this means is, by laying vertically for 7 – 8 hours of shut-eye every night, you directly contribute to your body’s ability to fight off deadly infections.

Sleep assists in the repair of wounds

When you harm yourself through paper cuts or while playing as a contestant on Top Chef, your body will require some tissue repair to heal the wound.

Tissue growth and repair occurs during sleep when the brain can trigger the release of hormones that encourage the growth and repair of blood vessels.

This occurs between the 3rd and 4th stages of sleep, after the body has completed about 70% of rest.

The immune system works better during sleep

Thanks to the cytokines, infection fighting antibodies and cells produced during sleep, getting your body the adequate amount of rest will benefit your immune system.

What Happens To Your Immune System When You Don’t Get Enough Sleep?

Think about it like this: your immune system is like a battalion of soldiers ready to go to war against disease causing pathogens for you. It simply requires that you arm it with a balanced diet, regular exercise and sleep to allow it to do its job efficiently.

 

Sleep plays an important role in producing antibodies, anti-inflammation, weight control, mood regulation, the improvement of heart health etcetera. Its absence or inadequacy could open the body to infections, inflammatory diseases like arthritis, obesity, depression and even life threatening heart disease like stroke or high blood pressure.

Without adequate sleep i.e. 7-8 hours, you surpress the body’s immune response. This opens it up to chronic systemic, low-grade inflammation which is linked to diseases like diabetes and neurodegeneration.

On the outside, a night of inadequate rest can leave your eye bags heavy, your emotions weary and your energy lacking. On the inside, things don’t look any better.

To have a strong enough immune system, your body needs the required amount of rest to boost its immunity. But as we’ve seen, the immune system also has a part to play in improving the body’s sleep. Making both body functions mutually beneficial and important to the other.

Sleep quiz
Best Natural Sleep Aids

Best Natural Sleep Aids

When’s the last time you had a good night’s sleep? You know, seven or eight hours of uninterrupted slumber … what a crazy concept, right? A good night's sleep seems simple, but in reality, it can be quite difficult to fall — and stay — asleep for seven hours in a 24-hour period. Sleep aids and meditation may help you calm down and unwind at bedtime. Exercise, melatonin, lavender, and proper nutrition play a part too.

Understanding the Sleep Process

When you hit your pillow and close your eyes at night (or during the day), the brain cycles through a few stages. During the first stage, usually 5 to 15 minutes or so, your eyes are closed, and you’re dozing, but can awaken easily. Stage two is light sleep, where your body temperature and heart rate drop. Deep sleep occurs in stage three. Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep typically comes within 90 minutes. As each REM stage gets longer, you’ll start to dream.

Lack of “good” sleep usually leads to low energy, moodiness, fatigue, and difficulty in concentrating. Acute insomnia occurs when you’re stressed out about a particular situation. But chronic insomnia is a term for poor sleep, at least three nights a week, that lasts three months or longer. Reasons for chronic insomnia may be changes in the environment, your biological clock, work habits, or a medical or psychiatric issue.

Melatonin

Although the human body produces its own melatonin, it doesn’t actually make you fall or stay asleep. Sleep experts at Johns Hopkins Medicine say you should use melatonin supplements sparingly. They work best when you get outside in the sunlight as often as possible. If, after a week or two, you find that melatonin supplements aren’t working, stop taking them and consult your doctor. The supplements can be dangerous if you're pregnant or breastfeeding, or suffer from depression, seizures, or an autoimmune disorder. A Sleep Robot may be your best solution since it helps you slow down your breathing naturally, and enables you to slip into sleep without dangerous chemicals.

Plants Are Perfect!

Scented and air-cleaning plants are natural sleep aids. You just need to place a few in your bedroom.

Aloe vera produces oxygen, and it won’t need a lot of water or direct sunlight. Aloe fronds release a gel that’s great for use on cuts and burns. When you get an aloe, be sure to keep soil and a few small containers on hand, as these plants are very prolific.

Peace lilies filter air toxins and increase the bedroom’s humidity. More humidity keeps airborne microbes at bay and reduces allergic reactions, so you’ll breathe better at night. Peace lilies thrive in shade or filtered sunlight. Keep them away from pets and small children.

Jasmine is a fragrant exotic plant that will help you relax. Its foliage and flowers are used in tea, perfumes, oils, soaps, and bath products. Jasmine usually blooms in white, but flowers may be light pink or ivory. Place a few jasmine plants in your bedroom and then drift off to dreamland.

Lavender emits a pleasant scent for calming and relaxing the body. You can grow plants in your bedroom if you have a window with direct sunlight, or a plant light will do. Lavender oils and bubble bath soaps help take the edge off a stressful day.

Notice, we didn’t include the famous poppy flower. L. Frank Baum may have been toying with artistic license when the flowers put Dorothy into a deep sleep in The Wizard of Oz. Poppies contain opium, but unless you ingest or inject it, the flower is not a sleep aid. (Hey, he created a talking scarecrow, lion and tin man as well!)

Exercise

Exercise and outdoor activities get you moving — and tuckered out. Get off the couch and get active! Give yourself at least 30 minutes to wind down after a workout.

Falling and staying asleep can definitely be stressful. But you can help the process by altering your sleep environment. Block out unnecessary light, turn off the TV, and power down the outside world. Unlike sleep supplements (which can hamper your ability to wake up in the morning), the Somnox Sleep Robot uses calming music and your own breathing rhythms to help you fall asleep naturally.

Connie Proctor, a former professional dancer, is now a physical therapist and yoga instructor who advocates for wellness for people of all abilities.