Sleeping is an essential activity for our survival. This allows us to develop and regenerate our physical and mental faculties.
If you stop sleeping for more than ten days, you die. We also die when we stop eating, but only after around forty days. This shows that sleep is necessary for us to live.
The calculation is simple: with eight hours of sleep each day, we sleep a third of the time we spend on earth. This may seem excessive, unless you consider that we are just as active in our sleep as when we are awake.
For example, we release more hormones at night when we sleep than when we go about the day. Somatotropin, prolactin, leptin or cortisone allow us to:
- grow until we reach our adult size
- repair and renew our cells
- recharge our neurons
- strengthen our defenses against disease
- Get rid of toxic substances in the body
This regeneration process occurs during three distinct phases: light sleep, deep sleep and paradoxical sleep. REM sleep corresponds to the moment when the electrical activity of the brain is close to that of wakefulness, and where we dream.
These three phases form a 90-minute cycle and the cycle repeats between four and six times during the night.
These cycles are essential for the proper functioning of our body and mind.
Moreover, sleeping poorly or little can cause bad mood, a state of depression and promote weight gain. In the longer term, this exposes you to higher risks of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and even cancer.
It is therefore important to sleep around eight hours per night and maintain a regular sleep schedule.
