Healthy sleep|Dosing the right amount of sleep | Gesundheit-Aktuell.de

The only thing we consciously experience from sleep is waking up, because even falling asleep is a barely noticeable process. Just as a clock needs to be wound up to keep ticking, humans need sleep to function. Sleep is essential to life, that’s a well-known fact. But why? What happens to the body when it is asleep? And why is sleep so important for health? Here’s why you shouldn’t miss your nightly portion of sleep.

Sleeping as a pure waste of time?

In their search for the meaning of sleep, sleep researchers have carried out numerous experiments in which volunteers systematically did not sleep at all for a few days. The record has been 11 days of sleep deprivation since 1965 and has not been broken. No matter how long the test subjects refrain from sleeping, after 24 hours at the latest, the first signs of fatigue appear, which are associated with poor concentration and memory. The ability to react is similar to that of an intoxicated person and the behavior has been described as extremely strange. However, the purpose of sleeping cannot only be that the person can concentrate when awake or does not show any strange behavioral patterns. No, nature gave us this habit in the cradle to keep our immune system functioning.

Sleep keeps you young and healthy

Certain hormones that are closely related to the body clock play an important role in a well-functioning immune system. Hormones are active substances that the body produces and that influence the metabolism. During sleep, the growth hormone is released, which is responsible for general growth and regeneration. In addition, so-called interleukins are released, which are of great importance for the immune reaction. They probably also owe the direct doze off. On the one hand they increase the body temperature and promote deep sleep, on the other hand they pass on the important messages to the immune system that inflammation in the body has to be fought. If you don’t give your body the necessary amount of sleep, the immune system cannot work properly. Without enough sleep you get sick much more often, especially the digestive system as well as the heart and circulatory system are particularly vulnerable. Halfway through bedtime, around 3 a.m., the growth hormone phase is replaced by the cortisol phase. Cortisol is also known as the stress hormone, which in the following half of the night prepares the body to be really awake in the morning. Most of the time, the highest concentration of cortisol in the blood is in the morning; only in acute stressful situations is a higher amount of the hormone released. Throughout the day, cortisol keeps us awake until it is slowed down again in the evening by the sleep-inducing growth hormone. However, if a person sleeps too little, the cortisol level remains constantly too high and the body experiences constant psychological stress. If the lack of sleep lasts for a longer period of time, the blood sugar level rises and you gain weight. The consequence of drinking through the night is not only damage to health, but also a much faster aging of the body.

Correct dose of sleep

It is said that the seven to eight hour sleepers live the longest. There is certainly a large grain of truth in this, but you should not meticulously measure your sleep duration against this benchmark. Rather, you should focus on your personal sleep needs, which only you can find out for yourself. The best way to find out how your inner clock is ticking is to take a longer vacation: just sleep and wake up according to your inner needs. The amount of sleep that levels off after the third week should correspond to your internal clock. But as soon as you wake up, get up! Too much sleep makes you tired again and in the long run has the same life-shortening effect as too little sleep. The only situation where it makes sense to sleep more is when you are ill. Tiredness often comes naturally and it is important to give in to this need for sleep. The immune system can only run at full speed and the body regenerate when we are asleep. “Sleep is the best medicine” said our grandmothers and great-grandmothers – and they were right!