Go to bed

Today I want to share some FACTS about sleep and why we need it.

Years ago as a mother of seven young children, an entrepreneur, and a leadership trainer I thought sleep was an inconvenience and only lazy people slept a lot.

Yes, I believe we should get some sleep but not too much.

Years later after being sleep deprived, moody, making silly mistakes I discovered some of my life challenges could be solved if I was rested and able to think more clearly.

Perhaps you are currently where I was in my past with skipping sleep or trying to live on little sleep.

I want you to avoid the pitfalls I already experienced due to the wrong mindset.

Let us begin…

In general, most healthy adults need seven to nine hours of sleep a night. However, some individuals are able to function without sleepiness or drowsiness after as little as six hours of sleep. Others can’t perform at their peak unless they’ve slept ten hours.

We naturally feel tired at two different times of the day: about 2:00 AM and 2:00 PM. It is this natural dip in alertness that is primarily responsible for the post-lunch dip.

Sleep is just as important as diet and exercise.

According to the International Classifications of Sleep Disorders, shift workers are at increased risk for a variety of chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases.

More Fun Facts

Sleep is an active state

We used to think that everything shuts down when we sleep. But over the last 60 years, scientists have discovered that our brains are very active while we sleep. In fact, some parts of the brain use more oxygen and glucose while asleep than when awake.

Deep sleep happens first

The first three hours of sleep have the deepest stages of sleep (Slow Wave Sleep). Later on in the night, we have more of the sleep stage with vivid dreams (Rapid Eye Movement Sleep, REM sleep).