Sleep Isn't a Luxury
Briefly

Sleep Isn't a Luxury
"We devote significant amounts of energy to work, where we are expected to accomplish more in less time with fewer resources. Our children, growing up in an accomplishment-driven world, often feel pressure to achieve in school, sports and other extracurricular activities, minimizing the time they have to simply think or play without outside direction. When we do have leisure time, we often feel guilty because we aren't being productive. To beat this perceived time shortage, we often attempt to gain more time by not sleeping."
"Sleep is essentially a state of altered consciousness during which our brains perform differently than they do when we are awake. Using electrodes on the outside of the skull researchers can determine whether a person's brain is wide awake, in a relaxed or meditative state, in light or deep sleep, or dreaming. Over the course of a night, we move through these stages in multiple 90-minute blocks."
The modern world offers endless activities and productivity pressures that reduce unstructured time and encourage sacrificing sleep to gain more hours. Prolonged sleep deprivation harms physical and psychological well-being. Sleep is a state of altered consciousness during which the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and clears metabolic waste. Brain activity during sleep can be measured with electrodes and cycles through light, deep, and REM stages in roughly 90-minute blocks across the night. Light sleep allows easy awakening while deep sleep causes grogginess on waking. Disturbance of REM sleep commonly leads to reports of dreaming. Prioritizing sufficient sleep is essential for overall health.
Read at Psychology Today
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