Our need for sleep

I’d have thought scientists and doctors by 2018 would have awakened to the mysteries behind our need for sleep and dreaming. Dream on, Mike.

There is so much we still don’t know about what’s behind life’s requirement that we spend a third of our days in a state of slumber if we are to remain fully aware of the other 16 hours that pass daily.

If you’re anything like me, you continue to experience periods where restful sleep comes easily, followed by times of discomfort or stress when it doesn’t (including all those predawn bathroom visits). Most of us ride these alternating swells between staring at the ceiling and blissful sleep throughout our lifetime.

I wrote years ago about sleep perhaps being a necessary break when the spirit trapped inside our physical bodies must regularly recharge at an intangible place which might host the true reality behind physical existence.

Yeah, I agree, a touch philosophical. Yet it makes sense to me that without the mysterious spark of divine energy that animates us, we’d be nothing more than enormous lumps of inactive sirloin. And recharging such energy daily at its source seems more logical than not, especially when I consider that, as new arrivals to this troubled world (infants), we fall into deep sleep up to 14 hours daily.

Come to think of it, such prolonged slumber also is equally natural as we enter into departing this world.

But I’m far from being an authority. So I turn to professional sleep researchers for answers, only to discover even they don’t have crucial answers. However, I can glean information from their publications, such as the following.

Consistently sleeping less than six hours a night can shorten one’s lifespan. Even a week of sleep deprivation can cause us to gain two pounds of fat. Insufficient sleep causes cravings, especially for sugary or salty foods and larger portions.

We can only dream about faces we’ve already seen somewhere, whether we can remember them or not.

Regularly feeling drowsy likely means we are sleep-deprived, which is more serious in many ways than most of us realize. Gurus of slumber say drowsiness during the day is a sure sign means we haven’t had enough sleep. Additionally, those who fall asleep within five minutes of lying down likely are suffering from severe sleep deprivation. It normally should take humans anywhere from 10-15 minutes to fall asleep.

It’s also been proven repeatedly that sleeping soon after a person learns something can drastically improve their ability to retain that fresh information.

It’s natural to wonder why we sleep. “You’d think I’d have an answer for that, right?” Patrick Fuller, associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, told the website Tech Insider. “I’ve been doing this for a while and I can’t answer that question.” Fuller isn’t the only one, although scientists have studied sleep since the early 1900s.

Some theorize that sleep allows humans to become rested and active during the day. Others say sleep is “primarily restorative, allowing the body to grow muscle, repair tissues, synthesize proteins, and release growth hormones,” reports Tech Insider.

Based on further sleep research, it’s apparent that sleep remains directly connected with what transpires in our bodies when we sleep.

Many biological functions will vary through the stages of slumber. One Harvard study found during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which marks the dreaming stage, our brainwaves are desynchronized, muscle tone is reduced or absent, and eye movements become rapid. During other sleep phases our brain waves are synchronized, muscle tone is mildly reduced and eye movements roll slowly.

Also, changes with body temperature and blood pressure occur during sleep. Levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide glucose in the blood are constant when awake, but temperature and blood pressure drop during sleep. Brain-wave activity, breathing and heart rate can vary when awake or during REM sleep but extremely regular in non-REM sleep.

Our hormones also fluctuate when we sleep. According to the Harvard Sleep Lab, stress hormones are released just before awakening. “This may be the body’s internal clock arousing itself and [altering] itself to society’s time schedule,” reports Jann Gumbiner in Psychology Today. “Many people wake themselves at a regular daily time without an alarm clock.”

Despite outward appearances, Gumbiner says, sleep is not a passive state. The brain is extremely active during sleep as it cycles through REM and other stages, consolidating new learning, and, in teenagers, releasing growth hormones. “Sleep, and good quality, slow-wave sleep, is essential to growth, productivity and good health,” writes Gumbiner.

While it’s not been proven what’s behind our need to sleep (or dream), studies show the process is necessary for animal survival. Rodents deprived of sleep will develop ulcers on their organs, wind up unable to regulate body temperature, and some die.

While it would be considered torture to perform those kinds of extreme deprivation studies on humans, research shows instances where people became severely ill or died after lengthy sleep deprivation. It can’t be proven that lack of sleep caused their deaths, only that sleep deprivation took an enormous toll on their bodies, beginning with hallucinations, followed by the inability to perform tasks effectively.

The apparent world record for human sleep deprivation reportedly belongs to a teenager who in 1965 stayed awake for nearly 11 days as part of a science project. His cognitive factors returned to normal after sleep.

Now please excuse me while I nuzzle my head into a pillow, turn on the rain machine and revel in my brief reconnection with tranquility. It’s what we nappers of ever-advancing years can do best.

Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist. Email him at mmasterson@arkansasonline.com.