0:00
hello everyone and welcome to night
0:03
owling my name is Logan and I am here
0:05
today to talk to you about sleep in this
0:08
lesson we'll talk about sleep in general
0:11
what sleep is how it breaks down we'll
0:14
talk a bit about some of the health
0:16
benefits of sleep maybe how to optimize
0:18
our sleep itself and then we'll get into
0:22
a bit of the downsides of what happens
0:23
when we miss a night's
0:26
sleep as a general overview what we'll
0:29
first talk about is the mechanics of the
0:32
sleep cycle what are the different
0:34
periods of sleep within a given sleep
0:36
cycle we'll then move into some of the
0:39
core factors that are involved in sleep
0:42
some of the factors that can help
0:44
optimize um the performance of our sleep
0:46
throughout the night we'll then get into
0:49
the impact of sleep itself on our health
0:52
and how missing out on maybe even a few
0:55
hours of sleep can have detriments to
0:57
our overall health and then lastly we
1:00
will talk a bit about our personal
1:02
assessment which is available on the
1:03
night owling website and can help us get
1:06
an idea of where we sit in terms of our
1:09
general sleep
1:11
hygiene so we will begin here with the
1:14
mechanics of the sleep cycle itself
1:18
so the way to think about sleep is that
1:21
sleep is made up of various cycles
1:24
multiple cycles within a given sleep
1:27
interval so over the period of 8 hours
1:30
there are about four to six cycles of
1:33
sleep now within each cycle of sleep
1:38
there are stages and as you can see in
1:40
the figure above my head here each of
1:43
these stages varies in terms of not only
1:46
its name but in terms of how deep the
1:48
sleep itself is and what actually occurs
1:51
during this phase of sleep
1:54
and generally the stages of sleep within
1:58
a sleep cycle are characterized as
2:02
either NRM or NREM which is nonrapid eye
2:07
movement sleep or rapid eye movement
2:10
sleep and rapid eye movement sleep is
2:13
exactly what you think it is the eyes
2:16
are closed but even though the eyes are
2:18
closed themselves the eyes are darting
2:21
around
2:22
rapidly and what this is indicative of
2:25
is not only the given stage within a
2:27
given sleep cycle but also the activity
2:30
that is going on neurologically during
2:32
the given sleep cycle stage
2:36
so next here we will get into the more
2:38
specific aspects of the stages of sleep
2:41
and beginning here first with the NREM
2:44
stage one area of sleep now this area of
2:48
sleep is considered to be a
2:49
transitionary phase between being awake
2:52
generally in our day-to-day lives and
2:53
transitioning into sleep itself it
2:56
typically lasts about 1 to 5 minutes and
3:00
this is where we begin to experience
3:02
drops in heart rate drops in our
3:05
breathing rate just a general relaxation
3:08
of the body but also it is during this
3:10
phase where we experience what's called
3:12
a hypnic jerk now hypnic is the Greek
3:15
word for sleep it actually comes from
3:18
the Greek word hypnos and a jerk is like
3:20
a jerking sensation like an awake
3:22
sensation and it's thought that this
3:25
occurs actually because our body as
3:28
we're beginning to relax and as the
3:30
sleep process is initiating the brain
3:32
wires get a bit confused and confuse the
3:35
relaxation sensation with a falling
3:37
sensation which is why sometimes it is
3:39
during this phase of sleep that we begin
3:42
to jerk awake or our partner maybe in
3:44
the bed next to us jerks awake and then
3:46
jerks us awake so this stage one sleep
3:50
is considered to be like a transitionary
3:52
phase and what it transitions into is
3:55
what's called enrem stage two sleep now
3:58
this enrem stage 2 sleep can last
4:00
anywhere from about 20 to 25 minutes and
4:04
it is during this phase where we start
4:05
to see a slowing of brain activity and
4:09
additionally we see a drop in core body
4:12
temperature and now this drop in core
4:15
body temperature is is relatively
4:17
essential for a deepening of the sleep
4:20
process and it can actually be
4:22
facilitated by just dropping the
4:24
temperature in the room as we go to
4:26
sleep at night so maybe dropping the
4:28
temperature in the room to 68 to 69° F
4:31
can help facilitate um a a deeper sleep
4:34
phase as we transition through the uh
4:36
the various sleep stages
4:39
now another phenomenon actually that
4:41
happens during this stage two sleep is
4:43
what's called sleep spindles and
4:46
essentially the function of this during
4:48
the stage 2 sleep is to dampen the
4:50
brain's response to outside noises or
4:53
outside phenomenon and you can kind of
4:56
think of this as a burst of brain
4:58
activity that turns on your brain's do
5:01
not disturb mode
5:03
essentially allowing you to relax more
5:06
effectively so now we will move into
5:09
talking about the deeper phases of sleep
5:12
and the phase that we'll start with here
5:14
is enrem stage three sleep now this
5:17
phase of sleep is where we're getting
5:19
into a bit of a deeper phase we see that
5:21
sleep in this um stage lasts about 20 to
5:26
40 minutes and during this stage we see
5:29
increases in what's called growth
5:30
hormone now this hormone is responsible
5:33
for helping tissues of the body recover
5:36
from exercise or from any sort of
5:38
previous injury and it also is
5:40
responsible for improvements in organ
5:43
function and during this stage three
5:46
sleep we can see this slowing of the
5:49
brain activity which is tied to the
5:53
general difficulty of waking up during
5:55
this phase so if it's the case that we
5:58
wake up during stage three sleep or even
6:00
the next stage that I'm going to talk
6:02
about stage four sleep the body feels
6:04
generally a bit more groggy and it's a
6:07
bit more unnatural to wake up during
6:09
this stage of sleep so if the alarm goes
6:11
off or something like that during this
6:13
stage it it can be quite
6:16
jarring and transitioning here and into
6:19
this next phase this finally reaching
6:21
this or rapid eye movement stage of
6:24
sleep now stages 1 2 and three were
6:26
non-rapid eye movement now we've finally
6:28
reached rapid eye movement this stage of
6:31
sleep is also about 20 to 40 minutes it
6:34
is actually the stage of sleep where
6:36
this growth hormone that helps us
6:37
recover our organs and our muscles is at
6:40
its
6:41
highest and interestingly during this
6:44
phase we see highly um active brain
6:48
activity and it's actually quite similar
6:51
to the wakeful period and although there
6:53
are various theories of why we dream it
6:56
is actually during this phase that we do
6:58
dream and that we begin to kind of
7:00
consolidate the emotions and experiences
7:03
that we have seen throughout the
7:05
previous day or in the past um
7:09
noteworthy amount of
7:10
time and we see that the generally
7:14
during this phase as well that the
7:15
muscles are in a stationary state
7:17
they're you're almost kind of a bit
7:19
paralyzed um physically during this
7:21
stage of sleep although of course it's
7:23
temporary and as I mentioned this brain
7:27
activity actually during the phase of
7:30
sleep facilitates memory consolidation
7:33
or just generally making sure that we
7:35
remember our memories and so this stage
7:39
of sleep is quite effective for helping
7:42
us improve our general brain activity
7:44
and our general brain
7:46
health and so this really brings us to
7:49
the end of the explanation of the stages
7:51
of sleep and as I mentioned here at the
7:53
bottom of this slide uh I know that
7:55
these stages can be grouped together
7:57
quite often and perhaps a bit difficult
7:59
to spread apart but really this
8:02
information should serve to just help us
8:04
understand what given stages occur
8:06
within a sleep cycle and how these
8:09
stages are relevant to the function of
8:12
our bodies
8:14
so now that we've spoken a bit about
8:16
sleep stages and sleep cycles and the
8:19
depth to which sleep can go we can now
8:21
begin to talk a bit about the core
8:23
factors that relate to our sleep and the
8:26
first core factor that we'll speak about
8:28
here is called circadian rhythm now that
8:31
word circadian is actually a Latin word
8:33
it breaks down into two separate Latin
8:35
words circa meaning around and den
8:38
meaning day so this word essentially
8:41
just means your body's rhythm throughout
8:42
the day and I guess night in this
8:45
circumstance so one big factor that
8:48
regulates our body's rhythm is actually
8:51
light so we're by nature activated
8:55
during the day we're moving during the
8:57
day and because of that our eyes are
8:59
actually sensitive to light and now in
9:02
in nature that's sunlight of course but
9:06
in our modern world this can also be
9:08
screens can be overhead lighting and so
9:11
this is why it's quite important
9:14
actually to in the time right before
9:16
we're getting ready to go to sleep maybe
9:17
1 or 2 hours begin to avoid sources of
9:20
light avoid staring closely at our cell
9:23
phone for extended periods of time avoid
9:25
watching television for extended periods
9:27
of time and the reason for this is
9:29
because if the body sees this external
9:32
light it really doesn't know the
9:34
difference between this external light
9:35
and sunlight so it begins to think that
9:38
it's daytime and will reduce your
9:40
ability to go to sleep
9:42
effectively and the way it reduces the
9:45
way to go to sleep effectively is
9:46
through a hormone that is called
9:48
melatonin now mel melatonin is a hormone
9:51
that's associated with sleep and what it
9:53
does is prepares the body to relax and
9:56
to drop its temperature so as to allow
9:59
us to reach deeper phases of
10:02
sleep and so because of melatonin it's
10:06
actually also important to have a
10:08
consistent sleep schedule to have a
10:09
consistent within about half an hour to
10:12
an hour time period of going to bed the
10:14
same time every night and this allows
10:18
the brain itself actually to know when
10:21
to release melatonin in order to
10:23
effectively prepare you for
10:25
sleep now thinking next bit here more
10:29
into preparing for sleep this gets us
10:31
into what's called sleep pressure now
10:34
sleep pressure is what it sounds like
10:36
it's the amount of pressure you feel to
10:37
be going to sleep throughout the day now
10:39
it's less like peer pressure or external
10:41
pressure and more of an internal
10:42
pressure if you've ever been awake for
10:44
20 or so hours you know what sleep
10:46
pressure feels like it's essentially a
10:49
buildup of a neurotransmitter called
10:52
adenosine and this adenosine
10:54
neurotransmitter that's in our brains is
10:57
associated with increased amounts of
10:59
tiredness it's actually the the
11:02
neurotransmitter that caffeine helps
11:05
impair the activity of so it's caffeine
11:08
is essentially reducing adenosine
11:10
activity and helping to at least delay
11:13
feelings of sleepiness and it's not only
11:17
actually the amount of time that we're
11:18
awake that regulates our sleep pressure
11:21
but it's also the activities that we're
11:23
doing while we're awake this could be
11:26
exercise extended periods of walking
11:28
working perhaps or even social
11:30
engagement all of these factors can help
11:34
um or hinder our ability to feel the
11:36
sleep uh pressure for engaging in a
11:40
deeper phase of sleep as we move
11:42
throughout our evening moving into the
11:45
next core factors of sleep we begin to
11:48
talk about our sleep environment this is
11:50
the room that we are sleeping in so some
11:53
of the factors as I've mentioned
11:54
previously that are important for the
11:57
improvement of a sleeping environment
11:59
can be the darkness of the given room so
12:02
as I mentioned in the previous slide our
12:05
body actually thrives when we're
12:08
sleeping in a dark environment and
12:10
particularly a dark and a cool
12:11
environment and so in this case it's
12:14
effective to have blackout curtains and
12:17
minimal light in the room so the body
12:19
itself doesn't perceive that it's
12:21
daytime
12:22
it's also effective as I'd mentioned
12:24
previously to have a cooler room perhaps
12:26
dropping the uh thermostat temperature
12:28
down to 68
12:30
69° it's effective to have a quiet
12:33
environment or to have an environment
12:35
where the noise is predictable something
12:37
like having a white noise or a fan
12:39
playing can help so that any sort of
12:42
other noises that are occurring outside
12:43
of the room don't disrupt the sleep
12:45
cycle
12:46
itself and then as of course you would
12:49
expect comfortable bedding bedding that
12:51
is breathable and allows the body to
12:54
move around comfortably is a an very
12:57
important aspect for helping improve the
13:00
general quality of sleep itself within
13:02
the sleep
13:04
environment now the next aspect of sleep
13:07
that is considered to be core is our
13:10
lifestyle and our habits so as I
13:12
mentioned in the previous slide caffeine
13:16
is a delaying factor when it comes to
13:19
feeling tiredness however we actually
13:21
want to feel tired as we're beginning to
13:23
go to sleep that feeling of being tired
13:26
is associated with that buildup of
13:28
adenosine and the function of melatonin
13:31
and it helps our body prepare physically
13:33
to go into sleep so it's usually the
13:36
case that we should avoid the
13:38
consumption of caffeine prior to going
13:40
to sleep so that our body can function
13:42
effectively additionally alcohol
13:44
consumption can interfere with the depth
13:47
to which our body can go to sleep and
13:50
without going into too much detail
13:52
alcohol can actually stop our body from
13:54
reaching the deeper phases of sleep such
13:56
as phase 3 and phase 4
13:58
sleep additionally it's quite helpful to
14:01
engage in exercise throughout the day
14:03
exercise can help the body generally
14:05
feel a bit more sleep pressure and help
14:08
the body generally function a bit more
14:11
uh effectively from a blood flow
14:14
perspective eating habits are also quite
14:16
important for preparing our body for
14:19
sleep uh it's the case actually that if
14:21
we eat too large of a meal within about
14:24
2 hours of going to sleep that our body
14:26
temperature elevates in order to digest
14:29
the food effectively and it stops our
14:31
body from reaching deeper phases of
14:33
sleep because as I've mentioned
14:35
previously the body temperature actually
14:36
needs to drop in order to reach these
14:39
stage three and stage four areas of
14:42
sleep and then stress management
14:45
although in many cases of course stress
14:47
is out of our control um having a
14:50
generally stressfree life or a low
14:53
stress life can help us generally fall
14:56
asleep more effectively and then that
14:59
carries into our general sleep hygiene
15:01
itself and then the last bit here maybe
15:05
a bit um that is out of our control in
15:07
some circumstances but still worth
15:09
noting for those of us with sleep
15:11
disorders such as sleep insomnia or
15:14
sleep apnea it can be quite difficult to
15:16
effectively sleep so it is in these
15:17
circumstances that we should seek to
15:19
talk to our doctors our health care
15:21
professionals to help us manage the
15:23
quality of our sleep more effectively
15:26
and although this ties in with the
15:28
stress management factor from the the
15:30
previous bullets generally anxiety and
15:33
depression can also be one of some of
15:35
these factors that we should talk to our
15:37
healthcare provider about helping um to
15:39
alleviate so that we can allow our
15:41
bodies to engage in more restful sleep
15:44
uh age as well is a factor so as we
15:47
reach uh later ages I won't name the
15:50
actual ages themselves but the body has
15:53
a less effective means of reaching
15:56
deeper phases of sleep uh and this can
15:58
cause problems with memory consolidation
16:00
etc and m much of this is essentially
16:04
out of the control of the individual
16:06
it's just part of the aging process but
16:08
what it does is it makes it more
16:10
important than ever as we reach the
16:12
later age years of our life to
16:15
prioritize sleep and prioritize
16:17
effective sleep and then lastly here
16:20
recently there have been discoveries to
16:22
say that there is a genetic factor to
16:25
our ability to sleep there's a genetic
16:28
factor that relates to us being kind of
16:31
early birds people who are comfortable
16:32
waking up in the morning that's me or
16:35
being night owls which are those of us
16:37
who are just more having more fun or
16:39
functioning better during the evening
16:41
and so some individuals are just
16:43
genetically awake at a later time and of
16:46
course these are individuals who should
16:48
be considering that avoidance of light
16:52
as they reach their sleeping time is
16:55
very uh important because those of us
16:57
who are early birds we just kind of go
16:59
to sleep when the sun goes down but it
17:02
is those night owls who will need to
17:03
seek to avoid these external sources of
17:05
light such as cell phones and screens
17:08
before reaching the sleep
17:10
period now we will move into talking
17:13
about the impacts of sleep on our health
17:15
and in particular the impacts of our
17:17
sleep on our health in the short term so
17:20
beginning first with brain function as I
17:22
mentioned previously sleep is highly
17:24
integrated with the function of our
17:26
brains we see that individuals with
17:28
healthy sleep hygiene and who have slept
17:31
well in the previous night have improved
17:33
focus general memory function and also
17:36
reaction time in fact speaking of
17:38
reaction time the uh deprivation of
17:42
sleep affects cognitive function in a
17:44
way that is similar to alcohol
17:47
intoxication
17:49
and so many of these uh studies I think
17:51
have been performed in surgeons and you
17:54
can see that a diminishment of sleep
17:58
quality in surgeons leads to more
18:00
mistakes in the operating room so it's
18:02
quite important to have proper sleep
18:05
hygiene not only for our general memory
18:08
consolidation in the way that we feel
18:10
but also in our performance in our
18:12
occupation sleep as well uh affects the
18:15
immune system we see that individuals
18:17
with proper sleep behaviors have
18:20
elevated function in resistance to
18:22
illness in fact individuals who sleep
18:25
less than 6 hours per night are actually
18:27
four times more likely to um get a cold
18:31
um and experience other illnesses so the
18:33
sleep uh is highly integrated within the
18:36
immune function in the body and then
18:38
additionally what we see is that sleep
18:40
is highly regulating mood function which
18:43
may not come as a surprise to many of
18:45
you after a night of poor sleep we don't
18:47
actually feel the best emotionally but
18:50
sleep helps us regulate our anxiety and
18:52
our emotional stability which itself
18:54
feeds into our sleep function in the
18:57
long term moving now into our health in
19:00
the long term we actually see that
19:03
health is highly affected in terms of
19:06
our risk of chronic disease by healthy
19:08
sleep so reductions in heart disease
19:12
diabetes and blood pressure are seen in
19:14
individuals who experience elevated
19:17
sleep quality over long periods of time
19:20
we see that these individuals also
19:22
experience healthy weight in a generally
19:24
robust metabolism and part of the reason
19:26
that this is the case is that sleep is
19:28
highly integrated with our hunger
19:30
hormones and our hunger hormones thereby
19:33
lead to us eating are seeking of food
19:37
behaviors and we actually see that
19:39
individuals who are deprived of sleep
19:42
see an increased cravings for high
19:44
calorie foods by about 50% meaning poor
19:48
sleep means poor effects on the hunger
19:52
and satiety or food seeking hormones and
19:56
thereby a disruption in our ability to
19:58
manage our weight
20:00
effectively and then as usual sleep
20:03
health goes to brain health and brain
20:06
health is affected by elevated quality
20:09
of sleep over long periods of time by a
20:11
reduction in dementia an improvement in
20:13
general emotional well-being and an
20:16
enhancement in our long-term memory and
20:18
in fact good sleep boosts the recall of
20:22
memory by up to 40% meaning that sleep
20:25
overall is not just healthy for our
20:27
brains but also healthy for our ability
20:30
to function and resist chronic diseases
20:33
but also manage our body
20:36
weight so now to finalize this
20:38
presentation we will just talk about a
20:40
bit of the information that we've
20:41
covered over this past 20 minutes we can
20:44
remember from the beginning of this talk
20:46
that sleep stages occur over the course
20:49
of a night we actually have sleep cycles
20:51
which are made up of sleep stages those
20:53
sleep stages vary in terms of not only
20:56
how long they last but also how deep the
20:58
sleep is and the functions that happen
21:00
within the body in a given amount of
21:02
time over sleep we see that there are
21:05
factors such as our circadian rhythm
21:07
which regulate our body's preparedness
21:09
to go to sleep and to function and sleep
21:12
effectively and we also see that
21:14
deprivation of our quality of sleep can
21:17
lead to impairments in our general
21:19
memory function but also it can weaken
21:22
our immune system and lead to us
21:23
becoming sick more easily and then also
21:26
we see increases in stress and impacts
21:29
in our ability to regulate our food
21:31
seeking behaviors which could impair our
21:33
ability to manage our body weight
21:36
however improvements in the sleep
21:38
quality can improve our general memory
21:40
and our brain function also improve our
21:43
immune system and then as well help with
21:46
elevating our mood and our ability to
21:48
reduce our risk of chronic disease such
21:49
as heart disease and
21:51
dementia and so with that all of this
21:54
information in mind thank you for
21:56
attending and thank you for listening
21:58
and we will talk to you at the next talk