Struggling to sleep? Here’s the reason why & what to do about it

If you didn’t need sleep, it wouldn’t happen. What creator makes their creation vulnerable for a third of the day? It’s completely illogical behaviour. And evolution probably works better than any creator ever could – so why do we sleep? What impedes sleep? And what can you do about it?

Why do we sleep?

Sleep is a process, it’s more than being unconscious or to re-energise. When you sleep, your brain works through various steps, which all come together to maintain a healthy mind and body. Without sleep, you suffer in ways that are obvious and ways that aren’t so clear. Quite bluntly, sleep is essential for your survival. When you sleep, your body performs many critical functions.

These include:

1. Physical restoration:

As you move through the sleep cycle, your body repairs itself, builds muscle, strengthens your immune system, and clears out toxins from the brain that build up throughout the day. As an example of how important this process is, there is a connection between these toxins and Alzheimer’s disease. If you do not give your body the opportunity to clear the brain during sleep, you put yourself at higher risk of developing the disease.

2. Memory consolidation:

When you sleep, your brain processes information it’s taken in throughout the day. It also consolidates memories and strengthens neural connections. Because alcohol changes your sleep – from sleep to sedation – you do not consolidate memories efficiently after consuming alcohol during the day. Even just one alcoholic drink changes memory consolidation in the brain.

3. Emotional regulation:

Sleep helps to regulate your emotions and manage stress. When you don’t get enough sleep, you are more likely to feel irritable and anxious.

4. Hormonal balance:

Sleep helps hormone regulation. If you have too little sleep, you may end up with disrupted hormones. This can affect your weight, mood and health in general.

What affects sleep?

Many things in the Western way of life affect sleep dramatically. Some things are unavoidable, – although it’s still beneficial to remain aware. However, there are many things we think of as our “rights” that are easy to change when you realise the negative impact they have on your life.

Alcohol:

Like warm milk for children, many people believe alcohol is the answer to an easy drop-off and a good night’s sleep. However, research in recent years shows it is the opposite. Alcohol impacts the quality and quantity of sleep. Firstly, alcohol puts you into a sedated state. This is different to the sleep state. During sleep, the body switches off, giving the brain space to flick into its active stage, where it moves through all the specific steps needed to keep your body functioning.

Each step has an important purpose. Much like when your phone or computer switches off functions to perform an update. Sedation is almost the opposite, all activity in the brain stops. You may feel rested after sedation, but it’s a different type of rest and one without restoration. Therefore, most of the problems that come with a lack of sleep remain even if you feel like you’ve slept for the night.

Caffeine:

Throughout your waking time, your body produces a nucleoside called adenosine. It builds up as you consume energy and creates sleep pressure. This makes you feel tired and want to sleep. The brain clears adenosine as you sleep, leaving you refreshed and awake. Adenosine works by binding to receptors in your brain. Caffeine blocks these receptors and stops the adenosine binding. It doesn’t however remove the adenosine, which is why when the caffeine wears off, you get an overwhelming feeling of tiredness.

By avoiding caffeine, you will feel your body’s signals. Your body has another survival mechanism, when you ignore your sleep cues, it assumes you’re signalling danger. You are waiting for the danger to pass before going to the vulnerable state of sleep and helps. It does this by excreting the waking hormone cortisol. This gives you feelings which you might misinterpret as anxiety.

Blue light:

The circadian rhythm is your natural, internal clock. It regulates your sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. Your body uses the sun and lack of sun to synchronise its system. The blue light emitted by the sun resets your body for the morning. It suppresses melatonin production and increases cortisol. The lack of blue light after sunset signals the body to suppress cortisol and release melatonin to help sleep. Most of our artificial lighting, computers, devices, TVs, LED lights, car headlights, etc emit blue light. Sadly, technology moves quicker than evolution, so the brain cannot yet differentiate between the blue light from a phone screen to the blue light from the sun.