Why We Need Sleep

According to Health and Science editor, Maggie Fox, "A few nights without sleep can not only make people tired and emotional, but may actually put the brain into a primitive ‘fight or flight’ state."

According to Dr. Lyle Danuloff, Clinical Psychologist, 72% of the patients at The Enuresis Treatment Center ages 7-15 report remembering dreams less than one time per week. He goes on to state that bedwetters do not experience sufficient REM that is required to maintain proper sleep function. REM stage helps us work through stress and anxiety. It is vital for children to move through REM each and every night. Our statistics show us that years of bedwetting and experiencing poor quality sleep essentially render the bedwetting child, teenager, or adult sleep deprived.

Sleep helps you to restore and rejuvenate many body functions:

• Memory and learning - Sleep seems to organize memories, as well as help you to recover memories. After you learn something new, sleep may solidify the learning in your brain.
• Mood enhancement and social behaviors - The parts of the brain that control emotions, decision-making, and social interactions slow down dramatically during sleep, allowing optimal performance when awake. REM sleep seems especially important for a good mood during the day. Tired people are often cranky and easily frustrated.
• Nervous system - Some sleep experts suggest that neurons used during the day repair themselves during sleep. When we experience sleep deprivation, neurons are unable to perform effectively, and the nervous system is impaired.
• Immune system - Without adequate sleep, the immune system becomes weak, and the body becomes more vulnerable to infection and disease.
• Growth and development - Growth hormones are released during sleep, and sleep is vital to proper physical and mental development.

Sleep Deprivation

Sleep deprivation is a tricky thing - the more deprived of sleep we are, the more tired, frustrated and hazy we feel - making us less able to recognize the effects of the deprivation and make the necessary changes to improve it.

Some of the signs of sleep deprivation include difficulty waking up in the morning, lack of concentration, falling asleep during work or class, and feelings of moodiness, irritability, depression, or anxiety. Experts say that if you are falling asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow; need an alarm clock to wake up; or feel the need for frequent naps during the day, it is very likely you are sleep deprived.

The effects of sleep deprivation can be felt both physically and mentally. These may include:

• Poor decision-making, poor judgment, increased risk-taking
• Poor performance in school, on the job, and in sports
• Impaired driving performance and more car accidents
• Increased incidence of obesity, diabetes, illness in general, high blood pressure, and heart disease
• Impaired memory, concentration, and ability to learn
• Physical impairment, poor coordination, delayed reaction time
• Anxiety, depression, and other emotional problems
• Magnification of the effects of alcohol on the body
• Exacerbation of the symptoms of ADHD, such as impulse control, irritability, and lack of concentration

Source: helpguide.org Tina de Benedictis, Ph.D, Heather Larson, Gina Kemp, M.A., Suzanne Barston, and Robert Segal, M.A., contributed to this article.

The importance of sleep and dream sleep

Each stage of sleep offers benefits to the sleeper. If we do not get adequate sleep in all stages, we experience the strongest effects of sleep deprivation.

Sleep allows the brain to go on a little vacation needed to restore the energy we expend during our waking hours. Blood flow decreases to the brain in these stage, and redirects itself towards the muscles, restoring physical energy. Research also shows that immune functions increase during sleep.

REM sleep, or dream sleep, is also very important. This stage is associated with processing emotions, retaining memories, and relieving stress. Our brains suspend logic, and we lose all self-awareness - which is why we can experience ridiculous, irrational events in our dreams and believe them to be true.

If our REM sleep is disrupted one night, our bodies don't follow the normal sleep cycle progression the next time we doze off. Instead, we often go through extended periods of REM until we "catch up" on this stage of sleep. But, if quality sleep has been lost as well, our brain attempts to catch up on this stage first - in fact, the brain will try and make up all of the sleep it has lost and only half of the REM sleep.

Reference: helpguide.org Tina de Benedictis, Ph.D, Heather Larson, Gina Kemp, M.A., Suzanne Barston, and Robert Segal, M.A., contributed to this article.

Recommended Amount of Sleep

Group	Amount of Sleep Needed
Infants	About 16 hours per day of sleep
Babies and toddlers	From 6 months to 3 years: between 10 and 14 hours per day. Young children generally get their sleep from a combination of nighttime sleep and naps.
Children	Ages 3 to 6: between 10 and 12 hours of sleep Ages 6 to 9: about 10 hours of sleep Ages 9 to 12: about 9 hours of sleep
Teenagers	About 9 hours of sleep per night. Teens have trouble getting enough sleep not only because of their busy schedules, but also because they are biologically programmed to want to stay up later and sleep later in the morning, which usually doesn’t mesh with school schedules.
Adults	For most adults, 7 to 8 hours a night appears to be the best amount of sleep, although some people may need as few as 5 hours or as many as 10 hours of sleep each night.
Older adults	Current thought is that older adults need as much, if not more, sleep than middle-aged adults. Taking a midday nap may help.
Pregnant women	During pregnancy, women may need a few more hours of sleep per night.

Source: www.helpguide.org/life/sleeping.htm