Importance Of Sleep

Sleep is essential to your mental and physical well-being. If you do not have sufficient sleep, you are likely to become moody and bad-tempered. If your insomnia is chronic, you maybe permanently tired, lacking in energy and depressed. Although sleeping patterns change as you grow older, getting a good night's sleep remains essential for the regular rejuvenation of the body.

Why Do We Need Sleep?
Sleep experts are not sure about the precise functions of sleep but it is thought that the body needs a period of rest every night to allow it to recuperate from the day and to repair cellular damage and maintain the immune system. Cells all over the body have the chance to regenerate and the brain consolidates what has happened during the day into long-term memory. People who are deprived of sleep may suffer from mood swings, irritability and psychoses.

Sleep And Aging:
There is a popular misconception that people need less sleep as they grow older. In fact, your sleep requirements remain remain fairly constant throughout adulthood. Most people need approximately eight hours a night whether they are young or old. However, a variety of changes take place in sleeping patterns as people grow older and these changes conspire to make the overall duration of sleep shorter than before. Sleep experts say that the 'architecture' of sleep changes with age. Older people spend less time in deep sleep or 'delta sleep' than younger people, although they continue to spend the same amount of time in dream or 'rapid eye movement' (REM) sleep as younger people. People may find it more difficult to get to sleep as they grow older and this maybe because they produce less of the chemicals that control the sleep / waking cycle. For example, older people secrete less melatonin, a sleep-promoting substance produced by the pineal gland in the brain.

Other age-related changes to sleeping patterns include waking up more frequently and spending more time awake during the night. Generally, people adapt to these natural changes and do not find them debilitating.

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Reasons For Sleepless Nights