A good sleep pattern can do wonders

One person pays more attention to a good sleeping pattern than the other. While one person longs for his bed, there are people who experience sleeping as unnecessary. Yet, sufficient sleep is essential and gives you a full battery that you need for the next day. Giving both your body and mind the necessary energy, sounds good, right?

What is sleep?

Like the ringing alarm clock that wakes us up every day, we have internal the bells in our brains. These clocks make the alternation between sleeping and being awake. The amount of the sleep hormone melatonin, then the body prepares to go to sleep and when the amount drops it is time to wake up. There are factors that can influence our biological clock and the amount of melatonin in our body, namely light sources and stress.

Often businessmen, politicians and other high-ranking people see sleep as a waste of time. Donald Trump himself admitted that he only sleeps 3 to 4 (!) hours a day. Definitely don't follow his example, because sleep is indeed important for good health and to function optimally throughout the day.

Yet we view sleep as something mysterious which we do not know much about. Even scientists cannot give a concrete answer to the question: what is sleep?

What happens to us when we sleep?

You mind comes to rest when you sleep, because it gives you a feeling of rest and it provides recovery. After a too short night due to a late evening at home with friends or a party, you will have experienced that your alertness and concentration decrease.

The sleep cycles

In total there are four phases in our sleep cycles that last about 90 to 120 minutes each. What happens after those minutes? Then we do micro-awakening. Our body 'checks' for any stimuli that affect our sleep and your body tries to solve that. Then you immediately doze off again. So you should not think that you have a sleep problem if you wake up occasionally during the night.

There are 2 main phases in your sleep cycle:

• The first important stage is the deep sleep which ensures physical recovery. Your body recovers from the efforts made during the day by having more blood flow to your muscles. You may have wondered why babies and children need more sleep than adults. This is because your body grows and develops the most during this phase.

• Another important stage is the REM or Rapid Eye Movement sleep which provides mental recovery. Very active brain and faster and more irregular heartbeat and breathing are associated with this phase. Your brain processes the information collected during the day and the data in your short-term memory is transported to your long-term memory. For example, imagine that you are learning a new skill at work and you don’t understand it very well at first. There is a chance that you will be able to perform the skill better the next day, because you slept on it.

Why is a good sleep pattern so important?

So sleep is important for your body and your mind.But what exactly does that mean? We will examine some of the benefits of sleeping:

• Less likely to get sick: especially in the winter it is important to sleep enough, since you are more susceptible to diseases. Your immune system works less well if you do not sleep enough, because during your sleep you produce extra antibodies such as white blood cells and lymphocytes.

• Good for your memory: this mainly has to do with REM sleep, which processes and stores collected information.

• Better for the figure: Do you find a healthy and varied diet important? Then getting enough sleep is definitely a must. Otherwise, you will throw the hunger hormones leptin and ghreline out of balance, your brain will be confused and you will not give your body the signal that you have already consumed enough calories.

• Reduced risk of high blood pressure and heart rhythm disorders.

• You see fresher and more energetic out: say goodbye to your bags under the eyes and dull skin.

• Avoid gloomy thoughts: People who are not rested can often appear grumpy, because insufficient sleep affects your irritability and dejection. In the long term, you can even suffer from anxiety disorders and depression.

• A boost your sex life: Insufficient sleep causes a lower libido.

Sleeping is an important part of your life

Despite the lack of scientific research on the concept of sleep, we are all aware that we need enough sleep to be more productive during the day and that there are many short and long-term effects associated with it. We cannot give a definitive answer to the question: how much sleep do I actually need? It all depends on the person and what you feel best with. Do you want to promote a relaxing sleep and a good night's rest? Then these tablets might be the solutiong