THE POWER OF SLEEP

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Good day amazing , beautiful and handsome kids and magnificent parents of our steem kids and parents community. Today's post is about sleep.
All of us sleep, so sleep and the things that happen during sleep are processes we are all familiar with. However most of us do not now the intricacies and benefits sleep provides . Today's post titled THE POWER OF SLEEP will bring everything to light. Without wasting words, let me begin with explaining what sleep really is.

What Is Sleep 😴?
Sleep is a special biological process where the brain and body remain active but the individual is unconscious and has limited interactions with the environment.

Sleep Processes
How does sleep start ?
Our body's internal clock is located in a part of the brain known as the SCN (suprachiasmatic nucleus). The SCN is located in the hypothalamus. It is sensitive to signals of light and dark. When darkness sets in at night, the SCN sends messages to the pineal gland causing it to release a certain chemical called melatonin. Melatonin makes a person feel sleepy and ready for bed. However, when the optic nerve senses morning light , the SCN triggers a release of cortisol and other hormones causing you to wake up.

While we are awake, neurotransmitters such as histamine help to keep the body alert and active. At night some nerve cells stop the messages that tell you to stay awake causing drowsiness. One of such cells is Adenosine. Adenosine works by slowly building up in the blood while we are awake. This makes us more drowsy the longer we stay awake. When we do sleep , the chemical slowly fades.

How does Cofee work?

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Caffeine a chemical contained inCofee works to keep a person awake by blocking the body's receptors of Adenosine thereby promoting wakefulness.

What Controls How Long You Sleep and When You Wake?
Typically, there are two processes namely:-

• Sleep/wake homeostasis
• The circadian biological clock

Sleep/wake homeostasis
In this process, the longer you are awake the greater your body senses the need to sleep.

The Circadian Clock
This a biochemical oscillator that controls internal body rythms like sleep and wke cycles.
In this process , the SCN receives signals of light and dark from the eyes wich resets the clock each day. As the body learns this rythm it gradually learns when to sleep and when to wake.

STAGES OF SLEEP
There are two 2 stages of sleep . They are:

• Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep
• Non Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep

REM Sleep
This is a stage of sleep where the eye moves rapidly beneath the closed eyelids, and brain activity, breathing and heart rate , and blood pressure increases nearly to equal that during wakefulness. Dreams occur during this stage.

During this stage , muscle paralysis occurs preventing arms and legs from moving so as not to act out dreams. Sleep walkers have a problem with muscle paralysis causing them to act out their dream.

NREM Sleep
During this stage, brain activity, breathing and heart rate all slow down. Eye movements stop. However, the pupil in the eye oscillates or increases in size to allow light to enter helping the SCN know when to press the wake button. External awareness is almost zero during this stage .

IMPORTANCES OR BENEFITS OF SLEEP

• During sleep, the body produces Cytokines a protein which helps the immune system fight infections.

• Sleep - especially the REM stage helps- the body to consolidate new memories. This is why it is very easy to remember what we learn just before sleeping.

• As we all know, during sleep the body regains energy and absorbs and assimilates nutrients promoting overall health.

Losing even 1 hour of sleep everyday can have significant effects. Let us try our best to sleep early and stay healthy.

Thanks for reading!

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