What processes occur during sleep. The value of sleep: what time is better to fall asleep and wake up
The biological need of the body. It helps to restore human immunity, streamline the information received during wakefulness and support many more processes, which, by the way, have not been fully studied. We will talk more about what happens to a person during sleep.
sleep stages
Our soul and body require rest, and the most indispensable in this regard is sleep. Having missed it for some reason, we will feel that we cannot move normally, as coordination has been disturbed, and memory and the ability to concentrate have noticeably weakened. If the lack of sleep becomes prolonged, then all these symptoms are fixed, intensified and, by the way, become irreversible. No wonder sleep deprivation has always been considered cruel torture.
For the average 8 hours a person allotted for a healthy night's rest, he has 5 lasting up to 100 minutes. Moreover, each of them has two phases - slow and fast sleep. How do they flow?
To understand what happens during sleep, let's take a closer look at its stages.
REM sleep
A person who is tired or has not slept well on the eve falls asleep at the slightest opportunity and immediately enters the phase of the so-called fast or paradoxical sleep.
He was named so because at that time the sleeping person had an electroencephalogram reading, frequency heart rate and breathing are similar to those of an awake person, but almost all muscles (except for the diaphragm, the muscles of the auditory ossicles, as well as those that hold the eyelids and move the eyeball) completely lose their tone. That is, what happens during sleep in its fast (paradoxical) phase can be characterized as follows: the body is already sleeping, but the brain is still working. By the way, it is at this time that we see the most vivid and easily remembered dreams.
After 20 minutes from the start of falling asleep, a person enters the phase of slow sleep.
What happens during non-REM sleep
Slow-wave sleep, experts have found, accounts for 75% of all night rest. It is customary to consider several stages of this phase.
- Drowsiness. If you are healthy and go to bed on time, then it takes 5-10 minutes, during which you fall into a deeper sleep.
- Dive into sleep. This step usually takes about 20 minutes. What happens in the body during sleep at this stage? The process is characterized by a slowing of the heartbeat, a decrease in body temperature and the appearance on the EEG of the so-called "sleep spindles" (short bursts of brain activity with low amplitude), during which a person's consciousness is practically turned off.
- Deep dream.
- The deepest delta sleep. Sleeping at this time is difficult to wake up. And even when he wakes up, he can not come to his senses for a long time. It is at this stage that manifestations of sleepwalking, enuresis, talking in a dream and nightmares are possible.
Then the person, as if starting to wake up, enters a state of REM sleep. Such phase changes occur throughout the rest, and if the latter was sufficient, then, upon waking up, a person feels fresh, cheerful, renewed.
Physiological processes that occur during sleep
In the body of a sleeping person, despite his external immobility, relaxation and lack of reaction to stimuli (of course, if they are not very strong), many processes take place.
- A lot of moisture tends to evaporate through the skin at this time, resulting in a slight weight loss.
- Increases the production of a special protein - collagen, which, by the way, contributes to the strengthening of blood vessels and the restoration of skin elasticity. Apparently, movie and pop stars are not cunning when they say that a good 8-hour sleep helps them look good (although it’s worth clarifying: not immediately after a heavy dinner).
- In addition, a person grows in a dream (yes, this is not at all the invention of mothers and grandmothers who do not know how to put a restless child to bed), since his growth hormone at this time has the highest concentration in the blood.
- As a person sinks into sleep, almost all the muscles of the body relax one by one, except for those that keep the eyelids closed. They stay tight eyeballs moving under them, which, by the way, indicates the stage of deep slow sleep.
As you can see, the processes in the body during sleep are diverse - with their help, a kind of cleaning is carried out, preparing the body for daytime wakefulness.
Why does the brain need sleep?
Probably everyone knows that our brain is not idle during sleep. During the period of night rest, he practically stops responding to external stimuli and concentrates on internal needs, performing the main task at that moment - sorting and processing daytime information and sending it for storage to the appropriate sections of the “territory entrusted to him”.
By the way, thanks to this process, everything that happens to the brain during sleep can be considered a kind of “general cleaning”. It helps us wake up in the morning with a different - clear and logical - look at the problems that seemed insoluble only yesterday. And schoolchildren and students have been using this for a long time, noting that it is the material that you study before going to bed that is best remembered.
If a person has a regular brain, there is not enough time to structure and hammer the information received into “memory cells”, which leads to complaints of fog in the head and severe memory impairment.
How brainwashing happens
Asking the question: “What happens in the body during sleep?”, The researchers found that such a state for the cells and tissues of the brain is akin to a kind of “cleansing enema”. After all, toxins that enter the body with food or as a result of failures caused by stress settle not only in the gastrointestinal tract, liver or kidneys. They, it turns out, accumulate in the cerebral fluid, both in the spine and in the cranium.
During sleep, the surrounding neurons shrivel up, shrinking in size, causing the intercellular space to become larger and allow more fluid to pass through. And she, in turn, flushes out toxins from nerve tissues, saving us from the formation of protein plaques that would make it difficult to transmit signals between neurons and contribute to early development Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease.
What does a person need to sleep?
So, we discussed what happens in the body during sleep. To rest and to rise after it vigorous and renewed, each of us needs a different time. In total, people spend an average of five to ten hours a day sleeping. Somnologists (specialists dealing with the problems of sleep and its impact on human health) believe that it is still much more important for us not the quantity, but the quality of a night's rest.
It has been noticed that people who sleep calmly and rarely change their position feel more alert and rested in the morning than those who toss and turn a lot. But why, having taken a seemingly comfortable position in bed, we nevertheless change our position? It turns out that our nocturnal body movements largely depend on external stimuli - flashes of light, noise, changes in air temperature, the movement of a spouse or child lying nearby, etc.
Somnologists believe that 70% of such movements have a bad effect on the quality of sleep, or rather, on its ability to move into a deep phase. And this just does not allow a person to fully sleep. Often we are forced to change our position by a hard surface, and a full stomach, and poor health, which means that when going to rest, we need to create the most comfortable conditions for ourselves.
About prophetic dreams
Somnologists, studying dreams, also understood the so-called " prophetic dreams and came to the conclusion that in fact there is nothing mystical about them. Trying to solve them, you should not fantasize what happens to the soul during sleep. It's not she wandering in higher worlds, no, - just in the phase of slow sleep it picks up signals from the internal organs and transmits them in the form of vivid images. A person sees colored dreams, and can interpret them based on simple analogies.
For example, if you dream of rotten vegetables or raw meat (in a word, inedible foods), it means that there are problems with the digestive system. And the fact that a person is suffocating or drowning, as a rule, indicates a violation of work respiratory organs. A burning fire can be dreamed of with angina pectoris, since one of the symptoms of this pathology is just a burning sensation in the chest.
But flying in a dream is a clear sign of growth in children and positive development in adults.
The value of sleep is difficult to overestimate.
Everything that happens in the body during sleep haunts researchers. This much-needed and irreplaceable state of a person is studied by physicians, psychiatrists and even esotericists.
There are many myths and sensations around this topic, but you should not get too carried away with them, because sleep is, first of all, an opportunity to restore vitality and maintain health. Therefore, take care of your sleep and treat the described physiological process with respect!
Many people believe that sleep is the most silent and inactive activity. Until relatives prove the opposite to them, convicting, for example, of snoring or sleepwalking. In fact, while we sleep, our internal organs continue to work. True, not in such an intense mode as during the day. All the processes that take place in the body during a night's rest are very important. Thanks to them, our life activity is supported.
Sleep phases
So what happens to a person in a dream? The body relaxes after a daily load, because you need to recover and save energy for the next day. But nervous system awake - blood circulation and breathing, hearing and speech, coordination and attention must fully function. The cerebral cortex is also tireless - even at night it loads some of its zones and gives rest to others. Let's try to figure out how the body behaves in different stages of sleep and what processes take place in it.
To better understand what happens to us when we sleep, let's take a closer look at the phases of sleep.
If a person is tired or has not had enough sleep, he falls into a dream as soon as he touches the pillow - and immediately falls into the phase of REM sleep. It is also called paradoxical. During this period, the indicators of electroencephalography and the pulse of a sleeping person are very similar to the results of an awake person. At the same time, almost all muscles completely lose their tone. Only the muscles of the middle ear, the diaphragm, and those that move the eyeballs and hold the eyelids remain tense.
Briefly, the fast phase can be described as follows: the body fell asleep, but the brain continues to function. It is during this period that they usually enjoy the most vivid and memorable dreams.
Approximately 20 minutes after we fall asleep, the phase of non-REM sleep begins. Scientists have determined that it accounts for a total of 75% of night rest and consists of several successive stages:
Then the person seems to wake up and fall into a fast sleep. These two phases alternate all night long. If there was enough sleep (7-8 hours), then freshness and vigor in the morning are provided.
How the body behaves
As already mentioned, sleep gives us relaxation, rest and dreams (both pleasant and terrible nightmares). For this, consciousness is turned off, or rather its mental function. Memory and perception of the surroundings retain minimal activity during falling asleep, producing poorly remembered dreams of chaotic content. In the morning, a rested consciousness improves its work and gives out very vivid plot dreams. But what is happening to the body all this time? Surely, many at least once wondered why a leg suddenly starts to twitch in a dream or why a sleeping person gets out of bed and begins to wander around the room. What else can surprise our body:
Physiological processes in the body
When a person sleeps, enough a large number of various processes. The relaxation of his body, external immobility and lack of reactions to weak external stimuli are deceptive. What happens inside us when we rest:
As you can see, the processes occurring in the body of a sleeping person are diverse. But they have one task - to clean from the inside and restore the body, thus preparing it for a new day.
"General cleaning" in the brain
When we fall asleep, the brain does not turn off. True, he almost completely stops responding to any external stimulus. Instead, this organ focuses on the internal needs of the body. Its main task is to sort and process the information received during the day. After that, it sends the already ordered data for storage to the appropriate cells.
The process of putting the brain in order during a night's rest is considered a kind of general cleaning. It is she who gives us the opportunity to wake up in the morning and look at the problem from a different angle, making a more logical and clear decision. By the way, the people correctly noticed - the morning is wiser than the evening. And students of schools and universities have long benefited from this - they storm textbooks just before going to bed. Then the material is remembered with a bang.
If a person regularly lacks sleep, the brain has too little time to process, structure and place accumulated information in memory cells. As a result, there is a complete fog in my head, and my memory leaves much to be desired.
Scientists have found that during sleep, the tissues and cells of the brain seem to be washed with a “cleansing enema.” It turns out that toxic substances that enter the body with food or due to failures provoked by stress can settle not only in the digestive organs, kidneys or liver. They also enter the cerebral fluid in the same way - and not only in the head, but also in spinal cord e. During sleep, the glial cells surrounding the neurons shrink. Their size is shrinking. Thus, the space between the cells increases and much more fluid can pass through it. As a result, toxins are actively washed out of nerve tissues. This prevents the formation of specific protein plaques that complicate the transmission of interneuronal impulses.
It turns out that a good full sleep is an excellent prevention of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, as well as other neurodegenerative diseases.
Let's summarize
The average person spends about a third of their life in sleep. This is a lot. However, a night's rest is not a waste of time at all. Indeed, at the moment when we fall asleep, the body begins active work on its own restoration and renewal.
If there are any damages received during the day, their elimination will be especially high-quality and successful at night. It is during sleep that our body gets the opportunity to thoroughly cleanse itself.
Poor sleep will sooner or later lead to health problems.. Those who try to snatch a few hours for work or other activities and sleep less than 6 hours a night live less than those who prefer to sleep longer. Thus, a night's rest has a deep positive influence on our physical, intellectual and emotional well-being.
“Elena, if you find information on how positions in a dream can determine the onset of illness, then be sure to share with us. I think such information will be interesting not only to me, but to other readers too!” (From comments)
Our body is an unusually harmonious and intelligent system. Any violation of the mental or physical state finds its own body positions in a dream long before the onset of the disease. To alleviate physical discomfort, a person takes a forced position that is often uncomfortable for him.
When pain pass (under the influence of pain medication or as a result of a cure), we are happy to return to our favorite position. Which clearly demonstrates the close relationship of a person's individuality with the sleeping position in which he spends most of the night.
I welcome you, friends, to the pages of the site about the phenomenon of sleep and the quality of life. In this article: how our sleeping positions change due to illness, what is the most correct sleeping position , impact of habitual postures on health.
How the position of the body changes as a result of the disease
The disease begins with unpleasant pain. Moreover, in the bustle of the day, we can for a long time not attach importance to tingling under the shoulder blade, fatigue of the legs or numbness of the hands, explaining these symptoms with anything: physical activity, nervous tension, stress and so on. However, our body, unlike the busy ones, is sensitive to any failure in the body and responds by changing the position of the body during sleep, relieving pressure in the area where the diseased organ is located.
Depression, low blood pressure, neurosis, stomach ulcer. With these diseases, a person intuitively takes the most sparing position of the "embryo" (position on the side, knees pulled up to the body).
Cervical osteochondrosis, tonsillitis, rhinitis, sinusitis, sinusitis- position on the side, hands are placed under the cheek or pillow.
Heart diseases- on the back with arms thrown up or half-sitting on high pillows.
If you wake up in the morning in a royal pose, and your hands are thrown behind your head, and this position was not typical for you before, it does not hurt to contact a cardiologist.
When we take a horizontal position, the flow of venous blood to the heart increases. The heart, in case of heart failure, is not able to cope with a large influx of blood, it stagnates in the lungs and, as a result, shortness of breath and shortness of breath, which disappear with an upright position. This forces a person to take a position close to vertical in a dream, putting high pillows under his back and head.
As the disease progresses, a person needs more and more pillows. The hearts feel helpless before the world of sleep and the horizontal position of the body, difficulties with blood circulation force them to seek support for their existence, at least with the help of pillows.
High blood pressure- position on the back.
Diseases of the spine and gastrointestinal tract- postures in the "embryo" and on the stomach, which allow you to reduce pressure on vertebral discs and unload your back.
Circulatory disorders in the legs- a person sleeps on his back, legs bent at the knees. This pose is also taken if the legs are very tired. It facilitates blood circulation, the work of the heart, allows you to unload the veins.
liver disease, right kidney, diabetes - sleep on the left side.
asthmatic bronchitis- the person lies on his back with his head thrown back. This posture contributes to better ventilation of the lungs, which means better access to oxygen in the body.
Diseases auditory nerve - the “ostrich” position, when a person covers his head with a pillow during sleep.
One lady, who underwent surgery to remove a tumor of the right auditory nerve and completely lost her hearing, shared the details of the development of the disease.
Previously, a woman constantly slept on her left side in the “half-embryo” position, and over the past ten years she began to cover her head with a pillow, so that it was located directly on her right ear. During the growth of the tumor, the lady developed constant tinnitus (tinnitus), which she tried to get rid of by covering her ear with a pillow in her sleep.
The neurosurgeon who performed the operation suggested that the disease had developed over a decade. It turns out that the early stage of the disease coincided with the transition from the “half-embryo” position in a dream to. If medicine could decipher the signals of the body transmitted by sleeping positions, then it would be possible to detect the development of a tumor at an early stage and save a woman's hearing.
This case from the practice of the American psychiatrist S. Dunkell clearly confirms that the sleeping posture can warn about the disease in advance.
If you begin to wake up in a position that is not typical for you, I advise you to listen to your health.
Why you need to sleep in the right position
Let's start with anatomy
The human brain is quite small (only 2% of the total body weight), but it consumes enormous resources. When we sleep, the brain continues to work, "taking" 15% of the blood from the total blood flow and 20% of the oxygen that we receive when we breathe.
The brain is supplied with blood and oxygen through two carotid and two vertebral arteries. The vertebral arteries pass through the canal, which form the transverse processes of the cervical vertebrae, and provide nutrition mainly to the posterior parts of the brain (cerebellum, pons, medulla oblongata).
If the blood supply to these departments is insufficient, then the functions corresponding to them in the body suffer: the cerebellum - coordination and accuracy of movements, oblong bridge and Varoliev bridge - digestion, respiration, vascular tone and heart function.
What are the dangers of incorrect postures
Compression of both or one vertebral artery during sleep is very dangerous. Even if one artery is occluded, the other may not overpower the increased blood flow - it may turn out to be very narrow to work for two (the diameter of the arteries sometimes differs from each other by 2 times) or it may turn out to be blocked by an atherosclerotic plaque.
When the blood supply through the two paired arteries supplying the brain is disturbed, hypoxia appears or oxygen starvation brain cells that are sensitive to the lack of oxygen. For example, the kidneys or liver can be without oxygen for several hours, the brain can only last about 5-10 minutes. At the same time, in the areas of the brain responsible for intelligence and memory, irreversible processes begin within a minute.
In this way, We needprotect and cherish our vertebral arteries, which provide us with a full life. When you go to bed, take care that these arteries do not get squeezed during sleep.
Of great importance is the choice of a pillow, which should provide support to the cervical vertebrae, keep the head position natural, as in a standing position. It is better to choose a pillow of medium height or orthopedic. The shoulders should not be on the pillow, but on the mattress. More details in the video at the end of the article and.
How to sleep is bad
Consider postures that can provoke the sad consequences described above.
Sleeping on high pillows or on your stomach may lead to the development cervical osteochondrosis and cause a stroke (in older people). Strokes most often occur in the early hours of the morning, when the person in the wrong position has spent most of the night.
Sleep on a high pillow on your side has the same dangerous consequences. One vertebral artery is squeezed, and the second may not be able to cope.
in the prone position twisted neck constricts the throat, carotid artery in the region of the clavicle, one of the paired vertebral arteries, the second may not work well due to atherosclerosis. All this makes breathing, blood flow and oxygen supply to the brain difficult.
In addition, the sleeper is squeezed rib cage, which in the normal state should have a large amplitude so that the diaphragm can expand and the lungs fill with air. When squeezing the lungs, the renewal of air in them occurs defectively. At a young age, this is not very scary, but in the elderly it can lead to death.
Sleep on the stomach with the arms stretched out above the head. A person sleeping in this position exposes himself dangerous disease- brachioplexus syndrome. Nerve endings and blood vessels are compressed due to strong tension in the muscles of the forearm, which makes the hands ache and go numb.
Moreover, the head turned to one side pinches the carotid artery in the region of the collarbone, compresses the muscles of the throat and neck, which makes it difficult for blood circulation and breathing, the supply of oxygen to the brain.
Sleep sitting stretches intervertebral discs resulting in pain and swelling in the neck area. We are talking about a pose when it is strong, sitting in public transport or at a table.
Sleeping on a very hard bed can lead to straightening of the physiological curves of the spine in the neck and lower back. As a result, a high load is placed on the intervertebral discs, causing pain and local swelling, over time, the discs become deformed and the pain becomes constant, osteochondrosis develops.
Sleep without a pillow straightens the physiological cervical bend and leads to deformation of the cervical discs and osteochondrosis.
Sleep on your back disrupts the rhythm of breathing (if the muscles of the palate and throat are weakened or have a birth defect), which leads to. That is why the royal pose is called the “sudden death pose”.
The most correct posture
Sleep on your side considered the most comfortable under the following conditions:
However, sleeping on your right side can put extra stress on your liver and lead to wrinkles.
Sleep on your back is recognized by many physicians as quite physiological: the vertebral discs are unloaded as much as possible, the blood circulates normally. This pose is most indicated for hypertensive patients, people prone to heart disease, suffering from heartburn.
It is very difficult to accustom yourself to an unusual position in a dream, because the sleeping postures reflect the nature of our personality, and correspond to the nature and type of psychological protection.
I hope, friends, the article turned out to be useful, and you found the answer to your questions, how diseases affect sleeping postures, which posture during sleep is correct.
Smile! Sleeping on your back is dangerous for snoring, sleeping on your stomach is dangerous for vascular diseases, sleeping on the left side is dangerous for the heart, sleeping on the right side is dangerous for the liver. Magazine "Health" wishes you pleasant dreams! :-D
The science
We spend nearly one third of our lives sleeping. But sleep is not a waste of time, because the moment we plunge into our unconscious, many functions are activated that provide us with an optimal night's rest.
In sleep, our body is restored and cleansed. bad dream is associated with poor health, and those who sleep less than six hours a night have a shorter life expectancy than those who sleep longer. Thus, sleep has a profound effect on our mental, emotional and physical well-being.
Brain
Sleep seems to be a rather passive state, and despite the fact that activity in the cerebral cortex drops by almost 40 percent when we are in the first phase of sleep, the brain remains very active in the last stages of sleep.
Typical night sleep comprises five different sleep cycles, each of which lasts about 90 minutes. The first four stages of each cycle are considered restful or non-rapid eye movement sleep. The last stage is characterized by rapid eye movement sleep.
During the first stage of sleep, brain waves are small undulating movements. During the second stage, they are interspersed with electrical signals called "spindles" - small bursts of activity that last a few seconds and keep us in a state of quiet alertness.
As the second stage flows into the third, the brain waves continue to deepen into large slow waves. The larger and slower the brain wave, the deeper the sleep. The fourth stage occurs when 50 percent of the waves become slow.
During this time, 40 percent of normal blood flow to the brain is directed to the muscles in order to restore energy. However, during the REM phase that follows this stage, there is a high level of brain activity. This stage is associated with dreams and is caused by the pons, the part of the brain stem that transmits impulses from the spinal cord to the brain and nearby structures.
The pons sends signals to the thalamus and the cerebral cortex, which are responsible for the thought process. It also sends signals to turn off motor neurons in the spinal cord, causing temporary paralysis and preventing movement during sleep.
REM sleep helps to integrate memory and emotion, and at this point blood flow increases dramatically in several areas of the brain associated with memory and emotional experience, while blood flow decreases in areas of the brain such as reasoning and language.
Eyes
Despite the fact that the eyes are covered with eyelids, their movements mean different stages sleep. When we first go into a semi-conscious state, our eyes move in a circular motion. But when we find ourselves in deeper sleep, rapid eye movements begin, with the eyes twitching and darting.
REM sleep occurs about 1.5 hours after falling asleep and reappears every 90 minutes during the night. It means the time when we dream.
Despite the fact that the activity of the brain at this stage is high, the muscles of the body are relaxed almost to the point of paralysis.
Hormones
During wakefulness, the body burns oxygen and food in order to provide itself with energy. This state is called catabolic, during which more energy is consumed than is stored using the resources of the body. During this stage, the work of stimulating hormones such as adrenaline and natural corticosteroids dominates.
However, when we sleep, we find ourselves in an anabolic state where maintenance, repair, and growth predominate. Adrenaline and corticosteroid levels drop and the body begins produce human growth hormone.
Protein Human Growth Hormone promotes the growth, maintenance and repair of muscles and bones by promoting the utilization of amino acids, important building blocks of proteins. Every tissue in our body is renewed much faster during sleep. than at any other waking time.
Melatonin, another hormone produced to help us fall asleep, is secreted by the pineal gland deep in the brain and helps control body rhythms and sleep-wake cycles.
Melatonin levels rise as body temperature drops to induce a state of drowsiness. The exact opposite process occurs when we wake up.
Sex hormones testosterone and fertility hormones, follicle-stimulating and luteinizing hormones are secreted mostly during sleep.
The immune system
Research shows that when infectious diseases Sleep helps you recover faster. This may be due to the increased secretion of certain proteins immune system during sleep, as the levels of certain disease-fighting substances rise during sleep and fall when we are awake.
deep sleep also helps resist infections, and some studies have shown that moderate sleep loss reduces white blood cell levels, which are part of the body's defense system.
Tumor necrosis factor - cancer killer, which flows in our veins, is also activated during sleep. The study found that people who stayed up until 3 a.m. had one-third fewer tumor necrosis factor-containing cells the next day, and the effectiveness of the remaining cells was significantly reduced.
Just as the world is ruled by light and darkness, people have an internal clock called circadian rhythms. Located in the hypothalamus, they cause 24-hour fluctuations in many body functions. They control the change of sleep and wakefulness and suggest when it is time for us to sleep.
Circadian rhythms regulate the processes in the body from digestion to cell repair. All of these rhythms are driven by the action of chemical messengers and nerves that are controlled by the circadian clock.
Providing regular periods of sleep at night allows our internal clock to regulate hormone production so that we feel alert during the day and enjoy restorative sleep at night.
Body temperature
In the evening, body temperature, along with wakefulness hormones such as adrenaline, begin to drop. Some sweating may occur as the body is immobilized and tries to fight off heat loss.
Body temperature continues to drop during the night. By about 5 o'clock it falls one degree Celsius below the temperature it was in the evening.
At the same time, the metabolic rate also drops. At this time, we feel most tired, because low temperature coincides with low level adrenaline.
A low body temperature increases the likelihood of sound sleep and allows the body to rest and recover. When body temperature starts to rise, it is more difficult for a person to stay in a deep sleep state.
Leather
The top layer of the skin is made up of densely packed dead cells that we constantly shed throughout the day. During deep sleep, the metabolic rate of the skin increases and the production of many body cells begins to increase and at the same time the breakdown of proteins decreases.
Since proteins are the building blocks needed for cell growth and repairing damage from factors such as ultraviolet rays, deep sleep can actually become a dream of beauty.
Daytime sleep cannot compensate for the loss of the nightly “beauty sleep”, since during the day there is no energy required for tissue repair, because it is used for other purposes.
Breath
When we fall asleep, the throat muscles relax and it becomes narrower every time we inhale. Snoring occurs when the throat narrows to a slit and respiratory tract begin to vibrate due to resistance to breathing.
Those who snore most often have reduced muscle tone in the tongue and throat, which allows the tongue to fold back toward the airways. Obesity, enlarged tonsils and adenoids also contribute to snoring.
However, disturbed breathing during sleep can cause a condition known as sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can lead to compression of the trachea when the muscles relax during sleep. This blocks the flow of air for a period of a few seconds to a minute, while the sleeper becomes hard to breathe.
When blood oxygen levels drop, the brain responds by constricting the upper airways and opening the trachea. This results in snorting or sighing before the snoring recovers.
Saliva is required for moistening the mouth and for eating, but during sleep, the flow of saliva is reduced, which causes dry mouth when we wake up.
However, the mouth remains quite active during sleep, and many people unconsciously start grinding their teeth in their sleep. This condition is called bruxism and is most common during the first and second stages of sleep. It is caused by misaligned teeth in the jaw, but is also thought to be a way to alleviate stress that has built up throughout the day.
muscles
Although a person can change positions during sleep about 35 times a night, the muscles of the body remain relaxed. This allows tissue to be restored.
However, some studies claim that muscles can also recover during normal rest, and this does not require an unconscious state.
Blood
When we sleep, our heart rate drops between 10 and 30 beats per minute. It causes a recession blood pressure that occurs during restful sleep.
During rest, blood flows from the brain, swells the arteries and makes the limbs bigger. Some scientists believe that sleep when tired is mild form blood detoxification. This is because, during the day, debris from destroyed tissues enters the bloodstream. In the waking state, most of the waste will be removed through the lungs, kidneys, intestines and skin. But there may be a limit to saturation. In this way, nature tries to reduce waste products in order to replenish the lost energy, which causes fatigue and sleep.
During sleep, cells and tissues that break down produce waste products and become less active. This allows the decayed tissues to recover.
Digestive system
The body requires a constant supply of energy, and glucose is a key source of energy. It is constantly being burned to release energy for muscle contraction, nerve impulses, and body temperature regulation.
When we sleep, the need for energy is minimal., because digestive system works in slow motion, and the immobility of the body contributes to this.
With this article, dear friends, let me open an interesting topic about body language.
Have you ever wondered why you like to sleep on your back or side, curled up or with your feet under the mattress?
Meanwhile, they are full of meaning, they reflect his essence, image and style of life, line of behavior.
Body language (facial expressions, gestures and postures) contains 80% of the information about a person and is conditioned, which cannot be faked.
So says Allan Pease, an eminent specialist in the field of human relations, who wrote the book "Body Language".
When we are awake, if we wish and by using strict self-control, we can control our body movements. However, at night, self-control is impossible, because our consciousness is resting, body movements and postures are dictated by our subconscious, and openly talk about our fears, feelings, preferences.
Famous psychologists Samuel Dunkell, Dale Carnegie, Sigmund Freud and somnologists agree that a person's posture in a dream best characterizes his physical and mental state.
Let's look at and analyze the basic postures, and Samuel Dunkell, a doctor and psychoanalyst, and his book Sleeping Postures will help us with this. Night body language.
Basic sleep positions
During a night's sleep, a sleeping person changes body position from 25 to 30 times. And if he is sick or under stress, then more than 100 times. In this case, we mean large movements and significant movements of the whole body.
Studies have shown that the sleeper takes ten or more different positions in his sleep, but mostly they are mirror images of each other. If we consider these mirror postures from a psychological point of view, then they are one and the same. In addition, many postures are intermediate and short-term.
Samuel Dunkell divides all poses into "Alpha" and "Omega":
- Initial or "alpha" pose. The position of the body in which we fall asleep.
- Basic or "omega" pose. A position in which we are comfortable, we continually return to it during sleep and in it we most often wake up in the morning. This posture is the main one, and it should be considered in the analysis.
Dr. Samuel singled out 4 basic (basic) "omega poses":
1. "Fetus".
2. "Prostretched".
3. "On the back."
4. "Semi-embryo".
germ. In this pose, the whole body is curled up, the legs are bent at the knees, while the knees are pulled as close to the chin as possible. A person lying in this position seeks to cover the face and center of the body, clasping his legs with his arms and hands, and closing them in a ring. Hiding the internal organs, the sleeper sometimes hugs a pillow or blanket.
Analysis: a person is like a tightly folded bud, does not allow himself to open up to the events of life, its joys and difficulties, and therefore does not use his life potential to the fullest. Usually such people sleep, occupying the upper corners of the bed, turning their faces away from the wall.
In wakefulness, they have a high need for protection, for a fulcrum (a loved one, family, children), around which they can organize their lives, and will depend on it. They adhere to a dependent line of behavior, which was formed in the early years, and provided them with a secure existence.
Outstretched. The person lies face down, the arms are most often thrown above the head, while the legs are straight and extended, and the feet are apart. The sleeper seems to be protecting himself from surprises and troubles that he expects.
The pose reflects the desire to dominate the space of the bed, covering it most fully. If it is not possible to capture the necessary space in bed, the person feels vulnerable.
Analysis. When awake, people who prefer this posture experience a similar need to control their living space and the events in it.
They are vulnerable, do not like surprises, organize their life in such a way as to avoid any surprises. They are characterized by punctuality and self-discipline, accuracy and diligence in achieving their ideal of a measured and predictable world.
Sleeping on your back or the "royal" position. The hands of a person lying on his back lie freely on the sides of the body, and the legs are deployed and free, they are not scattered randomly on the sides, but they are not closed either.
Analysis: There is an old proverb: "Kings sleep on their backs, wise men sleep on their sides, rich people sleep on their stomachs." Dr. Samuel was convinced more than once that a person sleeping on his back feels like a king not only in a dream, but also in life. These people, as a rule, in childhood were children who were loved and surrounded by increased attention.
"Royal" - the pose of a person who is confident, straightforward, decent, unsophisticated, sometimes rude. In life, he is a leader who persistently achieves his goals, or a headstrong stubborn one who defends his opinion.
To convince the "king" is very difficult. Accustomed from childhood to be in the center of attention, he strives in adulthood in any society (in the family, in the company of friends, in professional activity) take the lead.
Regardless of the type of activity, people who take the “royal” position in a dream feel completely safe, have the strength of their personality and self-confidence. They are ready to openly and joyfully accept the world as it is, they feel their unity with it.
The desire to occupy the center of the bed and the face turned up testify to the accuracy and rationality of a person.
Important. If you begin to wake up in a royal position with your arms thrown behind your head, and this position was not typical for you before in a dream, go through a cardiological examination. Perhaps this is a sign of violations in the work of the heart.
"Half Embryo". The posture most often found in sleep. As a 1909 study by Boris Sidney at Harvard showed, right-handers sleep mostly on their right side, while left-handers sleep on their left.
The advantage of this position in the physical comfort of the sleeper:
In this position, when the legs are slightly bent at the knees, the body retains heat better, while the air circulates freely around the body.
The center of the body is well protected and the heart is the most important organ.
The posture allows you to roll over from one side to the other without completely disturbing the configuration of the body. In the “prostrate”, “embryo” and “on the back” poses, there is much less opportunity to move without disturbing the accepted position of the body.
Analysis: Physical comfort and common sense posture characterize the degree of a person's adaptability to the world.
Usually people who choose this pose are reliable and balanced. They adapt to the conditions of existence without undue stress. Their psyche is stable, they do not need to control the space in bed, they do not fold into a "fetus" in order to find protection against the uncertainty of the future.
So, each person has his own individual set of body movements. The complexity of a person's character is reflected in the number of positions he takes in a dream and in the unique combination that he chooses. Many of us may take two or three postures during the night that are important for analysis.
Posture changes during the night.
For example, you can fall asleep in the “royal” position and wake up in the “fetal” or “half-fetal” position. What does this mean?
In wakefulness, a person considers himself the master of his world, the "king" of the situation. And when he falls asleep, he no longer needs to "keep the mark" either in front of others or in front of himself. In sleep, the inhibiting centers are silent and people behave like children sincerely and directly, which is manifested in postures.
A majestic and confident person who falls asleep in a “royal” position during the day, takes a pose in a dream that reflects his deep attitude to the world, he can show himself completely different - sensitive and vulnerable. The "royal" pose represents one aspect of his personality, but far from being the main one.
In this way,
the posture that we most often take in a dream reflects our true attitude towards the world and towards ourselves.
As you can see, the postures of the sleeper carry a deep meaning, but it is very important to avoid a simplistic approach in the analysis, because there are many reasons for the position of the body in a dream.
Factors affecting the posture of a sleeping person
General physical state and diseases:
stomach pains can force you to sleep lying on your back, covering the affected area with your hand. For pain in the shoulder or hip, the person will sleep on their healthy side. People suffering from heart pain and respiratory ailments often sleep sitting up with pillows around themselves.
With sleep disturbances, a person cannot fall asleep for a long time and tosses and turns, taking the most comfortable position, but not typical for him.
When the diseases pass or the pain is removed with the help of analgesics, the person returns to his characteristic posture.
Ambient temperature. If it's cold, we curl up and carefully wrap ourselves in a blanket. In hot weather, on the contrary, we open up and spread our legs and arms to the sides as much as possible, trying to increase heat transfer.
Excessive lighting. We hide with our heads, turn to the wall, cover our eyes with our hands.
All these factors should be taken into account when interpreting the sleeping position.
We have examined with you the main four poses, which can be transformed into a "sphinx", "swastika", "mummy" and so on. , and also, we will talk in the following publications.
