Breathe To Better Sleep
The Importance of Sleep: Understanding Sleep Architecture, Benefits and Interventions to help get better sleep.
Sleep is an essential part of human life, and the quality and quantity of sleep we get can have a profound impact on our overall health and well-being. Sleep plays a crucial role in regulating our physiological and psychological functions, including memory consolidation, emotional regulation, immune function, recovery, growth and metabolism. In this blog, we will explore the importance of sleep, the different stages of sleep architecture, the benefits of sleep, and some interventions to improve sleep quality, including breathwork.
Sleep Architecture
Sleep architecture refers to the different stages of sleep that occur during a typical night's sleep. There are two main types of sleep: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. NREM sleep is further divided into three stages: stage 1, stage 2, and stage 3.
Stage 1 NREM sleep is the lightest stage of sleep and typically lasts only a few minutes. During this stage, our breathing and heart rate slow down, and our muscles relax.
Stage 2 NREM sleep is a deeper stage of sleep and accounts for the majority of our sleep time. During this stage, our brain waves slow down, and our body temperature drops.
Stage 3 NREM sleep is the deepest stage of sleep and is also known as slow-wave sleep. During this stage, our brain waves are at their slowest, and it is challenging to awaken us. This stage of sleep is particularly important for the body's restorative processes, including tissue repair and hormone regulation.
REM sleep is the stage of sleep when we are in a dream stae, and our eyes move rapidly behind closed eyelids. This stage of sleep is essential for our mental and emotional health and plays a crucial role in memory consolidation and emotional regulation.
Benefits of Sleep
Getting adequate sleep has numerous benefits for our physical and mental health. Lack of sleep has been linked to a range of health problems, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and depression. Here are some of the benefits of sleep:
Improved memory consolidation: Sleep plays a crucial role in consolidating memories and storing information, making it easier to retrieve later.
Enhanced mood: Getting enough sleep can improve our mood and reduce feelings of irritability, anxiety, and depression.
Reduced inflammation: Lack of sleep has been linked to chronic inflammation, which can increase the risk of several chronic diseases.
Improved immune function: Sleep is essential for maintaining a healthy immune system, and lack of sleep can make us more susceptible to infections and illnesses.
Better physical performance: Athletes who get enough sleep perform better and have improved endurance, reaction time, and speed.
Interventions to Improve Sleep Quality
Here are some interventions to help improve sleep quality:
Establish a consistent sleep schedule: Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends. I often advice a window of 30-40 minutes.
Create a relaxing sleep environment: Keep your bedroom cool, quiet, and dark, and consider using blackout curtains or a white noise machine to block out external noise and light. Keeping cool is really important aim for a temperature of 60-67F.
Avoid stimulating activities before bed: Avoid using electronic devices, watching TV, or engaging in activities that are mentally stimulating before bed. If you do use screens wear blue light blocking glasses.
Breathwork: Breathwork is a powerful technique that can help regulate the autonomic nervous system and promote relaxation. One simple technique is the 4-4-1 breath, which involves inhaling for four seconds, exhaling for four seconds, and taking a one second pause after the exhale. Repeat this sequence several times, focusing on calm, deep breaths only breathing with the nose.
Mouth Tape: one of the more invasive interventions in mouth tape. Taping the mouth to ensure nasal breathing during the night may support better sleep quality. It is known that nasal breathing promotes deeper and slower breathing and supports the increased oxygenation of cells and tissue so simply taping the mouth with either 3M paper tape or using a specific mouth tape for sleep is worth exploring. Read the blog on mouth taping for the deeper dive.