Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.Mahatma Gandhi

Happy New Year! Happy New Decade! Early January and the holidays are over and most of us are getting back into Real Life. For many of us, weve burned the candle at both ends and perhaps are feeling the exhaustion of the culmination of doing too much and not getting enough sleep. Ive heard so many women in the last month or so tiredly grin, (or grimace) and say No rest for the weary. As though we all must blithely accept exhaustion.

But No We cannot accept this lying down . . . or more likely running around! Sleep is essential and has been described by sleep expert Matthew Walker, as our life-support system and Mother Natures best effort yet at immortality.

The decimation of sleep throughout industrialized nationsis having a catastrophic impact on our health, our wellness,even the safety and the education of our children.Its a silent sleep loss epidemic,and its fast becoming one of the greatest public health challengesthat we face in the 21st century.

So why do we needsleep? What difference does a good nights sleep actually make? I think we allknow the obvious answers to that lack of sleep makes us tired, grumpy and notquite able to think properly. But research shows that its much more seriousthan that. Not enough sleep or poor quality sleep impacts our immune system,hormones, heart, learning, memory and even impacts mens testicles and womensreproductive organs. Interestinglyenough, it also impacts our genetic code.

Lack of sleep hugelyimpacts our ability to heal as well. Inour body we have cells that protect us, sometimes called naturalkiller cells.You can think ofnatural killer cells almost like the secret service agentsof your immunesystem.They are very good at identifying dangerous, unwantedelementsand eliminating them.In fact, what theyre doing here isdestroying a cancerous tumor mass.So what you wish for is a virile set ofthese immune assassinsat all times,and tragically, thats what youdont have if youre not sleeping enough.

And as we age, and our memory seems to faderapidly, all of us over 50 can certainly attest to that, sleep is even moreessential. Researchis showing that the disruption of deep sleepis anunderappreciated factorthat is contributing to cognitive decline ormemory declinein aging, and most recently discoveredin Alzheimersdisease as well.

Basically in anutshell there is nothing positive about not getting enough sleep.

A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures for anything.

Old Irish Proverb

On the other hand,getting enough sleep positively impacts us in almost every way. We have a stronger immune system, betterfocus, better memory, and a more optimistic outlook on life.

Walkerdescribes recent research done at UC Berkeley on sleep and learning:

By placing electrodes all over the head,what weve discovered is that there are big, powerful brainwavesthat happen during the very deepest stages of sleepthat have riding on top of themthese spectacular bursts of electrical activitythat we call sleep spindles.And its the combined quality of these deep-sleep brainwavesthat acts like a file-transfer mechanism at night,shifting memories from a short-term vulnerable reservoirto a more permanent long-term storage site within the brain,and therefore protecting them, making them safe.And it is important that we understandthat during sleep actually transacts these memory benefits,because there are real medical and societal implications.

Sleep provides time for our brains to tidy up and make space; this action is called synapticpruning.

Sleepprovides a time when the brainssynapses theconnections among neuronsshrink back by nearly 20percent.Duringthis time, thesynapsesrest and preparefor the next day, when they will grow stronger while receiving new input tolearn new things.

Without this reset, knownas synaptic homeostasis, synapses could become overloaded andburned out, unable to function at an optimal level. Scientists call this use-dependent corticalreorganization, meaning that we strengthen whichever neural pathways we usemost often, and lose the ones we use the least.

I am totally in favorof pruning those unused pathways. Iusually feel like my brain can use a little Marie Kondo action!

I think we all canagree that getting more and better quality sleep is essential. But what is the best way to do that? Fortunately, Walker does have a fewsuggestions:

The first is regularity.Go to bed at the same time, wake up at the same time,no matter whether its the weekday or the weekend.Regularity is king,and it will anchor your sleepand improve the quantity and the quality of that sleep.The second is keep it cool.Your body needs to drop its core temperatureby about two to three degrees Fahrenheit to initiate sleepand then to stay asleep,and its the reason you will always find it easierto fall asleep in a room thats too coldthan too hot.So aim for a bedroom temperature of around 65 degrees,or about 18 degrees Celsius.Thats going to be optimal for the sleep of most people.

One of my New Years Resolutions this year is to meditate more often, and the Dalai Lama declares that sleep is the best meditation. And who am I to disagree with the Dalai Lama? So I think Ill close here and go take a nap. Happy New Year to all of you, and may you have a restful 2020 filled with wonderful deep healing sleep.

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Rest for the Weary . . . - Thrive Global