Sleep X
This is the last chapter in the second part of the book - Why we should sleep. Of course Matthew Walker saved the best for the end. This one does not hide behind performance or memory or creativity - i'm not saying all of those things are not important, of course they are! This chapter calls it out clearly and succinctly. It's titled - Cancer, Heart Attacks and a Shorter life. To quote Matthew "every major system, tissue and organ of your body suffers when sleep becomes short. No aspect of our health can retreat at the sign of sleep loss and escape unharmed."
But there's the one below that really is amazing :
"The leading causes of disease and death in developed nations - diseases that are crippling health-care systems, such as heart disease, obesity, dementia, diabetes and cancer - all have recognized causal links to a lack of sleep."
A lot of the work I do in yoga is amongst people who are financially well settled - but their health is a matter of concern. Varied causes from Insomnia to high blood pressure, stress, diabetes, back pain and many more. When we sit down in the first consultation meeting to understand what they need from me and for me to understand their broader lifestyle, my two most important questions are "do you eat on time" and "how do you sleep". More often than not, they'll report a lack of sleep, the inability to sleep is a true concern for many, even if they are given the time and space for sleep and rest, they simply don't sleep. Later in the book Matthew talks about "sleep opportunity". Most of us report a lack of sleep and if asked whether we sleep enough, we will most probably say "no", that is easy to solve. A few hygiene issues and discipline can take care of that. But what happens when you are given the opportunity to sleep and are yet unable to call upon the sleep Gods?
I digress, that is for a later time on this blog.
Let's start with the big one shall we ? Cardiovascular System. After analysing the results of a study that spanned races, ages and ethnicities across 8 countries, it was found that progressively shorter sleep was associated with a 45% increased risk of developing and/or dying from coronary heart disease. The results are this alarming even when the study is controlled for other factors that influence the cardio system - smoking, body mass, physical activity etc.
As we age, the body starts to deteriorate and the effect of insufficient sleep on the cardiovascular system is exaggerated. Midlife is tricky - it is exactly when adults sleep less - work, family, and other worries escalate leading to less than 6 hours of sleep routinely. Adults 45 years or older who sleep fewer than six hours a night are 200% more likely to have a heart attack or stroke during their lifetime.
A leading factor for this is High Blood Pressure. A little bit of sleep loss is enough to increase the pressure of the blood that flows through our veins - a few hours less will speed up the contracting rate of a person's heart and increases the systolic blood pressure within the vasculature - this in spite of whether you are 45 or 25! What else does lack of sleep do? There are arteries that feed blood to the heart itself - called the coronary arteries, these need to be kept unblocked and free to supply the heart with blood at all times. Narrow or blocked passages can lead to a fatal heart attack by blood oxygen starvation.
What causes these blocks?
One reasons is Atherosclerosis - the corridors of the arteries are thickened with plaques that are made of calcium deposits. If an individual obtains less than 6 hours of sleep each night, they are 200-300% more likely to suffer calcification of their coronary arteries - thus starving the heart of blood that should be flowing through unrestricted arteries.
What is the root cause of this atherosceloris? it all boils down to the sympathetic nervous system - i remember being blown away by the effect that so many things we treat so frivolously in life, have on the SNS (sympathetic nervous system) when I was studying yoga. The SNS is the system responsible for our fight or flight stress responses - it mobilizes this for us in times of stress in a few seconds and for this is calls upon all the physiological systems of our body - from respiration, immune function, and stress chemicals to blood pressure and heart rate.
In the event of an actual problem, the SNS mobilizes all these systems which are deployed to help save you from the threat - these are deployed then only for very short periods of time to help you survive. However when these are left on and on fight mode for extended periods of time the body is unable to manage the stress it inflicts on these physiological structures - it is a killer. Matthew says "with a few exceptions over the past half century, every experiment that has investigated the impact pf deficient sleep on the human body has observed an overactive sympathetic system" The remains in a constant state of flight or fight - always under threat basically.
Sleep deprivation triggers a domino effect that will spread like a wave of health damage throughout your body. It starts with removing a default resting brake that normally prevent your heart from accelerating in its rate of contraction.....you will experience sustained speeds of cardiac beating.
When the heart is beating faster, the amount of blood flowing through your veins also increases - resulting in a higher blood pressure. Another thing that the SNS triggers is the release of a stress hormone called cortisol, which contracts and constricts the blood vessels. Smaller and thinner vessels further increases the blood pressure.
Now the body is very smart. It knows to repair regular wear and tear by itself - using growth hormones which usually are released at night. The hormone that is responsible to repair the lining of the blood vessels, called endothelium, can NOT do it's job at night when you don't give yourself the chance of 8 hours of sleep. - the vessels stay fractured. The weak and damaged vessels provide the circumstances ripe for atherosceloris - clogging up of the arteries, which will cause ruptures and lead to heart attacks!
Now, that we've painted a very sad scenario, let's look at what a full 8 hour sleep can do. The parasympathetic nervous system, the calming and soothing system is activated for a long period of time. The contracting rate of the heart is calmed - no more high blood pressure, no more heart attack. Deep NREM sleep is a therefore a natural form of nighttime blood pressure management.
I remember discussing what follows now with a group of friends who lived in London. I've always wanted to live in London, but after that discussion I remember thinking to myself - thank God, I am spared. Matthew says, a global experiment that has 1.5 billion people reduce their sleep by one hour or less for a single night each year - daylight savings, which results in a lot of people losing sleep opportunity. He states, researchers have found in hospital records, that heart attacks spike the following day. Interestingly, when the clocks are moved back by an hour we gain an hour of sleep - rates of heart attack drop the next day. Isn't it absolutely CRAZY!
The next blog discusses another disease i encounter SO much in my job as a yoga teacher : diabetes.
But there's the one below that really is amazing :
"The leading causes of disease and death in developed nations - diseases that are crippling health-care systems, such as heart disease, obesity, dementia, diabetes and cancer - all have recognized causal links to a lack of sleep."
A lot of the work I do in yoga is amongst people who are financially well settled - but their health is a matter of concern. Varied causes from Insomnia to high blood pressure, stress, diabetes, back pain and many more. When we sit down in the first consultation meeting to understand what they need from me and for me to understand their broader lifestyle, my two most important questions are "do you eat on time" and "how do you sleep". More often than not, they'll report a lack of sleep, the inability to sleep is a true concern for many, even if they are given the time and space for sleep and rest, they simply don't sleep. Later in the book Matthew talks about "sleep opportunity". Most of us report a lack of sleep and if asked whether we sleep enough, we will most probably say "no", that is easy to solve. A few hygiene issues and discipline can take care of that. But what happens when you are given the opportunity to sleep and are yet unable to call upon the sleep Gods?
I digress, that is for a later time on this blog.
Let's start with the big one shall we ? Cardiovascular System. After analysing the results of a study that spanned races, ages and ethnicities across 8 countries, it was found that progressively shorter sleep was associated with a 45% increased risk of developing and/or dying from coronary heart disease. The results are this alarming even when the study is controlled for other factors that influence the cardio system - smoking, body mass, physical activity etc.
As we age, the body starts to deteriorate and the effect of insufficient sleep on the cardiovascular system is exaggerated. Midlife is tricky - it is exactly when adults sleep less - work, family, and other worries escalate leading to less than 6 hours of sleep routinely. Adults 45 years or older who sleep fewer than six hours a night are 200% more likely to have a heart attack or stroke during their lifetime.
A leading factor for this is High Blood Pressure. A little bit of sleep loss is enough to increase the pressure of the blood that flows through our veins - a few hours less will speed up the contracting rate of a person's heart and increases the systolic blood pressure within the vasculature - this in spite of whether you are 45 or 25! What else does lack of sleep do? There are arteries that feed blood to the heart itself - called the coronary arteries, these need to be kept unblocked and free to supply the heart with blood at all times. Narrow or blocked passages can lead to a fatal heart attack by blood oxygen starvation.
What causes these blocks?
One reasons is Atherosclerosis - the corridors of the arteries are thickened with plaques that are made of calcium deposits. If an individual obtains less than 6 hours of sleep each night, they are 200-300% more likely to suffer calcification of their coronary arteries - thus starving the heart of blood that should be flowing through unrestricted arteries.
What is the root cause of this atherosceloris? it all boils down to the sympathetic nervous system - i remember being blown away by the effect that so many things we treat so frivolously in life, have on the SNS (sympathetic nervous system) when I was studying yoga. The SNS is the system responsible for our fight or flight stress responses - it mobilizes this for us in times of stress in a few seconds and for this is calls upon all the physiological systems of our body - from respiration, immune function, and stress chemicals to blood pressure and heart rate.
In the event of an actual problem, the SNS mobilizes all these systems which are deployed to help save you from the threat - these are deployed then only for very short periods of time to help you survive. However when these are left on and on fight mode for extended periods of time the body is unable to manage the stress it inflicts on these physiological structures - it is a killer. Matthew says "with a few exceptions over the past half century, every experiment that has investigated the impact pf deficient sleep on the human body has observed an overactive sympathetic system" The remains in a constant state of flight or fight - always under threat basically.
Sleep deprivation triggers a domino effect that will spread like a wave of health damage throughout your body. It starts with removing a default resting brake that normally prevent your heart from accelerating in its rate of contraction.....you will experience sustained speeds of cardiac beating.
When the heart is beating faster, the amount of blood flowing through your veins also increases - resulting in a higher blood pressure. Another thing that the SNS triggers is the release of a stress hormone called cortisol, which contracts and constricts the blood vessels. Smaller and thinner vessels further increases the blood pressure.
Now the body is very smart. It knows to repair regular wear and tear by itself - using growth hormones which usually are released at night. The hormone that is responsible to repair the lining of the blood vessels, called endothelium, can NOT do it's job at night when you don't give yourself the chance of 8 hours of sleep. - the vessels stay fractured. The weak and damaged vessels provide the circumstances ripe for atherosceloris - clogging up of the arteries, which will cause ruptures and lead to heart attacks!
Now, that we've painted a very sad scenario, let's look at what a full 8 hour sleep can do. The parasympathetic nervous system, the calming and soothing system is activated for a long period of time. The contracting rate of the heart is calmed - no more high blood pressure, no more heart attack. Deep NREM sleep is a therefore a natural form of nighttime blood pressure management.
I remember discussing what follows now with a group of friends who lived in London. I've always wanted to live in London, but after that discussion I remember thinking to myself - thank God, I am spared. Matthew says, a global experiment that has 1.5 billion people reduce their sleep by one hour or less for a single night each year - daylight savings, which results in a lot of people losing sleep opportunity. He states, researchers have found in hospital records, that heart attacks spike the following day. Interestingly, when the clocks are moved back by an hour we gain an hour of sleep - rates of heart attack drop the next day. Isn't it absolutely CRAZY!
The next blog discusses another disease i encounter SO much in my job as a yoga teacher : diabetes.
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