Sleep XII
In the French classes I attend most folks are in the 20-25 age range. So often to tease them I say things like "oh the young, how naive they are" - much to their chagrin. I of course don't mean it most of the time, because I've learnt myself age is no barometer of one's intelligence or depth of a human being. However, all things said there are some things only age can teach you. I learnt much later in life to value my sleep - and even today sometimes when there is a kickass movie playing on TV, I find myself struggling with the need to watch it by sacrificing an hour or two of sleep. I regret it a LOT the next morning when I show up in class groggy eyed and heavy bodied! A couple of days back, my young friends from class were lamenting on the fact that they don't get enough, they were visibly tired and it showed not just physically but also in their aura and overall demeanour - they needed to rest. I asked them a very simple question "how much sleep do you guys get on average every night" - to which they jumped and said "we know you are going to say we are too young to understand the importance etc etc". I laughed out aloud, because yes I was going to eventually say that (honestly this time though), only after presenting a few very important facts from Matthew's book first. But to their pleasant surprise I did not bore them with any details and told them I'm going send them a link of the blogs i am writing, in the hope that they would listen to their "senior" and take my advice. Young kids, i tell you.
I started this story with the youngsters because that age range 20-25 or even up until 28/30 is when you're so enthralled by the financial freedom and the social freedom accorded to you by society and your job that taking care of your health becomes secondary. I know it, I did it myself. Staying up until 1 or 2 am every night, reading my books late into the night, watching movies, chatting with friends, going away on late night 4 am airport rides to get chai or coffee - it was all beautiful. But would i do it as often, without any consideration for my health, if i had known the facts I know today - hopefully not.
In the upcoming section Matthew speaks of how sleep deprivation affects our reproductive organs adversely as well.If you take healthy young makes in their mid twenties and limit them to five hours of sleep for one week, the hormone levels circulating in the blood of these tired participants show a marked drop in the testosterone relative to their own baseline levels of testosterone levels when fully rested - thereby aging a man by 10-15 years. Furthermore men who sleep less or have a poor quality of sleep, have a 29% lower sperm count than those getting a full night's sleep.
low testosterone affects your energy levels throughout the day, and also has an effect on the brain's ability to focus. Testosterone also plays a role in maintaining bone density and in building muscle mass and strength - all of these are negatively impacted by a lack of sleep.
Men are not the only ones to suffer. Women too, show a 20% drop in the follicular releasing hormone - an important female reproductive element peaks just before ovulation and is necessary for conception. Another stat that really took the wings out of my sail, because it is a topic very very close to my heart : irregular menstrual cycles. As much as possible I try and educate women, especially young girls about having a positive menstrual experience. Irregular menstrual cycles are so rampant in the yoga world, it breaks my heart. But that is a topic for discussion at another time. Matthew here states : Women in night shift work have a 33% higher rate of abnormal menstrual cycles. Also they had an 80% chance of having fertility issues, reducing the ability to get pregnant.
We hear of more and more couples being unable to conceive, after the examples and stats from the previous paragraphs, it should come no surprise that partners who are both not sleeping well will have problems in conceiving.
Another fun experiment conducted by Dr Tina Sundelin where people were photographed under similar conditions but once when they were allowed to sleep 8 hours and once when they had only slept 5 hours. Other folks where then brought in to comment on the attractiveness, tiredness, and perceived health. Unambiguously the pictures of individuals who hadn't slept well were picked as the ones who were more fatigued, less healthy and significantly less attractive. Matthew says "beauty sleep" does exist.
So sleep away my friends !
I started this story with the youngsters because that age range 20-25 or even up until 28/30 is when you're so enthralled by the financial freedom and the social freedom accorded to you by society and your job that taking care of your health becomes secondary. I know it, I did it myself. Staying up until 1 or 2 am every night, reading my books late into the night, watching movies, chatting with friends, going away on late night 4 am airport rides to get chai or coffee - it was all beautiful. But would i do it as often, without any consideration for my health, if i had known the facts I know today - hopefully not.
In the upcoming section Matthew speaks of how sleep deprivation affects our reproductive organs adversely as well.If you take healthy young makes in their mid twenties and limit them to five hours of sleep for one week, the hormone levels circulating in the blood of these tired participants show a marked drop in the testosterone relative to their own baseline levels of testosterone levels when fully rested - thereby aging a man by 10-15 years. Furthermore men who sleep less or have a poor quality of sleep, have a 29% lower sperm count than those getting a full night's sleep.
low testosterone affects your energy levels throughout the day, and also has an effect on the brain's ability to focus. Testosterone also plays a role in maintaining bone density and in building muscle mass and strength - all of these are negatively impacted by a lack of sleep.
Men are not the only ones to suffer. Women too, show a 20% drop in the follicular releasing hormone - an important female reproductive element peaks just before ovulation and is necessary for conception. Another stat that really took the wings out of my sail, because it is a topic very very close to my heart : irregular menstrual cycles. As much as possible I try and educate women, especially young girls about having a positive menstrual experience. Irregular menstrual cycles are so rampant in the yoga world, it breaks my heart. But that is a topic for discussion at another time. Matthew here states : Women in night shift work have a 33% higher rate of abnormal menstrual cycles. Also they had an 80% chance of having fertility issues, reducing the ability to get pregnant.
We hear of more and more couples being unable to conceive, after the examples and stats from the previous paragraphs, it should come no surprise that partners who are both not sleeping well will have problems in conceiving.
Another fun experiment conducted by Dr Tina Sundelin where people were photographed under similar conditions but once when they were allowed to sleep 8 hours and once when they had only slept 5 hours. Other folks where then brought in to comment on the attractiveness, tiredness, and perceived health. Unambiguously the pictures of individuals who hadn't slept well were picked as the ones who were more fatigued, less healthy and significantly less attractive. Matthew says "beauty sleep" does exist.
So sleep away my friends !
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