Do you know that we spend almost 33% of our lives in sleeping. Sleep helps our bodies to repair itself. Sleep patterns have changed dramatically since the invention of electricity. Sleep once was a bodily function that relied heavily on the daily cycle of sun. Before electricity became part of human civilization, people arose when the sun came up and went down. There were no 24 hour grocery stores or pharmacies, night shifts at work place, night clubs or pubs. After sunset people went to home and sleep early. But, electricity changed the whole way of life. We get up late in the morning and spend the most important time meant for our sleep, sitting in front of television or laptop.
Sleep gives our brain the time it needs for processing and filling new information collected during the day. Studies carried out in 1920s indicated that electrical conductivity within br
ain cells decreased the longer people stayed awake. The only time brain can rest and recharge is during the sleep.
The practice of sleeping and waking are process that your body uses to synchronize many functions such as body temperature, hormone levels and respiration. Increased levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain, help initiate the sleep process and certain nerve impulses are blocked, several events begin to unfold.
Our sleep can be divided into four stages. When you go to sleep, first your heart rate slows and you begin to slip into lightest level of sleep, stage I. As your brain activity, heartbeat and breathing slow even more, you gradually reach stage II. After about 40 minutes, you pass through stage III when brain waves are very slow and enter into stage IV, the deepest level of the sleep. In sleep stage IV, your brain shuts itself off from the outside world. Dreams are more common in stage III and IV.
