Our ever-growing want to be “on” is derailing our need to dream. We all look forward to living our life relaxed in good health and enjoying time how we choose.
Unfortunately, current social dynamics have us driven to be incredibly busy as a measure of productivity, thereby sacrificing sleep to pursue our dreams.
The truth is, “burning the candle at both ends” may feel like a bright idea, it only serves to shorten the life span of our body’s health.
What sleep does to your body
There’s a lot we don’t know about sleep, but we all know we need some, and many of us know we don’t get enough.
When we sleep well, it feels great; we can perform better during the day, be positive about ourselves and what we have to offer those around us.
The research into sleep function has identified the following:
- The brain sorts information (learning) from the day, creating a database for future use. It’s the reason children generally sleep more than older people, they are learning more during the day.
- Hormones act like riders on a seesaw, melatonin releases into the body when it gets dark helping you fall asleep. While you are sleeping, growth hormones are released helping the body grow and repair its self.
- The sympathetic nervous system takes a break, it’s what controls your fight or flight response. Without a sleep break, the body is continually under tension, increasing levels of cortisol (stress hormone). Cortisol acts to artificially keep you awake breaking down your body’s ability to self regulate. It means you have less control over what you eat, say and think.
- The immune system releases cytokines a small protein that helps your body fight inflammation, infection and trauma, when you are sick or injured. Sleep helps you get better faster.
- Dream time, during rapid eye movement (REM) your muscles are paralysed, so that you don’t act out your dreams during sleep. The role of a dream is not entirely understood, researchers believe it’s a way of processing emotions, harnessing creativity, and finding personal meaning in life.
We hope to one day live the dream, but first, we need to understand the ability to work our dreams into the future starts with a good night sleep.
If your dream is to improve your health and fitness then perhaps you would like to trial our WELLth program, it’s a simple 9 minute daily workout. I have provided the link below for you.
Live well with fitness!
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