Sleep and dreams are still a mystery to scientists. But it is absolutely certain that they are good for health.
1. Sleep improves learning skills.
According to researchers at Harvard Medical School, dreams help recall and structure recently learned information. They can also help improve memory and productivity. When you learn something and then go to sleep afterwards, the information is absorbed ten times better than if you had given up sleep.
2. Sleep reduces the risk of senile dementia (dementia).
Researchers at the University of Technology in Melbourne studied the link between the REM sleep phase and dementia. REM sleep is the period in which dreams are obtained. It was found that older people who spent only 17% of their sleep in the REM phase developed dementia. Those who were in the REM phase for 20% of their sleep, however, had a much lower risk of developing dementia.
The risk of dementia increases when the REM phase of sleep is not long enough.
3. Sleep helps you experience emotions.
Although the incidents in dreams are unreal, the emotions that accompany them are very real. Dreams can help us experience certain feelings. According to Scientific American, during sleep we try to filter out emotions from experience by creating memories of them. In this way the emotion is experienced. If you want to apply the Legacy Credit Card, check here.
4. In sleep, practical skills are perfected.
This is especially true of conscious dreaming, where the sleeper is aware of what he or she is dreaming. Stephen Laberge, in his book Exploring the World of Conscious Dreams, gives the example of a surgeon who practiced his surgical skills in his sleep. In the end, he was able to perform many operations much faster than the average doctor. Practicing skills can be improved in a conscious dream because the experience is carried forward in memory into real time.
5. Conscious dreams help you overcome fears.
Perhaps you are afraid of heights. However, this does not prevent you from jumping out of an airplane in your dream. In a conscious dream you are safe, you can slow down time, control your fall and land gently. People who have experienced it report that they feel much better in the real world and that their fear of heights is greatly reduced. This is reported by psychiatrist J. Timothy Green in his article "Conscious Dreaming and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. If we respond positively to the worst-case scenario, new neural connections are made in our subconscious. This helps to permanently overcome the fears.
Regular, adequate sleep not only allows us to rest after a stressful day, but also brings additional positive benefits that everyone can take advantage of.
Three products for a good night's sleep
One often hears that the optimal length of sleep is 8 hours. In fact, the need for sleep is an individual, genetically determined value. For most people, it really is between 7 and 9 hours. However, the boundaries of the norm are wider: from 4 to 12 hours. It is known that Margaret Thatcher slept 5 hours, but Albert Einstein slept about 10 hours and claimed that many discoveries he made in his sleep.
In any case, every person should get their norm of sleep. It is proved that long periods of lack of sleep have a negative impact on the quality of life: there are irritability, memory deteriorates, exacerbation of various diseases is possible. Loss of just four hours of sleep reduces the response by 45%. Therefore, it is necessary to get a good night's sleep. But what to do if you can't? Pay attention to these products - they will help to establish sleep.
1. Cherry Juice
Cherry juice is a natural source of anthocyanins, the substances that make the juice rich in color. Anthocyanins help fight infections. The drink also contains a number of B vitamins, PP. But most importantly, it contains a plant analogue of the main hormone of healthy sleep, melatonin. 70% of this substance is produced in the brain between 21 and 7 o'clock. It is formed during the day, but then its action is weakened. The synthesis of the hormone is related to the amount of light that enters the brain through the eyes, so you need total darkness for sound sleep.
According to a study, people who were given a glass of cherry juice before going to bed for two weeks had a 30% shorter fall asleep time. Try this method, too.
2. Kiwi
Chinese scientists did another great study. Before putting the subjects to sleep, they were given to eat two kiwis and then observed. It turned out that all sleep parameters improved significantly. Kiwis contain many beneficial substances, including serotonin, which affects the production of melatonin, as well as the change of sleep phases. Thus, kiwi makes this physiological process calm, deep and healthy. And at the same time it strengthens the immune system - because it has a lot of vitamin C.
3. Chamomile tea
Traditional evening drink has a soothing effect. Moreover, chamomile contains apigenin. This action has similar effects to sleeping pills, but is gentler and not addictive. For a sleeping effect, it is enough to drink 270 ml of chamomile tea before going to bed (a little over a glass).
The need for sleep may vary. It becomes a little less in summer, on sunny days and with regular moderate exercise, and increases in winter, on cloudy days, during illness, with high physical and emotional exertion.