What Would Happen If You Didn’t Get Sleep?
Claudia Aguirre is a neuroscientist specializing in the mind-body connection.
What you need to know …
Sleep is a necessity if we want to maintain our health and our sanity.
- In the United States, it’s estimated that 30% of adults and 66% of adolescents are regularly sleep-deprived.
- When we lose sleep, learning, memory, mood, and reaction time are affected. Sleeplessness may also cause inflammation, hallucinations, high blood pressure, and it’s even been linked to diabetes and obesity.
- The rise in sleep-inducing chemicals, like adenosine and melatonin, send us into a light doze that grows deeper, making our breathing and heart rate slow down and our muscles relax. This non-REM sleep is when DNA is repaired and our bodies replenish themselves for the day ahead.
- Scientists think the answer lies with the accumulation of waste products in the brain. During our waking hours, our cells are busy using up our day’s energy sources, which get broken down into various byproducts.
- Scientists found something called the glymphatic system, a clean-up mechanism that removes this buildup and is much more active when we’re asleep.
Why Self-compassion – Not Self-esteem – Leads To Success
Dave Robson is an award-winning science writer specializing in psychology, neuroscience, behavior, and medicine.
What you need to know …
- Research overwhelmingly supports that when life gets tough you want to be self-compassionate.
- Practice self-compassion: greater forgiveness of our mistakes, and a deliberate effort to take care of ourselves throughout times of disappointment or embarrassment.
- Self-compassion:
- Entails being kind and understanding toward oneself in instances of pain or failure rather than being harshly self-critical.
- Creates a sense of safety that allows us to confront our weaknesses and make positive changes in our lives, rather than becoming overly self-defensive or wallowing in a sense of hopelessness.