We Have A Built-In Sleep-Wake Cycle
Considering we spend one-third of our lives in sleep, we know surprisingly little about it. Only recently has science started to investigate why sleep is good for us - and why we feel miserable if we don't sleep well.
All living creatures function in alternating rhythms of activity and sleep; in humans, one sleep-wake cycle lasts about twenty-five hours. There seems to be an internal clock that's set to make us sleepy at certain points during this cycle. The major "down- time" for most adults occurs naturally between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., with a minor energy dip between 2:00 to 4:00 P.M. (Although eating a big lunch will make you even more sleepy, the urge for an afternoon siesta owes more to built-in biorhythms than digestive demands.)
New research shows that the need for sleep is a biological drive, just like the need for food and water. While we snooze, the brain busily produces chemical changes to repair injured and worn-out body cells. Some scientists think dreaming also plays a therapeutic role by bolstering memory and learning. Dreams help us process new information and connect it to what we already know.
Resting while we are awake may feel good, but it's not the same. Continually disrupted sleeping patterns create a "sleep debt" and this basically means that we've borrowed extra waking time, and we owe our bodies a debt of healthy sleep that eventually has to be paid back. Otherwise our bodies will claim their due, and we'll find ourselves dozing off uncontrollably.
Employees who work night shifts or rotating shifts - 20% of the U.S. work force - must disrupt their sleep-wake cycles on a daily basis. Researchers have found that shift workers are two to five times more likely to fall asleep on the job than people who work consistent day shifts. Ironically, these workers also report more problems with insomnia than do day shift workers, plus higher rates of stress, digestive problems, and heart disease.
Clearly, we function best when we can maintain a consistent sleep-wake schedule from day to day. Unhealthy sleep can have national repercussions. A collision between two Consolidated Rail Corporation freight trains, which killed crew members and caused more than six million dollars in damage, resulted from on-the-job drowsiness. The tragic explosion of the Challenger space shuttle and the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl were attributed to worker fatigue.
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Testcountry - Sleep Check Online
SleepCheck measures the level of melatonin in your system. Although it plays a role in many other areas of your body, such as cardiovascular function, female reproductive hormones, and as an antioxidant, melatonin's primary contribution is to your body's ability for quality sleep and the regulation of your circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythm is the 24-hour cycle of sleeping and waking our body experiences based on the patterns of light and dark. This noninvasive and inexpensive screen provides the accuracy of a laboratory analysis without you having to leave the comfort of your own home.