Except for rare exception (like one in 10,000)…we all should pack away a regular 7 to 9 hours sleep. Teens…little more than 9 hours great…younger children even more…baby world…almost continual snooze! Regard ‘sleep’ as possible ‘deficit’ category…therefore: Sleep Tips for a ‘Necessary’!..meaning can impact brain with irreparable memory damage…here Matthew Walker is overwhelmingly persuasive…late night reading “Why We Sleep“. But sleep affects many life modules. Remarkable: just opening schools one hour later can make difference between University or not!..driving accidents for 16 and 17 year old students…a main cause of death & unnecessarily! Numbers for overall population also salutary, as we have large population to assess from ridiculous ritual of forced time changes for winter and summer time!
Should make every effort to keep a sleep schedule…no jet lag ‘sleep in’ weekends…our circadian clocks intricate and master clocked..! Remember forebears did not ‘jet’ across time zones…we have no adaptation to rapid changes! Sad reality…one cannot ‘catch up lost sleep..damage forever done! Exercise…and by that serious exercise short bursts! No need for long, drawn out, machine aerobics…just some High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) perhaps 2 X week…maybe 1 X week: High Intensity Strength Training (HIST)…! But always overall exercise…movement, walking…throughout day. Refrain intense exercise three hours before bed! BUT always ‘hit’ glycemic spikes…some walking…take dog out!
Alcohol, caffeine ‘no no’s’ late in the day! Puts dampener some social dinners! Largest meal should be lunch! No late day naps! Late hot shower or bath may help subsequent reduction temperature…we sleep better if cooler…! Indication that Heat Change Therapy really assists…mornings wakes us and evenings ‘sleeps us’! Similarly melatonin…this controversial…may really help. Aging loses production ability. (plausible suggestion…unfortunately overwhelmingly expensive with cost of SIRT 1… that melatonin, (5 or more milligrams), resveratrol and sirt 1 uniquely tri-symbiotic.) Get rid of lights, bright clocks, and Electromagnetic Fields EMFs. Sleep in cool room and keep bed cool! Its remarkable how few of us go for walks outside the office! Find daylight during the day! Do not toss and turn trying to sleep…get up and distract…even reading might be conducive to sleep! No sleeping pills, they just knock you out, and without benefits of true sleep! Sleep Tips for a ‘Necessary’!
Both Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher slept little…both developed Alzheimer’s...fundamentals?..During Non Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (NREM), brain’s glymphatic system ‘superdrives’ with glial cells between neurons shrinking by some 60%…means room for cerebrospinal fluid to flush amyloid and other contaminants at up to 20 times the rate of waking hours! Simple lack of sleep just helps amyloid plaque build up! This apart from all other negative issues!! Pertinent for brain health…quote from neuroscientist Professor Walker: “…if you want an insurance policy against Alzheimer’s, prioritizing sleep across your lifetime is one of the best things I could advise.” Sleep Tips for a ‘Necessary’!
