Sacred Sleep BUT NOT Too Much! Heresy?

Personally always troubled by prevailing sleep ‘Doctrine’. The proverbial minimum of seven hours. AND, and this is the catch the validity of the mantra of THE MORE SLEEP THE BETTER!?  Have been influenced by Matthew Walker, an acknowledged authority, by virtue of the chair he occupies! I am setting out a video of his right here:

But what is startling and I thank perspicacity of Dr. Mercola for flushing this out! We are SO influenced by this prevailing mantra…. that more sleep seems better!

In fact, it seems there is an inverted bell curve here on this very issue!

In sleep surveys most OVER ESTIMATE their actual sleep. Consequently, real sleep time is LESS.

BREAKING NEWS It seems that the U curve means and the emphasis in my opinion! OUTSIDE ENVELOPE NOT LESS THAN FOUR HOURS AND NOT MORE THAN 8 or 9 HOURS.

This has given me considerable relief as I have been a typical victim of the mantra of more is better. All this remember relates to adults.

The key is to bear a number of factors in mind:

Try to keep the circadian rhythm constant. This means “Do not wildly oversleep weekends” Beware of cross-time zone travel.

I have often said that “North-South far better than East-West”. BUT Worse is West-East!  A couple of time zones are not too bad and one can adjust quickly!

Another factor is a sufficient interval between the last meal and sleep! Always aim for three hours!

If one has no trouble falling asleep that is fantastic! Otherwise, limit cells and screens as one’s bedtime approaches. In the old days, there was not electric switch…candles common even in Victorian times!

Try to avoid EMF whilst sleeping. Just put the phone to sleep! Remember Airplane mode shuts down the EMF rays as well!

So let us look at the converse sleep issues:

Excess sleep and long naps can increase stroke risk by some 85%! To quote Dr. Mercola:

Compared with sleeping seven to eight hours a night, those who slept for nine hours or more had a 23% greater risk of stroke, while shorter sleep (less than six hours a night) had no significant effect on stroke risk.

Those who took long midday naps of more than 90 minutes also had a greater stroke risk — by 25% — than those who napped for 30 minutes or less.

The greatest risk of all, however, occurred among those who both slept for nine hours or more at night and napped for more than 90 minutes.

This excessive sleep combination increases stroke risk by 85% compared to moderate sleepers and nappers. Sacred Sleep BUT NOT Too Much! Heresy?

Sleep quality also matters, and the researchers found, “Compared with good sleep quality, those with poor sleep quality showed a 29%, 28% and 56% higher risk of total, ischemic, and hemorrhagic stroke, respectively”

In fact, most strokes occur in the first hours of the day, a time during sleep when blood pressure patterns dip, then surge in the morning.

“This morning blood pressure surge has been suggested to lead to increased cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events in the morning.

By disrupting vulnerable plaques, leading to rupture and thrombosis,” researchers explained in the journal Frontiers in Neurology.

Among younger adults, in particular, men have a higher risk of stroke than women. and African-American and Hispanic Americans are unfortunately about two times more likely to have a stroke than Caucasians.

What’s worse for your health than excess sleep is excess sleep combined with physical inactivity and prolonged sitting. And frankly, how many of us lapse into this state given our daytime often inert jobs!

But just Less than an hour of strength training per week can reduce your risk for heart attack and stroke anywhere from 40% to 70%.

and plain Exercise slashes stroke risk. But I recommend HIIT for shortish periods!

Same with proper sauna use, and these are Heat Shock Proteins in action! Also the apposite benefits of Cryotherapy or Cold Shock Proteins! Some of both providing you are passed by your doctor again excellent! I try to get the contrast as many days as possible and the full 20 minutes of Sauna. But the punchline for the main theme of this article? Sacred Sleep BUT NOT Too Much! Heresy?