Dr Connie Haasbroek
Dr Connie Haasbroek shared her knowledge on“The importance of sleep, especially when studying” on MyUnisa radio during an interview in the Lunch Box time slot on Tuesday, 23 April. Nancy K was die presenter/producer of this radio insert.
Dr Haasbroek first used the Oxford dictionary definition which describes sleep to set the scene. It defines it as a recurring condition of the body and mind in which the nervous system is inactive, the eyes are closed, the postural muscles relaxed and consciousness is practically suspended. Sleep plays an important role in the development and functioning of the brain, it is needed for our brains to mature, to stay emotionally sound and to be in top performance physically.Very important hormones are released while people are sleeping such as the growth hormone in children. Research studies indicate that sleep loss may cause obesity because chemicals and hormones that play a key role in controlling appetite and weight gain are released during sleep. Some scientists believe that as we dream to fix experiences in our long term memory; others believe we dream about things worth forgetting to unclog our brains.
A person’s body clock works over a period of 24 hours. When it is dark, the darkness hormone, melatonin, is released around about 22:00. The release is caused by the drop in daylight and temperature. The daylight that emerges with the break of a new day prevents the further secretion of the darkness hormone that causes sleep.The body clock wakes us up when it releases a stress hormone called adrenocorticotropin. Chemicals can influence the natural neural switch in the brain e.g. sleeping tablets, stimulants (caffeine, bull with wings). This may influence our natural sleep-wake cycle and the quantity and quality of the sleep we needed.
Sleep has a recurring cycle of 90-110 minutes which repeats itself. Each of these cycles is divided into two categories; namely Non Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) that has four stages and Rapid Eye Movement (REM).
NREM:
- Stage 1: Light sleep – when a person is still half wake, half asleep and/or easily awake (10 minutes).
- Stage 2: True sleep (20 minutes) – Largest part of sleep. Breathing and heart rates slow down and urine secretion is slowed down.
- Stage 3: Deep sleep – Brain produce delta waves (High amplitude and low frequency = slow brain waves). This is when breathing and heart rate are at their lowest. Urine secretion is almost stopped.This is when blood flow is directed away from the brain, towards the muscles for restoring physical energy.
- Stage 4: Deep sleep – Rhythmic breathing takes place and there is limited muscle activity. If awakened, we are disorientated. This is the time when bed wetting, sleep walking and nightmares may happen.
REM:
People move into this stage after we fall asleep. It happens 3-5 times per night and for duration of 70-90 minutes. During this stage we are actively dreaming. Breathing and heart rates, as well as blood pressure are up, our bodies are paralysed which is nature’s way of acting out our dreams. After the REM stage the whole process starts all overall again.
In answer to the question “How much sleep is needed? She said animals and people are different in how much sleep we need as certain snakes need 18 hours, cats sleep for 12 hours, sheep for 4 hours and giraffes only sleep for 2 hours. Elephants sleep standing up during NREM, but lie down during REM sleep. Humans need between 5-11 hours; 8 hours are the average for adults, 10 hours is the average for teenagers. Records for the longest periods without sleep are between 11 and 19 days. After a few days, the individuals participating in these studies start to hallucinate, experience delusions e.g. paranoia, have blurred vision, slurred speech, as well as memory and concentration lapses.
If we do not sleep people start to function badly as the brain cannot function. Sleep is service time for our body and mind. Without sleep you will not be able to work, learn, create, and communicate. Neglecting to sleep will result in major mental and physical breakdown. With continued lack of sleep the brain will shut down and serious affect your language, memory, planning and sense of time. A person will not be able to respond to changing situations and will not be able to make rational judgements in real life situations. The decrease in performance is equivalent to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%.
Human bodies and minds prefer routine. Healthy sleep routines will include discipline with regard to the time, routine and place. It is wise to stay away from stimulants such as caffeine, artificial light and excitement e.g. DVDs/videos, games, before going to bed. Dr Haasbroek asked the listeners: “Do you have energy to play games/watch DVDs until early hours of the morning, but cannot get up in the mornings?” If so this can partly be ascribed to artificial light, light from computers, televisions and cell phones that inhibit the secretion of the darkness hormone, melatonin. So the technology we love, works against us if we are overexposed.
You are not getting enough sleep if you experience one or more of the following:
- Need an alarm clock to wake up
- Make use of the snooze button
- Are glued to the bed
- Feel sluggish in the afternoon
- Need to nap during the day
- Get sleepy/drowsy during the day or when studying
- You feel tired, depressed and moody most of the time
- Have impaired motor skills which leads to increased risk of accidents
So if a student does not allow time for enough sleep they run a risk of the following problems starting to occur:
- They will not be able to give attention/concentrate on their studies
- They will forget and will not be able to remember what they have learnt
- They will not be able to make sound judgements and/or use creative skills and problem solving skills during assignments and/or writing exams
- They will not be able to keep their girl/boyfriend happy; they will be grumpy and irritable most of the time
- They will get sick; their immune system will become less effective and they will experience colds, flu and other infections
- They will not be able to cope with every-day living stress, and especially exam stress
- And lastly, take note; a person can start to gain weight!
With enough sleep during study and exam time, students will be able to start and complete their day with a smile. They will be full of energy and fully alert – firing on all cylinders. They will be motivated and looking forward to the day that they put their gown on AND their dreams of successful completion of their studies will come true! And now it is time for me to wish you all good night, sleep tight and don’t let the bed bug bite or carry you away!
