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Just about everyone has had trouble sleeping at sometime or other and in the absence of proper sleep, functioning the next day can be difficult at best. There are many benefits of deep sleep and some may even surprise you. Deep sleep is also called REM sleep or Rapid Eye Movement. It occurs about three to five times during a night of good, restful sleep. This phase of deep sleep is quite interesting and it might be just what you think it is. An eye mask or sleeping mask will help encourage deeper sleep which is one of the most vital mechanisms for personal health and wellbeing.

Eye masks and sleeping masks function by covering the light receptors within the eyes giving the signal that darkness has begun which results in a change from the body producing the hormone serotonin to producing melatonin. Sleep comes about with a reduction in the body’s temperature and a rise in the production of melatonin. In addition to supporting sleep, melatonin also fortifies the body’s defence mechanisms and so reduces the chance of health issues.

What Is Deep Sleep?

Deep sleep or REM sleep is the fifth cycle of sleep and it’s one of the most important. While most people associate REM sleep with dreaming, that is not the only thing that happens. Your body also sorts through different memories, emotions, and stress. Your blood pressure and heart rate can increase. You may breathe a little heavier and your fingers and toes may twitch. It might sound as if your body is not resting but the opposite is actually true.

The Benefits of Deep Sleep

Deep sleep helps our minds to process our memories, stress, and emotions much more easily and can help our brains process new skills and information. It also boosts our mood when we are awake and can help improve our overall health. With the right amount of deep sleep, you will have more energy during your day and not feel so drained in the afternoon. Deep sleep benefits also include younger looking skin, increased vitality, and an improved mental state. In addition, research studies have shown that three deep sleep or REM cycles each night can help improve memory and other cognitive functions.

Deep sleep may help improve some medical conditions as well. For example, the symptoms of depression and anxiety can be reduced with regular, deep sleep. You will find that your body is less susceptible to illness and you are able to fight off infections more easily when you get enough recuperative REM sleep. Your body will produce more white blood cells when you are sleeping. Your body also increases protein production and decreases the breakdown of proteins. This is why the body is able to repair itself better when you are in deep sleep. In teenagers and children, the growth hormone is released as they sleep.

How to Increase Your Deep Sleep Cycles

The longer you sleep, the longer your deep sleep cycles. The first REM cycle occurs about an hour to an hour and a half after you fall asleep and only last about two to ten minutes. As you continue to sleep, the REM cycles increase in length and this appears to be when you get the most benefits of deep sleep.

There are ways that you can increase the number and length of your deep sleep cycles. For starters, turn your television off in your bedroom. If you feel you must have some sort of noise, then consider investing in a white noise machine. You should have a bedtime routine that doesn’t involve using the computer, drinking caffeinated beverages, or balancing your chequebook. Slimming down, getting some moderate workout and modifying medicines can also help to alleviate many of the obstacles to a really good night sleep. Sleeping in a cool room helps encourage deep sleep and an eye mask is a great addition. Eye masks help block out the light in the room, sometimes even the smallest sliver of light can affect your sleep.

The body is always in need of sleep so as to replenish the energy reserves, get over a workout or illness and be able to regulate its metabolic process. Even small quantities of light maybe enough to have a detrimental effect on your sleep and could lead to sleep deprivation. If you’re having sleep problems, you should try an eye mask or sleeping mask to block out any light and so enhance your sleep pattern. You’ll be surprised at just how rejuvenated you feel in the morning.

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By Michael Sheridan

A healthy diet is not about how much you eat, it’s about what you eat. Get that right and your daily intake of food can be whatever you want it to be.

If you are heavily into takeaway foods, saturated fats and sugary drinks, reducing the amount you consume will have some effect. Unfortunately it will be marginal at best. Eating the right sort of food, on the other hand, will not only reduce weight it will increase your energy levels and enhance your life in general. But what is the ‘right sort’ of food? A sample list would look something like this:

High fibre breakfast cereals

Fresh fruits such as grapes, kiwi fruit, tomatoes and avocado pears

Grilled vegetables such as mushrooms, bell peppers, and zucchinis

Low fat yogurt and snacky dips like hummus

Low fat meat, as in chicken, turkey, trimmed pork and fresh fish

One of the problems most people have with dieting in general is that, used to large portions, any reduction leaves them still feeling hungry. Which means they then snack throughout the day and often on unsuitable ‘convenience’ foods that are high in fats and sugars. Couple this pattern with lack of exercise and the dangers of obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes begin to loom large.

This doesn’t need to be the case. By adjusting the amounts that you eat you can begin to satisfactorily control the intake of those elements which cause the greatest problems. In other words, by eating the ‘right’ sort of food in any quantity you like, and the ‘wrong’ sort of food in limitation, you can counter this effect.

For example, if steak is your favorite meat by all means eat it, but limit your intake to once or twice a week. Trim the meat of all fat (or buy very lean meat) and make sure the amount of steak you consume is no bigger than the palm of your hand. Use this rule of thumb for any meat you eat, including chicken, lamb, pork and burgers. To compensate for the loss of bulk, increase the amount of vegetables and fruit and add in foods low on the glycaemic index such as pasta, rice, couscous and polenta. Because these foods break down over a longer period of time they leave you feeling fuller for longer. They also release glucose into the blood stream at a much slower rate than high GI foods, allowing your body to burn this extra energy instead of storing it as fat.

You can further assist this process by drinking plenty of water both with your meals and throughout the day. You can do a quick check on your health in this respect by observing the color of your urine. If it is yellow, you need to drink more water. The other thing you can do, of course, is to exercise more. Half an hour a day is all most people need to keep them in shape, and that could simply be a walk to work, or taking the stairs instead of the elevator.

By changing the balance of your diet, rather than opting for some difficult to follow regimen, you will improve your health without stress. In fact, you will hardly notice any difference in your life-style at all. But you will notice huge differences in your energy levels, your appearance and even in your sleep patterns, which will improve your quality of life beyond measure.

Remember, all you need to do is to identify those foods which have a high glycaemic index and reduce your intake. To replace the missing bulk, look for low GI foods and increase the amount of those you eat. Work at it. You will find that you can make the change surprisingly quickly and the rewards will far outweigh the effort required.

About the Author: Michael Sheridan is a chef and an acknowledged authority and published writer on cooking matters. His website at All About Cooking contains a wealth of information, hints, tips and recipes for busy home cooks

Source: www.isnare.com

Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=102175&ca=Wellness%2C+Fitness+and+Diet

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