How Important is Sleep for Health?

We often take sleep for granted, even though sleep is a very important period in our daily lives, namely a period for rest. Sleep is a condition where our body experiences a decrease in physical activity, a decrease in mental activity, and a decrease in sensory activity which is reversible or can be awakened again.

How important is sleep for our body?

Sleep is very important for our body, when we sleep we think our body is not doing anything, in fact our body is in an active state. During sleep, energy storage processes occur, body repair and recovery processes occur, and brain maintenance processes even occur while we sleep. During sleep, all the events we experience, what we see and hear and learn that day will be organized by the brain to become memories in our brain. Apart from that, when we sleep, the body will also get rid of toxins and also refresh the body so it is ready to return to activity.

Types of human sleep phases

Sleep is divided into two phases, namely the rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (Non-REM) phases. When we sleep we will close our eyes and relax the body and enter the Non-REM phase which is the shallow part of sleep. In this phase the muscles begin to relax, breathing begins to slow down, blood pressure decreases and begins to relax. Next we will enter the deep sleep phase where blood pressure will decrease, breathing will become more regular, muscles will become weaker and the body will become more relaxed.

The next phase is the rapid eye movement (REM) phase. In this phase, we have entered deep sleep, but it turns out that our brain activity increases in this phase. In this phase the brain starts working, removing toxins, inserting memories into the brain. Or in other words, in this phase our brain is doing "housekeeping". In this phase, the heart rate usually increases, breathing starts to become irregular and blood pressure starts to rise. Apart from that, if you pay attention, our eyes are actively moving even though we are in deep sleep. In this phase dreams also appear.

When we sleep, we will experience this phase repeatedly, from Non-REM to REM back again for up to 6 cycles. If during sleep we successfully go through these 6 cycles, we will sleep quality and wake up refreshed. Poor quality sleep will affect our health and mood. We will not be able to carry out activities well, such as having difficulty concentrating, being sleepy all day and having no enthusiasm for carrying out activities.

Hermina friends, watch the Hermina Podcast episode “Is Snoring Dangerous in Sleep?” which discusses the dangers of snoring and the importance of quality sleep (click here).