The Rhythms of Sleep

"Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." - Benjamin Franklin

We all know what it feels like when you are forced to wake up when you are not ready.

You may not have been aware of this, but your sleep patterns are driven by a biological rhythm that stems back to the earliest days of life on planet earth. These rhythms developed so that we are awake during the day and we sleep at night. However, since the advent of the electric light bulb, these rhythms have been drastically altered. Since the light bulb was introduced to human society, we have, through artificial light, conditioned our brains to adjust to what our biological clocks consider to be abnormal sleep and wake patterns. I know I do not consider 12:00 pm to be midnight, to me it is more of a time when I feel the need to start preparing myself for sleep. After listening to several sleep experts talk about how this is detrimental to my sleeping patterns I have decided that I will try to ween myself off the midnight oil. If you are interested in hearing from experts on human circadian rhythms, then you should watch the short video posted below.

If you do not have the time to watch this video, I will give you some of its most important points.

• You must make your bedroom as conducive to sleep as possible (ie. blackout window shades, no television)
• You must prepare yourself for sleep by avoiding watching television or tooling around on an electronic device just before going to sleep (the brightness of the devices have adverse effects on your brain which should be attempting to get ready for sleep)
• The deepest sleep you experiences occurs between 5am and 6am, the time people typically wake up (this is the least preventable interruption of our Circadian Rhythms)
• You will alter your sleeping pattern if you try to catch up on sleep during the weekend, thus creating a worse case of "the Mondays".

Being more aware of the biological rhythm your body abides by is key if you want to make the most out of your sleep. You do not want end up waking up and acting like this!

If you would like to read more about sleep and why it is important, CLICK HERE to visit our sleep matters blog!