Year after year, 1.6 billion people from 70 countries take part in a gigantic experiment that makes the connection between sleep and health very clear: this is the daylight saving time/winter time changeover.

Would you have thought that on the day after the daylight saving time change, which is one hour less sleep, the rate of heart attacks goes up by 24%? And the day after the change to winter time, when you are given an hour of sleep, the same rate of heart attacks goes down by 21%?

Incidentally, the statistics look similar with regard to brain strokes, car accidents and suicides. You can view this impressive study here: https://is.gd/BB8l32

The function of the sheep goes far beyond the regenerative effects of the body. Emotions are processed and ordered, memory is structured and hormonal balance is balanced, which is crucial for the body's defenses. In addition, detoxification processes take place in the brain itself during sleep, but only if the sleep duration is sufficient.

According to the DAK Health Report 2017, over 80% of the working population struggle with sleep problems. The WHO even links lack of sleep and sleep disorders to increased risk of cancer, while also seeing them as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, hypertension, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, and obesity - virtually all of today's epidemic ailments. (Source: https://is.gd/BF0KKs)

A persistent misconception is that only the first hours of the night are important for recovery. Let's therefore look at the sleep phases in a little more detail:

In the sleep cycles of the first half of the night, the deep sleep phases take place, which are important for the regenerative processes of the body. Breathing and heartbeat slow down, the brain is practically inactive, that "system" is in regeneration mode. By the way, it does not matter whether you go to bed early or late, what counts is only the total sleep time.

Sleep and health - the underestimated connection

Even today, it is often wrongly claimed that the deep sleep phase is the (only) important one, i.e. that you do not need to sleep more than 4 hours to be fully rested. This is wrong because the second half of the night is dominated by the dream sleep phases (REM phases), which determine mental regeneration.

If you search the web for more in-depth information on the REM phase, you will be surprised how little really well-founded information can be found in this regard. I therefore call it the "underestimated phase" - also because it is too short for most people.

Characteristic of this phase is that the eyes behind the closed eyelids now move quickly (REM stands for "Rapid Eye Movement"). What is less well known is that the entire brain is now highly active. In fact, it is so active that a brain scan taken during REM is virtually indistinguishable from one taken during daytime activity.

So here a lot happens in the brain, and at the same time the skeletal muscles go into deep relaxation - also called sleep paralysis. This is to prevent you from physically implementing what you experienced in the dream. Could sleep paralysis possibly be the recipe against back pain, which after all is often due to muscle tension, especially that of the so-called "autochthonous back muscles", which stabilize the spine and are not subject to the will, i.e. cannot be voluntarily relaxed?

Who is constantly torn from his REM phase by his alarm clock, - a probability that increases sharply in the morning hours, because then the dream phases are prolonged -. will not only feel listless during the day, but will also be emotionally unbalanced, and could therefore even develop mental disorders such as depression in the long term.

According to Wikipedia, shortened REM periods cause "increased libidinal behavior (increased hunger pangs, increased sexual and aggressive impulses, learning and concentration difficulties, memory problems)." Source: https://is.gd/4VhYyO

Taking sleeping pills also interferes with the REM phases by chemically forcing a "shutdown" of brain activity. You see, the dream or REM phase of the second half of the night is by no means insignificant!

From my personal point of view, all people involved in education and school, i.e. parents, teachers, education politicians, etc., should have basic knowledge about the individual sleep phases and their function. What you take away from a child in terms of mental balance and brain fitness by interrupting a REM phase, you can't "train" back into it during the course of the day.

A person's individual sleep requirements are innate and do not change over the course of their life. So whether you get by on 7 hours or need 9 is determined by your genetic program. Even in old age, this preposition does not change, although sleep disorders may increase over the years.

A sleep disorder means nothing other than that the natural sleep phases are out of kilter either in their length or in their sequence. Shortened or disturbed deep sleep leads, for example, to reduced release of growth hormones. These have a number of important functions, such as influencing fat deposits and muscle mass. Here, therefore, the Correlation of healthy sleep and obesity clearly.

Shortened or disturbed dream sleep, on the other hand, seems to influence psycho-hygiene and can therefore disturb the psychological balance.

It is amazing what a healing effect the normal sleep rhythm alone has, i.e. a sleep in which all phases take place in sufficient length.

Gerald Hagler in "How Self-Help Works".

It has been scientifically proven that anyone who sleeps less than 7 hours on a permanent basis shortens their life significantly. Then, in addition to all sorts of undesirable effects, even gene expressions are altered, namely those responsible for anti-inflammation, immune response and stress reactions.

How can you figure out your individual sleep needs? Allow yourself a week on vacation in which you sleep in every day. Or, during your normal daily routine, gradually go to bed earlier and earlier until you wake up all by yourself at the time your alarm clock rang before. To actually be able to fall asleep earlier and earlier, it is recommended that you increase your physical activity.

Personal Note: I am one of those people whose need for sleep is at the upper end of the scale. That was already the case in my childhood. Since I grew up in a small village and had to take the train to school, the alarm clock would ring at 5:50 a.m. 6 days a week. In order to be rested and motivated at this wake-up time, I would have had to fall asleep at 9 o'clock in the evening - an unrealistic time for a teenager.

I am convinced that the resulting "being worn out", the never-ending tiredness that only seemed to disappear when it was time to go back to bed, were to a high degree responsible for my poor school performance and my non-existent motivation. As a sufferer, I had a dream that my children would one day have the choice of going to a regular school for early risers, or one for late risers with appropriately adjusted class times. Unfortunately, it did not come true.

"Sleep has the greatest impact on our well-being and health. Over 90% of health depends on sleep."

Prof. William C. Dement, MD, Director of the Sleep Research Center at Stanford University, USA, for 40 years.

Every one of us sleeps. Optimizing one's own sleeping habits would be one of the first and easiest self-healing measures. Another would be the Proper breathing.