The more you stay up late, the more stupid you are, the better you sleep, the higher your IQ! Teach you to have deep sleep from the perspective of neuroscience

On the International Sleep Day in March this year, the China Sleep Association issued a report on the sleep quality of Chinese people. The report pointed out that 450 million people in the country are used to staying up late.

Among them, young people represented by the post-90s and post-00s are the most prominent in the problem of staying up late.

There are usually two reasons for staying up late: work and play.

The 996 army in the first-tier big cities has a lot of work pressure, insomnia at night, or is forced to stay up late after working overtime.

The post-00s have just been admitted to the university, no one is restrained, they let themselves play every night, and actively choose to stay up late.

In fact, whether staying up late on the initiative or being forced to stay up late, whether staying up late for work or entertainment, will cause great harm to the body, and staying up late for a long time is no less harmful than cancer.

The sleep quality of young people is worrying, which is a problem that needs to be solved urgently.

Therefore, the theme of this year's World Sleep Day China is "Quality Sleep, Healthy China."

Here is the most thoughtful suggestion for you: If you don’t want to be stupid or ugly, don’t stay up late.

Embrace good quality sleep, it really makes you smarter and more responsive.

This article will tell you, from a neuroscience perspective, why quality sleep is so important? And how to have quality sleep.

01

Sleep is one of the most important things to maintain our life activities, and we can't be sloppy about sleep.

What counts as a good night's sleep?

You must be regular when you wake up in the morning and when you fall asleep.

For example, go to bed at 11:00 in the evening and get up at 6:30 in the morning.

To do this, you must keep your internal clock drive in line with your homeostasis drive.

What is the biological clock drive?

There is an electronic pacemaker-like mechanism in the brain that manages the daily rhythm of sleep and wakefulness, which is what we call the biological clock.

After the biological clock is established, we will have a strong desire for sleep at a certain time. For example, if you are sleepy at 11:00 in the evening, it is the biological clock that drives you to sleep.

So what are homeostatic drives?

The human body has an instinctive tendency to maintain internal balance by adjusting physiological processes, which is called homeostasis.

If you want to drink water when you are thirsty, and want to eat when you are hungry, it is the balance drive in your body that makes you act to replenish water or carbohydrates.

The same is true of sleep, and there is a balance between sleep time and awake time.

The longer you stay awake, the greater your brain drain, the more sleepy you will be, and the longer and better you sleep, the more eager you will be to wake up.

That's why you can't fall asleep at night after an extra hour of sleep during the day, because you disrupt the balance drive of sleep.

If you have a regular schedule and work, the biological clock drive and balance drive are consistent.

If you always play games all night, stay up all night and sleep in, or have insomnia, or sleep in late, this rule is broken.

Once the balance is disrupted, it can cause you to feel drowsy during the day and sleep well at night.

It's like two gears running in perfect harmony. But one gear is broken, jamming the rhythm of the other gear, which will cause a series of butterfly effects, destroying the delicate instrument of the body.

So are there any rules about sleep time?

The common saying is that we need 8 hours of sleep to ensure quality sleep.

In fact, this statement is not accurate. The appropriate sleep time varies for different people, but it is usually a multiple of 90 minutes.

Scientific research shows that 90 minutes is a sleep cycle, and we cycle through several sleep cycles a night.

In general, we cycle through 5 sleep cycles a night, or 7.5 hours. If you fall asleep at 11:00, then you wake up at 6:30 in the morning, just enough sleep for 5 sleep cycles.

The best sleep state is to sleep until dawn. If you always wake up when you sleep, it may be a manifestation of neurasthenia, and you need to pay attention.

If you don't sleep enough cycles, you may run into a sleep debt.

Sleep debt refers to the lack of sleep caused by actively limiting sleep time.

Being in sleep debt for a long time can affect emotional work performance, reduce memory, alertness, and accelerate aging leading to obesity.

As shown in the figure below, a continuous photo comparison of a subject who lacks sleep.

02

In the previous article, we learned what good quality sleep is. So how does quality sleep affect us?

I will tell you the importance of quality sleep from four aspects: memory, emotional control, decision-making and physical function.

1. The effect of high-quality sleep on memory.

Why do you wake up refreshed after a good night's sleep?

During sleep, the brain is flooded with a colorless and transparent fluid called cerebrospinal fluid, which removes waste from the brain and acts as a lymphatic fluid in the central nervous system.

It can supply certain nutrients to brain cells, transport away the metabolites of brain tissue, and regulate the acid-base balance of the nerve center.

Laura Lewis, a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University, pointed out in a paper published in the journal "Science": Scientists monitored brain imaging during sleep and found that when people are asleep, blood will be large and periodic. At this time, the cerebrospinal fluid takes the opportunity to rush into the brain, filling up the space left for it.

This activity cannot be performed when awake, because during the day when the brain is working, the brain needs blood to transport oxygen, and there is no way to give the cerebrospinal fluid a chance to influx.

That is to say, the brain begins to detoxify only when it is asleep. If you do not sleep for a long time, the accumulation of garbage in the brain will easily lead to memory loss and sluggish perception.

Therefore, staying up late becomes stupid, and sleeping well becomes smarter is an indisputable scientific fact.

2. The effect of quality sleep on emotional control ability.

Our ability to control our emotions comes from a neurotransmitter called serotonin.

Serotonin balances various hormones in the body, such as the stress hormone cortisol, and the anger hormone adrenaline.

When the level of serotonin in our body is high, people are calm and not impatient.

Serotonin is synthesized when exposed to sunlight and exercise.

If you stay up too often, you will have less exposure to the sun. At the same time, it is difficult to have enough energy to exercise, which will lead to the lack of serotonin synthesis conditions.

Decreased levels of serotonin in the body can lead to difficulty controlling our emotions, or emotional numbness.

So when you stay up late and watch videos, you will be emotionally numb and cognitively sluggish during the day.

When you don't sleep well at night, it's easier to get angry or annoyed about small things during the day, such as a naughty child or a boss' reprimand.

3. The influence of quality sleep on decision-making ability.

Our decision-making abilities come from a brain area called the prefrontal cortex.

It governs our rational thinking, and we are making various decisions during the day, so the prefrontal cortex also needs to rest.

When we enter deep sleep, the activity of the cerebral cortex is weakened, and our brains that have been running during the day are rested, including the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for decision-making, to prepare for the work of the day.

Therefore, the prefrontal cortex of people with high sleep quality gets enough rest, is always in the best state, and can make the most rational decisions in complex situations.

Decision-making is important, and we make decisions big and small every day, from what to wear when we go out to which stock to buy.

The ability to make decisions is actually self-discipline.

Self-discipline is to decide between rational and irrational behaviors, so people who cannot sleep well are more likely to be attracted to junk food, and more likely to indulge in games and pornography.

So if you want to have a self-disciplined life, start with sleep.

4. The effect of sleep quality on physical function

Various physical ailments and low immunity are associated with poor sleep quality.

When staying up late, the body is in a state of stress, and the secretion of various hormones will be disordered, which will lead to a series of physical diseases, such as high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and so on.

Hormone disorders can also lead to a weakened immune system, making people more likely to get sick, and muscles more prone to fatigue if they don’t get enough rest.

03

1. Be sure to observe the time when you fall asleep and wake up.

We know from the previous article that sleep is the best state, and the biological clock and homeostasis are driven and kept in line.

The best way to be consistent is to develop a habit.

Go to bed on time every day, get up on time, don't stay in bed, don't stay up late.

The best state is to get sleepy at the point where you usually fall asleep, and then fall asleep immediately.

This will give us the golden 90 minutes of sleep.

Japanese sleep medicine doctor Seiji Yamano said in the "Stanford Efficient Sleep Method": The 90 minutes of the first drowsiness hit is the golden time for sleep. If you can grasp this period of time, your sleep cycle throughout the night will change. rule. Including some people who have to compress their sleep time because of work, as long as they grasp the golden sleep period of the first 90 minutes, they will not have much impact on their work during the day.

2. Adequate bedtime preparation.

The Stanford Efficient Sleep Method describes the two switches required for efficient sleep: sleep and body temperature.

We need to do two things before going to bed.

Let the temperature come down.

Under normal circumstances, there will be a certain difference between the temperature of our body and the temperature of our skin. The bigger the difference, the better our spirits and the less sleepy we feel.

This difference is around 2 degrees Celsius during the day.

Affected by the environment at night, our body surface temperature will drop. At this time, the difference between the body temperature and the skin temperature is less than two degrees Celsius, so we will feel sleepy.

So we can induce drowsiness by lowering the skin temperature.

How to lower your skin temperature?

The best way is to take a hot shower about an hour and a half in advance.

After taking a bath, the body dissipates heat through sweating or evaporation of water, and the temperature of the body surface will first rise and then fall.

After an hour or so, the body dissipates heat, and the body surface temperature drops. At this point we are drowsy and we can go to bed.

Let the mind slow down.

Thinking has inertia. If your brain is still running at a high speed before going to bed, it will be difficult for you to feel sleepy.

So slow down your brain rhythm in advance before going to bed.

The human brain gets tired when it takes on something monotonous and boring.

So you can play some soothing music, or read some boring hard-to-eat books like some English tomes.

Of course, anything that makes you feel bored is fine, the more insipid and the less ups and downs the better, even the voice of a math teacher.

3. The mental state after getting up.

No matter how well you slept, when you wake up, remind yourself that you slept well yesterday, and don't worry about the insomnia last night.

Surveys show that 70% of people are dissatisfied with their sleep.

But in fact, most people's sleep quality is not bad.

Because of their constant negative cues to themselves, their productivity during the day decreases, and they make excuses for mistakes during the day.

Psychological suggestion is a powerful force. If you are always in a negative suggestion, all your attitudes will become negative, so be sure to make yourself positive.

You might as well get up every morning and smile in the mirror to tell yourself that you slept well.

04

1. Don't be exposed to too much blue light before going to bed.

Try to avoid electronics in the bedroom, especially 60 minutes before bed.

Our biological clocks are affected by light. In ancient times, humans worked at sunrise and rested at sunset.

But with the development of science and technology, the emergence of electronic products completely broke this balance.

The blue light of electronic screens will make us stimulated by light in the dark, which will affect the biological clock and delay sleep time.

Delayed sleep time will destroy the consistency of biological clock drive and balance drive, and over time will accumulate sleep debt, further disrupt sleep rhythm, and enter a negative cycle.

So try to avoid exposure to the light of the electronic screen an hour before going to bed.

2. Choose a suitable pillow.

The human spine and cervical spine have a natural physiological curvature.

The most comfortable state of our spine and cervical vertebra is the state that conforms to the physiological curvature, which can minimize the pressure on the spine and cervical vertebra.

How to protect the cervical spine during sleep?

Remember a rule, whether you are in a supine or side position, your chin and forehead should be on the same level when you lie down.

The correct sleeping position is shown in the figure below.

If the sleeping position is incorrect, it will compress the cervical vertebra, which will cause the physiological curvature of your cervical vertebra to disappear over time, causing dizziness, headache, vision loss and other symptoms.

Pillows are an important cause of poor sleeping positions, so pillows should not be too soft or too hard.

A pillow that is too soft will aggravate spinal strain, and a pillow that is too hard will destroy the physiological curvature of the cervical spine.

Some good natural latex pillows on the market have strong air permeability, high elasticity, soft touch, and ergonomic principles, which can excellently protect our cervical spine.

3. Choose a suitable mattress.

How to protect the spine during sleep?

As with pillows, you need to choose a mattress that fits the physical curve of your spine when you lie down.

You must have had the experience of sleeping on a hard floor and feeling overwhelmed.

This is because due to the physiology of our spine, there are parts of the body that hang in the air when lying down, such as the lumbar spine.

At this time, the parts that are in contact with the ground will be under extra pressure, so we will feel panicked.

If you sleep in a bed that is too soft, you will wake up in the morning with backache and back pain, because a bed that is too soft will cause the back muscles and psoas muscles to be overstretched, and at the same time compress the lumbar spine.

It is important to have a mattress that is moderately firm and firm. In addition to moderate hardness, mattress hygiene is also very important.

We need to keep the mattress dry and clean to prevent the growth of mites and all kinds of bacteria.

Mites are generally hidden in the sofa mattresses, mats, pillows and other places in the bedroom, which are tiny creatures that are invisible to the naked eye.

Many people don't take mites seriously, but if you know the harm of mites, you won't think so.

According to a scientific statistic, 80% of allergy sufferers are caused by dust mites, which can lead to asthma and allergic rhinitis.

Including some skin diseases, pimples, acne, etc. are also masterpieces of mites.

If the quality is poor and easy to breed mites, the mites will come into contact with our skin through the mattress during sleep, constantly enter and exit the pores, bring in bacteria, or parasitic in the hair follicles of the human body, suck the nutrients of the hair follicles, and destroy the hair follicle tissue.

There are some so-called mite removal artifacts on the market, such as mite vacuum cleaners, but the actual test results are no different from household vacuum cleaners.

What's the best way to get rid of mites?

The answer is: sunbathing.

Ultraviolet rays can kill mites, so there is a scientific basis for regularly drying the quilt.

For mattresses, drying mattresses may not be realistic, so mattresses are generally the hardest-hit areas for mites to breed.

The good news is that Xilinmen has launched a self-cleaning mattress, which adopts American federal inteffifresh technology and Swiss Sanitized technology. It uses patented technology to release silver ions, and transmits low concentrations of silver ions to the surface of the fabric, forming a special molecular film on the fabric. , and activate silver ions when harmful bacteria are found, so that it can exert the effect of sterilization and mite removal.

05

Sleep is the foundation of all medicine. In the fields of various mental illnesses, injury treatment and prevention-oriented sports medicine, experts have reached a consensus on the understanding of sleep.

It is no exaggeration to say that those who control sleep are qualified to control life.

Sleep is one of the most important life activities of human beings. It accounts for 1/3 of our life, but it can become the key to change the remaining 2/3 of our lives.

So, stop staying up late and start having a good night's sleep from now on!