Health

The importance of sleeping well on personal well-being

The dream is one of the primary motivational functions more important that repercute directly on our welfare, so much to level of physical health like mental. The dream fulfils a clear adaptative function that allows to our organism conserve the energy and restore the possible cognitive deterioration suffered during the vigilia. Sleep is our tool so that our internal machinery was smart to go back to work during a new cycle of activity.

His function is so much of physical repair like psychological to cognitive and emotional level, since it facilitates the processing and integration of information received during the vigilia in addition to having important part in the rescheduling of our cognitive system. While we sleep we are still working, as if we went in in a state of workshop of repair to improve our mechanics of performance when we are awake.

Have a good routine and conciliate the dream properly goes us to warn of problems of health and comportamentales greater. The good councils to sleep better, as those that provide reliable sources like Better To Sleep will be the first good decision that take to boost a better mental rest and physicist.

How we sleep us?

To measure that are awake increases the concentration of adenosine, that is in neuromodulador with effects sedatives and inhibits the neural activity producing somnolencia and therefore the motivation to sleep.

In fact, the coffee (by effect of the caffeine) that take us to be more awake what does is to block these receptors of adenosine achieving keep us more awake, this yes the deprivation of dream will continue being hurtful for us if we do not do it of natural way.

Therefore, the concentration of adenosine together with the rhythms circadianos, regulated by the hormone melatonina, are the managers to regulate our cycles of vigilia and dream in search of the best performance of our cerebral activity.

States of the dream: how they affect to our health

To understand how works the dream in our health is important to know that they exist two states of the fundamental dream while we sleep with different functions of restoration of our system. We sleep by cycles that divide  in two general states:

  • State of slow waves (NREM). During this period produces  a restoration to physiological level and storage of energy in our organism. It is subdividido in four phases related all they with the physiological mitigation general of gradual form until remaining us slept fully and go in in the deepest phase of the dream. It predominates the activity parasimpática. In the first two phases is relatively easy to wake up, previous when going in in the phase of deep dream. Has a total length of surroundings to 90 minutes until we go in in the following state.
  • Paradoxical state (REM). It begins surroundings to the 90 minutes after having  remained slept the person with a half length of some 20 minutes that increases slightly with each cycle of dream. It is the phase in which we are dreaming vívidamente with increase of our similar cognitive activity to the one of watches it, even with fast movements of the eyes (that it gives name to the phase REM in English – Rapid Eye Movement -). Still it is very difficult to wake up to the person. It predominates the activity of the nice device and produces  a paralysis of the skeletal musculature. This phase has a function of restructuring and cognitive rescheduling.

Deprivation of the dream: effects on the physical and mental health

They exist different genetic between the people by what the necessary levels of adenosine can vary between them and to ones will affect them more or less the deprivation of the dream, or will have resulted of different performance in function of his own biology. However, to general level, sleep less than 4,5 – 5,5 hours to the day can have negative effects on our cognitive system like fatigue and deficit in the execution of complex tasks that require of an attention sustained. An alone night of insufficient dream affects directly to our cognition aggravating to measure that add  the days resting bad.

Greater physical tiredness

We go to centre us more in the psychological damage of the deprivation of the dream, but to physical level our muscles and articulations are not prepared to be making exercise during all day no rest, the rest is one of the qualities that need so that they regenerate  of the physical wear that suffer along the day. Sleep is the  May of the rest because it inhibits the general movement. Our musculation does not improve  only with continuous training, the rest is fundamental to compensate it and improve it.

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Effects on the motivation

During the dream REM, with help of the ensoñaciones, stimulates  our brain so that it is supported by it a level of motivation adapted. The deprivation of this state of the dream has negative motivational effects especially in people that already suffer states of endogenous depression.

Slowness of the processing of the information and the attention

The fault of dream causes a cerebral activity slower because of the fault of neural rest, which hampers the thought or processes  of way slower the information that perceive. Especially  in those tasks that need of an attention sustained. Besides, our own senses are exhausted physically by what lose his effectiveness to receive properly the external stimuli enlenteciendo his operation and answer.

Deficits in the learning and the memory

While we sleep and more specifically during the dream REM improve  the processes of learning and retention, especially those that have high emotional component. Specifically it improves the by heart declarative processes. During the dream NREM improves  the memory procedimental. The deprivation of the dream affects to the neurons of the hippocampus damaging our capacity by heart and association of memories.

Loss of creativity

The dream REM favours the divergent or creative thought increasing the flexibility and cognitive complexity. The fault of dream merma ours creativity.

Emotional effects

During the dream produces  an integration of the information that receive during the vigilia with the experience of the person difuminando the possible emotional effects associated. The dream affects to the emotional centre of our brain, the tonsil. An alone night of fault of dream changes the capacity to regulate our emotions of efficient way. This causes greater levels of irritability and anxiety.

Worse takings of decisions

Like our capacity of concentration, attention and processing of the information is lower go to take worse decisions by what will be more liable to commit errors, especially in front of complex situations. Therefore, when we confront us to an examination, is convenient to sleep well the night before to have our neurons to full performance.

The importance of the hygiene of sleep

The fault of dream can be a grave problem for the people that do not attain to conciliate it properly and fall in a recurrent chronic sleeplessness or a deregulation of the cycles circadianos since the own hormone commissioned of this, the melatonina, sees  affected in his manufacture by the fault of dream. The problem can turn into a loop without exit that can concern even more to the person by the fact of not sleeping which will keep the restless and anxious mind in front of the fear of the fault of dream once again.

By this, is important to keep a good hygiene of the dream, also of preventive form, and resort to professional or resources based in the scientific evidence, like the proportionate by the Spanish Society of the Dream that improve the quality of our dreams, that will be the quality of our life.

 

Iván Pico

Director y creador de Psicopico.com. Psicólogo Colegiado G-5480 entre otras cosas. Diplomado en Ciencias Empresariales y Máster en Orientación Profesional. Máster en Psicología del Trabajo y Organizaciones. Posgrado en Psicología del Deporte entre otras cosas. Visita la sección "Sobre mí" para saber más. ¿Quieres una consulta personalizada? ¡Escríbeme!