Sleep: A magical potion

I have a miracle drug. This drug does not have to be ingested, has no side effects, increases mood, pumps up the immune system, makes one more alert and more productive, decreases auto accidents, strengthens personal relationships, makes you more attractive and feels great. What is this magical potion? Sleep.

Last week, daylight saving time stole an hour of my life and I want it back! To regain the hour, I lay my head on the pillow an hour earlier than my normal bedtime to recapture the lost hour to no avail. My mind races as sleep evades me. Waking up six hours later starts my week off slowly. Three cups of coffee and a cold shower only partially revives my body. Driving to work, I yell at a driver for driving two miles under the speed limit, become frustrated with a coworker for talking to me before I unlock my office door and get angry because my tie is tied too short. I retie my tie, apologize to the offended coworker and send a good-morning e-mail to my wife acknowledging my grumpiness. I need more sleep.

I love sleep but as most Americans, sleep fewer hours than my body requires. Most humans allowed to sleep uninterrupted for two weeks will eventually fall into a 7-9-hour natural sleep pattern. One needs this sleep to attain full mental and biological potential. Imagine sleep as an emotional bank account. Sleeping continually for eight hours a night keeps one's bank account full. Missing a few hours of sleep debits our sleep account as our body and mind attempts to pay fully with absent energy. Continuing to debit this sleep account will eventually over-draw the account resulting in unpredictable and unwanted results - an auto accident, misplaced anger, careless mistakes and an increase in illness due to the depletion of one's immune system.

Few people allow their bodies to rest fully, partially due to Thomas Edison - the inventor of the light bulb. Instead of waking with the sun and falling asleep as our world darkens people tend to rise when the alarm sounds and fall asleep as Letterman offers his monologue, only to rise again as the alarm chimes six hours later. Instead of obeying the natural biological rhythm of sleep, people fight the desire to rest in search of all this world has to offer. An infamous bumper sticker poet pines, "Live Life! There will be plenty of time to sleep when you're dead." This analogy might see the participants unable to live life as they wish, as death might be closer than they think.

Sleep is the one gift we have that can alleviate and separate ourselves from the stress of daily life. Sleep allows one to think clearly, make good choices and perform at the top of one's ability. We live our life in rhythm - life is melodic. Our heart beats in rhyme; seasons pass in balance and our day fluctuates from wide-awake to sleepy about every three hours. Sleep follows this same natural cycle of 16 hours awake and eight hours of sleep.

When people sleep they pass through four stages that begin with hallucinations and slowly mold into vivid dreams. These stages begin by falling asleep. When falling asleep, sounds and sensations become incorporated into dreams. If watching a television crime show while falling asleep one becomes a member of the cast and begins to solve the crime in slumber. Often, one suddenly braces in fear as the body relaxes feeling the sense of falling. This feeling is due to muscles and nerves relaxing faster than your mind. One falls back to sleep and soon enters stage two sleep. In this stage people talk nonsensically. Little girls at slumber parties laugh while their sleeping friend mumbles incoherently of boys, dogs, cartoons and cows. Sleep talking is due to electrical bursts of brain activity. These bursts create random words as they charge neurons which are attached to the language sections in our brain.

Lastly, one enters stage three deep sleep, then stage four deeper sleep. During stage four sleep children tend to wet the bed and walk in their sleep. It is difficult to waken a person in stage four sleep especially during the first three hours of the night. In one's deepest stages of sleep, a phenomenon happens - Rapid Eye Movement. During REM sleep one enters paradoxical sleep where the mind becomes active while our body remains essentially paralyzed. Many report a sense of paralysis when startled awake while dreaming vividly during REM sleep.

Many ask, "Why do I feel more tired after I nap than I did before I fell asleep?" The answer lies in the stages of sleep. When sleep deprived, a person tends to nap longer than an hour, falling deeply into stage three then four sleep. Once a body enters stage three sleep, it prepares to stay there awhile. During stage four sleep, one's brain slows down and becomes less active. It takes longer to wake up a lethargic brain in stage four sleep than an active brain in stage one or two sleep. The keys to a good nap is to allow 20 to 45 minutes to sleep and wake up fresh and revived or continue to nap for three hours and pay back the sleep debit owed.

If sleeping is so important, what stops one from sleeping and dreaming? Drugs and alcohol can stop the dreaming process. Sleeping pills, one or two nightcaps, most psychotropic medications, pain, stress, video games, marijuana, night noise (leaving the television on after falling asleep or living in a loud neighborhood), depression and anxiety can stop dreaming and our ability to enter the bliss of stage three and four sleep.

The magical drug of sleep is attainable to most everyone. To better your chance of reinvesting in your sleep account, I suggest:

• Avoiding fatty foods at night.

• Do not drink alcohol.

• Avoid chocolate and caffeine at night.

• Workout in the late afternoon but not at night.

• Sleep in a dark room. Every light, including the alarm clock light interrupts one's sleep.

• Turn the alarm clock away. If the alarm can be seen, one will continue to check the time during the night instead of continuing to sleep.

• Drink milk before bed. Milk contains melatonin and tryptophan which aid in sleep.

• Lower the lights in your home two hours prior to going to bed. When your eyes become fatigued, sleep comes more quickly and naturally.

• Stay in bed in the morning. As night turns to day one leaves the deep stages of sleep and fluctuates between more alert stage one and two sleep. During these light stages of sleep, one often wakes then falls back to sleep. Staying in bed allows you to slowly and naturally start your day.

• Get a physical to ensure sleep deprivation is not the result of a physical or psychological ailment such as sleep apnea, anxiety, heart disease or depression.

I can't stop daylight saving time (unless I move to Arizona, the only state that doesn't observe the law) so, must acknowledge my crankiness and accept my lost hour of life. I guess I'll wait for Nov. 6, the end of daylight saving time, to sleep in and enjoy regaining my lost hour.

Bill Rutherford is a psychotherapist, public speaker, elementary school counselor, adjunct college psychology instructor and executive chef, and owner of Rutherford Education Group. Please e-mail him at bprutherford@hotmail.com and check out www.foodforthoughtcda.com.