Got Sleep?

This article is on Yahoo Health. Need sleep? Join the club. This article has a couple of tips to help aid in a peaceful nights rest.

I liked this article because it actually got me to think of something I had not tried yet, that is the over stimulation of lights in my room. Example: the computer light blinking when in hibernate mode, alarm clock light, night light, fax machine. As I became aware of all these things I noticed that my bedroom was not dark at all, in fact it was bright enough to read by. Why hadn't I noticed this before?

The science of it: Ahhh that big word we have heard before,serotonin. It has a close relationship to the body's sleep-wake cycle. Your serotonin levels are highest in the brain stem when you are awake and active, and almost completely absent when we enter REM sleep, the deepest stage of sleep. During sleep, your body's level of melatonin rises sharply. The production of melatonin is dependent on its synthesis in the pineal gland, which is powered by serotonin. While light increases the production of serotonin, darkness spurs on the synthesis of melatonin. Paired together, these two neurotransmitters are key in maintaining the sleep cycle.

Did you get that? Let me break it down for you..... We need darkness when we sleep so we can begin the "sleep cycle." Thus, flipping all my electronics off in my bedroom, has in fact caused me to sleep longer and better in the past 2 nights. Or it could be the glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. Hmmm go figure...

I expanded a bit on just one of the things in the article. You can get all 8 tips for better sleep by clicking the hyperlink as linked in first sentence. Nighty Night!