Sleep

1. Sleep

2. Sleep is necessary for all living things.

3. Why do we need sleep? • Sleep is essential to good health. • Sleep determines how well your body and mind will work while you are awake. • During sleep, the body and brain have time to work on things that need to be repaired and organized.

4. Why does your body need sleep? So your: • Muscles, bones, and skin can grow • Muscles, skin and other parts can fix injuries • Body can stay healthy and fight sickness

5. Why does your brain need sleep? So you can: • Remember what you learn • Pay attention and concentrate • Solve problems and think of new ideas

6. How much sleep do you need? • The amount of sleep you need varies from one person to the next • Teens need more sleep than children and adults do • Teens need between 8 ½ to 9 ½ hours of sleep each night But wait! I Can’t fall asleep before midnight and I need to be up at 7!

7. Teens have trouble falling asleep • Research shows that during the teen years, the body's circadian rhythm (sort of like an internal clock) is temporarily reset. • Your circadian rhythm is telling you to fall asleep later and wake up later.

8. Why do teens have trouble sleeping? • Melatonin is a hormone that is produced by the brain to tell people to fall asleep. • This change in the circadian rhythm is due to the fact that melatonin is produced later at night for teens than it is for kids and adults. • This can make it harder for teens to fall asleep early.

9. How Do I Know if I'm Getting Enough Sleep? Even if you think you're getting enough sleep, you may not be. Here are some of the signs that you may need more sleep: • difficulty waking up in the morning • inability to concentrate • falling asleep during classes • feelings of moodiness and even depression

10. How Can You Get More Sleep?

11. Set a regular bedtime • Going to bed at the same time each night signals to your body that it's time to sleep. • Waking up at the same time every day can also help establish sleep patterns. • So try to stick to your sleep schedule even on weekends. • Don't go to sleep more than an hour later or wake up more than 2 to 3 hours later than you do during the week.

12. Exercise regularly • Try not to exercise right before bed, though, as it can rev you up and make it  harder to fall asleep. • Many sleep experts believe that exercising 5 or 6 hours before bedtime (in late afternoon) may actually help a person sleep.

13. Avoid stimulants • Don't drink beverages with caffeine, such as soda and coffee, after 4 PM.

14. Relax your mind • Avoid violent, scary, or action movies or television shows right before bed — anything that might set your mind and heart racing. • Reading books with involved or active plots may also keep you from falling or staying asleep.

15. Unwind by keeping the lights low • Light signals the brain that it's time to wake up. • Staying away from bright lights (including computer screens!), as well as meditating or listening to soothing music, can help your body relax.

16. Don't nap too much • Naps of more than 30 minutes during the day may keep you from falling asleep later.

17. Create the right sleeping environment • Studies show that people sleep best in a dark room that is slightly on the cool side. • Close your blinds or curtains (and make sure they're heavy enough to block out light). • Turn down the thermostat in your room (pile on extra blankets or wear PJs if you're cold). • Lots of noise can be a sleep turnoff, too.

18. Wake up with bright light • Bright light in the morning signals to your body that it's time to get going.

19. Avoid all-nighters. Don't wait until the night before a big test to study. Cutting back on sleep the night before a test may mean you perform worse than you would if you'd studied less but got more sleep.

20. Dear anyone! Help! I am a 14 year old junior high student and I can’t get to sleep at night. I am so tired at school that I am starting to fall asleep in class and my grades are dropping like flies. I thought that I was having problems falling asleep because I stayed up really late this summer and slept in really late. But it is now November and I can’t get back to my normal sleep routine. I try to go to bed early but I lie awake until 2 or 3 in the morning! I have to get up at 7 every day for school. I nap for like an hour when I get home from school. When I can’t sleep I play on the computer and turn up the heat in my room so that I don’t get cold. Sometimes I try to study for my tests late at night too. I like to drink Coke...all of the time.. I hear that it is not good for you, but whatever. But seriously, I need sleep! Can you help me? Garrett

21. Task With you partner, type a letter to Garrett • Using the information you have learned about sleep, identify Garrett’s sleeping problems and give him some advice to help him get more sleep. • Be sure to include in your letter: • Explain to him why he is having trouble falling asleep (melatonin and circadian rhythm). • Tell him what he is doing to prevent getting sleep. • Tell him some ways that he can get more sleep at night.

22. circadianPronounced: sur-kay-dee-un. Circadian is a Latin word. “Circadian rhythm" refers to the daily repetition of certain biological actions, like sleeping and waking.

23. melatoninPronounced: mel-uh-toe-nun. Melatonin is a brain hormone that has been linked to the body's sleep function.

24. What happens during sleep?

25. As you're drifting off to sleep, it doesn't seem like much is happening . . . the room is getting fuzzy and your eyelids feel heavier and heavier. But what happens next? A lot!

26. What Happens During Sleep? • You don't notice it, of course, but while you're asleep, your brain is still active. Okay body, we have work to do.

27. Stagesof Sleep • As people sleep, their brains pass through five stages of sleep. • Together, stages 1, 2, 3, 4, and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep make up a sleep cycle. • One complete sleep cycle lasts about 90 to 100 minutes. • So during an average night's sleep, a person will experience about four or five cycles of sleep.

28. Sleep Stage 1 • In this stage, your brain tells: • your muscles to relax • your heart to beat a little slower • your body temperature to drop a bit.

29. Sleep Stage 2 • Stage 2 is when you are in a light sleep. • You can still be woken up easily during this stage. • For example, if your sister pokes you or you hear a car horn outside, you'll probably wake up.

30. Sleep Stage 3 • When you're in this stage, you're in a deeper sleep, also called slow-wave sleep. • Your brain sends a message to your blood pressure to get lower. • Your body isn't sensitive to the temperature of the air around you, which means that you won't notice if it's a little hot or cold in your room. • It's much harder to be awakened when you're in this stage, but some people may sleepwalk or talk in their sleep at this point.

31. Sleep Stage 4 • This is the deepest sleep yet and is also considered slow-wave sleep. • It's very hard to wake up from this stage of sleep, and if you do wake up, you're sure to be out of it and confused for at least a few minutes. • Like they do in stage 3, some people may sleepwalk or talk in their sleep when going from stage 4 to a lighter stage of sleep.

32. Sleep Stage 5 or REM • REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement. • In this stage your eyes move back and forth very quickly beneath your eyelids. • The REM stage is when your heart beats faster and your breathing is less regular. • This is also the stage when people dream!

33. Stages of Sleep • While you're asleep, you repeat stages 2, 3, 4, and REM about every 90 minutes until you wake up in the morning. • That's about four or five times a night.