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Sleep too little you're exhausted, too much sleep in your bed and you're exhausted. Like everything else in life its about quality not quantity. To perform well we need the right amount of good quality sleep.
When asleep our brains go through a series of 90 minute cycles, each cycle takes us through five stages of sleep. Stage 1 - drowsy sleep. Stage 2 - moderately light sleep. Stages three and four - deep, physically restful sleep - the deep or slow wave sleep Stage 5 dream sleep with rapid eye movement REM, in this stage our eyes move rapidly under closed lids and our brains are active but our body is paralyzed to stop us acting in our sleep.
The experts agree that bodily repair takes place in deep sleep and brain repair in REM sleep. The body is charged in the first three to four hours, but we need more than that to be at our best.
How much do you need?
To energize your body and mind how much sleep do you need? The normal figure is six to ten hours- that would keep 95 percent of us happy. The average is 8.1 hours a night. Those who can survive on five hours or less are lucky.
If you get too little sleep it will depress the immune system, leave you vulnerable to infection. Insomnia can cause problems, lack of concentration, exhaustion, stress. But the worst thing you can do is turn to pills, especially long term use, because this will be poor sleep.
To beat insomnia, or to get better nights sleep, adopt some good sleeping habits, all obvious and easy.
Make your bedroom comfortable, dark, and quiet.
Keep work and anything stressful out of your bedroom.
Avoid adopting habits to get yourself to sleep, which stimulate the brain, watching TV, reading.
Keep to a regular routine, so your body can get used to it.
Don't force yourself to sleep at strange times of the day.
Avoid rich foods, especially late at night.
Try to exercise regularly it promotes sleep.
Clear your mind of emotional problems.
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