Sleep Basics - And Strategies For Good Sleep
Notes on sleep mechanisms and strategies.
Western medicine, science and general guidance shows two common problems:
The science analyses and determines correlations over big groups. General advice often fails to be specific enough for individuals. Guidance and products often provides the illusion of easy fixes, instead of determining and resolving specifics.
Insomnia may be noticable in four different phases of sleep:
- Falling Asleep
- Staying Asleep
- Difficulty Waking Up
- Tired during the day
Sleep issues and sleep time are often misattributed due to subjective misperception of sleep. Due to the nature of sleep people may not correctly determine and remember how much they slept, and as a consequence may misattribute what the issue is.
Sleep is adaptable. We evolved to be able to delay or skip sleep, and to completely dismiss tiredness in emergency situations.
Influences on Sleep
Metabolism
Waste builds up throughout the day, and is dissolved through sleep.
Light and Melatonin
Physiology
Cortisol
Stress -> Cortisol (stress hormone) -> Alertness (irritable, hunger, digestion)
-> Reticular Activating Formation (?)
evolved for short term threats, not long term concerns/stress
Insulin
Eat Food -> Insulin is produced for digestion to storage
Eating a big meal may lead to “food coma” tiredness due to insulin spike.
Insulin is an anabolic hormone - triggering body into “build mode”.
Thus, food can be used to better get to sleep.
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