Sleep as Sustenance

you may have heard the expression

sleep is priceless if you’re like me

you may be thinking are you sure about

that because

i can finish this assignment tonight and

then sleep more tomorrow

but sleep isn’t like my student loans no

no

i can’t make up for it at a later date

this was my wake-up call in regards to

why we

as humans need not just food

water and shelter but also sleep

my name is lily and i am a bilingual

nursing student at the university of

alberta

who am i to tell you about sleep many

times over the course of my academic

career

i’ve prioritized other tasks over sleep

which is not recommended

you may know the feeling hearing your

alarms in the morning but feeling to

wake up to them

perhaps i’m not the best person to

deliver this talk

but sleep is something we can all learn

about

and i want us to understand why we have

to sleep

let’s say i slept for less than five

hours

because there’s a midterm exam the next

day and i was up

studying and cramming for it true story

unfortunately

the next day i’m feeling really stressed

out my nervous system is in high gear

telling me to fight or flight

because of my sleep disruption and

during the midterm itself

it’s hard to focus and it’s difficult to

recall my knowledge

because lack of sleep can block memory

consolidation

and affect performance and cognition

after school let’s say my dad asked me

if i want to practice driving that day

well i better be careful because drowsy

driving causes

6 000 fatal car crashes in the united

states

every year cutting back on sleep for

short-term benefit

isn’t like cutting processed sugar out

of your diet for a while

the truth is sleep affects much more

than just my brain my glucose regulation

is

toppled and my appetite is affected

making me crave more carbohydrates

it has an impact on my mood and

motivation affecting how willing i am to

do physical activity and exercise

my cells don’t regenerate as efficiently

and it leads to me having a more tired

appearance

i’m more likely to even fall sick if i

continue down this path of sleep loss

it’s possible i experience insomnia more

often

and the balances within my body are

thrown off

increasing stress hormones and

inflammation

leading to a higher risk of obesity

diabetes cardiovascular disease cancer

and even death the purpose of going over

all these health effects

is not to scare you into sleeping more

but understand

why we sleep in the first place if

there’s one thing i know as a nursing

student

it’s biology what happens exactly when

we do sleep as much as our bodies need

sleep gives back to your body looking

into biology

no one would dispute that we need food

for our body to make energy and we need

water

to have enough blood to go around as

some examples

if we look at someone who’s sleeping on

the outside it might just look like

they’re like

snoring but on the inside there’s a lot

more going on

for one your immune system is

strengthened

making vaccines even more effective if

there’s one thing you don’t want to be

doing nowadays it’s getting sick

and after a long day of work your body

cells can do some much-needed repair

by muscle growth and protein synthesis

and now it’s time for a joke what do you

call

a sleeping bull a

bulldozer so here’s the catch if someone

told you an

actually funny joke today your memory

consolidation

would be worked on while you’re asleep

so you have a better chance of

remembering that joke and sharing it

with someone else tomorrow

and this applies to other information

too such as your studies

up in our brains there’s a lot going on

and there’s a chemical that is produced

and builds up

as our brain cells are active it’s

called adenosine

it induces a feeling of tiredness

and when you sleep the brain can clear

out adenosine

and other waste products allowing you to

feel more alert when you wake up

here’s a real life example of this you

may know someone who is

awfully cranky before their coffee

coffee is a substance

that alters our chemistry it blocks

adenosine so we don’t feel tired

the world health organization has a

definition of health

i like to refer to a state of complete

physical mental and social well-being

socially sleep can help you get along

with others by improving mood and

behavior

mentally sleep can work towards reducing

stress

and improving cognitive processes like

coping and problem solving

and we talked about on the physical

front how your cells

and your brain can benefit the question

i want to ask you

are you physically mentally and socially

well when you lack sleep

but i don’t have to be the one to tell

you to sleep your mom will

just kidding your body will have you

ever been so hungry that your

belly starts grumbling telling you that

it’s time to eat

well what about yawning or the sensation

of

drifting to sleep because you’re so

tired these are also built in mechanisms

that are saying hello i’m tired it’s

time for bed

furthermore you don’t have to take my

word for all this information

i had to google all this and it still

might not convince you

so in your own experience i want you to

recall

how foggy it feels after a night of bad

sleep

compared to how refreshing a good night

of sleep is

if you don’t sleep well it’s like

stepping into a puddle

because even after you’re up and out of

that puddle

walking around the lack of sleep will

leave

imprints on other systems and aspects of

your health

throughout the day you may be looking at

yourself

or at your professor your teacher your

parents and wondering

well why am i not learning about this in

school

perhaps it’s because they don’t want us

to fall asleep in school

but even statistics canada recognizes

that sleep gets too little time in the

spotlight

in my experience sleep deprivation is

actually normalized in academic

institutions

and there’s a sense of productivity and

a strong desire

to perform well in place of sleep

quantity and quantity sometimes

so what are some things that we can do

about this

first learning by listening here today

you’ve taken that

first step in learning about sleep

awareness

drives behavior changes there’s so much

research out there

about what sleep can do and how a lack

of it can destroy you

and i’ve just shared a little bit of it

second reflecting is your sleep setup

comfortable

do you have a nightly routine to calm

down and get into

a sleepy state don’t be afraid to sleep

more how tomorrow goes could depend

on the quality of sleep you have today

third sharing share something you

learned about sleep with a colleague or

a family member

i’m not telling you to suddenly become a

sleep cheerleader

or change your sleeping habits but to

recognize

that our outlook on sleep is something

we need to shift

from secondary to sleep as sustenance

in no way am i a sleep specialist

but i think it is important to

understand the link between

health and sleep there are various sleep

problems that are complex and outside of

my scope

so i urge you to see a health

professional if you’re experiencing

those problems

nevertheless sleep helps sustain us

as humans it’s one part of the puzzle of

health

along with all the rest of the things we

need to maintain such as food

hydration and physical activity

but sleep is one where you don’t have to

move or even think

you have a daily chance to reap the

benefits of sleep

and the best part is it doesn’t cost a

penny

let’s let our conscious selves better

appreciate our unconscious hours

thank you so much i hope you sleep

soundly

you