Sleep and a Healthy Brain

Much is written these days about how to avoid dementia.  A lot of research money has lately been devoted to possible pharmaceuticals that have ended up being disappointments. There is no cure in sight, so those of us with dementia in our family should look to prevention.  With that in mind,  it is now known that much “brain maintenance and repair” happens during sleep.  What?  For years, sleep has been looked upon as a possible waste of time….or at best, a necessary evil!  Perhaps we should rethink this.  Maybe, while we sleep, we are not doing nothing….because research is showing that we are actually accomplishing much.

Thomas Edison, known for creating light bulbs, once said that “Sleep is an absurdity, a bad habit.”  He felt that our working hours should be expanded and that it was a mark of superior intelligence to sleep less and work more.  Perhaps this helped lead us to the belief that our level of business was related to our level of value or importance. (see previous blog “Get Unbusy”) We now know that if we want our work to be done correctly, we had better take sleep seriously!

The Center for Disease Control tells us that about 70 million adults in the US live sleep deprived on a chronic basis.  On average, a hundred years ago, we slept about 9 hours a night.  It is now recommended to get at least 7 hours as a minimum.  So that means that a lot of us are getting less than 7 hours.  It must be that we don’t understand how important sleep is!

So what is this important work that happens during sleep?  Well, first of all, genetically speaking, we all are blessed with a biological clock.  This clock helps regulate our sleep cycle.   Our cells have “clock genes”, supervised by a part of our hypothalamus.  Chemical are released in a certain rhythm.  For example, while we are awake and active we accumulate adenosine.  As it becomes evening, melatonin is released by your pineal gland, telling you it is time to sleep.  Then when the sun begins to rise, melatonin production slows.

While we are sleeping, our brain cells complete a lot of maintenance and clean up duty.  And when we don’t sleep enough, this does not get done.    It is like living in a house where no one ever takes out the trash.  After a while, there are consequences!!  The maintenance duties include, among other things, preserving and consolidating new information, linking information to existing memories, trash removal (getting rid of metabolic waste like beta-amyloid which has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease), cell repair, and increasing growth hormone production.

When the brain is not given enough time to complete its many “off-hour” duties, there is a price to pay.  It can be falling asleep at the wheel.  It can be decreased coordination while awake, leading to more falls or injuries.  It may be impaired cognition….or even dementia.

So next time you are tempted to call it a day and turn in early, don’t feel guilty about all that work not yet done.  It will still be there tomorrow.  And with a good night’s sleep, tomorrow you will be more efficient at getting it done!

SPRINGTIME

I love Spring. It is my second favorite season. (Summer is only ahead because it is consistently warm and I HATE cold) But why do I love the Spring when the weather is still unpredictable and there is a lot of rain? I think it is because of what it represents and because of what it foretells. The promise of new life and new beginnings. I think I like Spring for the same reason that the dawn is my favorite time of day. Fresh starts!

Fresh starts would not be needed if this was a perfect world. But it is not even close. Every day I mess up in multiple ways and I always love the idea of starting over….of getting it right. There is a problem with this kind of thinking, however. I may start over but I will never be completely perfect or right…..at least not this side of eternity. When I was younger I would delude myself. I thought that there would always be time and energy to accomplish anything and everything I wanted to do. But now I am older….and I suppose a little wiser. Anyway, I realize that, though I need to strive for excellence, there are some things I will never do as well as I would like, and there are some things I will never do at all.

But I also realize that there is an order and beauty to this world that hints of another realm. Once, there was perfection and all was good. And someday, that will be true again. I am looking forward to that day when, in God’s presence, there will be fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. Endless adventure ahead.

In the meantime, I will still enjoy spring blossoms. They are a reminder of all that is beautiful. And Easter is coming, a reminder of the historical, well documented resurrection of my Savior. He rose and promised I would also. New life! A glimpse of a future but promised world.

I know that my Redeemer lives…..and that makes the physical and spiritual  winters of this world bearable.

Get Un-Busy

Have you ever noticed how sometimes you will wake up in the morning with a solution to a problem, or a new way to approach something? Something unique has happened — You have given your brain a bit of time to process…..and voila! Just think what you might accomplish if you were not so busy. Now I am convinced that when we are too busy and move too fast, we miss a lot of what makes life lovely. Taking time to smell the roses might be an old cliche, but it is more important in today’s society than ever before.

If “busy”describes you, the world seems bent on keeping you that way. Being “busy” is tantamount to saying one is important and doing important things. If you admit you have free time, you might as well confess to laziness and being second-rate.  Why have we come to this? What was wrong with leisurely meals, front porch sitting, lazy Sunday afternoons?   When did these things come to mean wasting time? I have noticed that when I slow down, I become more approachable. People will actually engage with me, even ask me for help rather that just get out of my way. That is definitely good for relationships.

Take inventory of how you use your time and decide what you could eliminate….or delegate…to give yourself a little more margin. Dallas Willard was a university professor I greatly admired, though I never met him and he is now deceased.   He would say “Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”  Working full time as a physician, raising 4 children, and doing my own housekeeping left me craving a slow-down…for sanity’s sake. And when I would take a few hours and decelerate, I noticed that after a little while, I would begin to actually have a few creative thoughts. I wondered if, just maybe, the key to problem solving and efficiency might actually be to go a little slower, rather than faster.

All of the great works of art were not accomplished by extremely busy people. Hurry just does not lead to excellence. Maybe that is why excellence is so hard to find. Most people do not have their most creative moments when they are juggling social media (just read what they write!) or listening to the same sad news story from the umpteenth angle or impatiently waiting in a fast food line for another lousy meal that they will eat alone in the car.

Enjoy NOT being busy. It is no cause for shame.
Take the time to cook at home, enjoy the smell of cookies in the oven, or the quiet of a good book by a fire, a long chat with your spouse, or even a decent night’s sleep. You may find that you actually become more creative and thereby more productive!

Put some margin in your life — at the very least, when someone else needs you, there is a chance you will be available to help.