We spend about one third of our lives sleeping. That's a lot of time. During all the time we sleep, we are also extremely vulnerable because we do not really perceive what is happening around us and, if necessary, can not respond appropriately.

Sleep shortage

Most people experience living in a hectic world. Many go to bed late and have to work out for children and work in time, causing them to get insufficient sleep and experiencing fatigue throughout the day. For others it is difficult to get to sleep by, for example, worry and stress and many wake up one or more times during the night and experience difficulty sleeping for a few hours. People are often worried about this: Questions about sleep and about what is sleeping is a lot of time.

During lectures, I also note that there is also another group of people. People who proudly proclaim that they hardly need sleep and keep in it. In response, I assume that sufficient sleep is incredibly important and insufficient sleep has clearly demonstrable negative consequences.

Studies show that negative changes in prefrontal cerebral cortex occur after sleep deprivation. Sleep shortage is at the expense of your self-control, attention, memory and your judgment. You are going to press more and respond more slowly. Especially the warm executive skills seem to be quick. Your brain is more common in everyday stresses, stress hormones increase and heart rate variability decreases. You often have the feeling that you have to fight or flee. Due to sleep deprivation, your body cells absorb less glucose and glucose is the main fuel for the brain. Especially the prefrontal cerebral cortex needs a lot of this energy source, which can explain why, in case of sleep deprivation, your executive skills decrease so clearly. Also, due to lack of sleep, the plasticity of your brain decreases. Sleep shortage leads to a condition that we call, not surprisingly, the effects of mild prefrontal dysfunction. A condition we just want to avoid.

Benefits of sleeping

The importance and additional benefits of sleep are underestimated by the pace and requirements of the VUCA world. A lot of people do not even know how it feels to be really equipped, even on vacation because many of the requirements of everyday life just keep going through our mobile phone and laptop. We also naturally disturb our sleepiness with things like coffee, alcohol, energy drinks and artificial light. But we need sleep as much to survive as food and drink.

Experiment 1: Afternoon tea

For this experiment, you will need to find a suitable time. Wait for a day when you're stuck in your mind in the afternoon, this will be around 3 or 4 hours. Find a place where you can lay a moment or put your head on your arms, for example, on your desk. Close your eyes for a minute or 20 minutes. You may fall asleep, but if you think you will fall asleep for more than 30 minutes, turn on an alarm clock. After your nap, open your eyes, take a moment to get back and get to know what this afternoon's been doing with you. If you feel good, do you feel a lot better and you can do a lot of fresher with what you were doing. A little further I will continue on the subject of an afternoon nap.

Sleeping is not only necessary to rest, but it also allows you to function better cognitively. Especially regarding your attention, memory and executive skills. It also has a beneficial effect on the plasticity of your brain. By sleeping enough you will better remember the things you learned before you went to sleep. But that also applies to the things that you have to learn, after you have slept. Sleep also ensures that your insight, but also your assessment, increases. Also, sleep makes you more creative.

Afternoon nap is also good

The sleep research has not only limited to sleep at night, but has also looked at whether an afternoon nap can add something to your cognitive skills. And yes, long live the siesta! But then short and sometimes. A short afternoon dose of less than half an hour improves cognitive functioning on certain levels and also has a positive effect on your mood.

Some studies even show that a 6-minute nap only has a positive effect on your memory during the day, although it is generally recommended to hold at least 10 minutes. In addition, it is advisable to sleep no more than half an hour in the afternoon, otherwise the siesta may even have negative consequences for your cognitive skills and health, so research shows. Furthermore, long sleep in the afternoon is not conducive to your night's rest. According to surrender, Winston Churchill and Albert Einstein were great supporters of the afternoon nap because it would make them think they could do more on a day and think better. Their experiences and statements about the afternoon nap are now confirmed by research.

If you experience that the sixty-one of a minute or twenty is too short for you, you might not sleep enough at night, and you have to keep an eye on it. How much benefit you have to sleep in the afternoon seems to depend on whether you are a man or a woman, wherever you are in your menstrual cycle and how healthy you are. Especially women in the middle of their menstrual cycle and men experience a positive effect on the functioning of their memory through an afternoon nap. Furthermore, it seems to be so, and this sounds contradictory, the healthier you are, the more profitable you seem to have of your nap.

Experiment 2: More nuts

Expand the assignment at noon. Do a minimum of 10 minutes and a maximum of half an hour for a month twice a week. Turn on the alarm clock so you do not sleep anymore. This way you train your brain to wake up after a short nap and not fall into a deep sleep which makes it difficult to wake up.