While Your Were Sleeping

What happens while you sleep?

The first stage of sleep is slow-wave sleep where most of your brain is inactive which allows for restoration of energy in your nervous system.

The second stage of sleep is REM sleep (rapid eye movement) where some parts of your brain are silent while other parts are very active. During REM sleep the secondary sensory cortex is more active.

When you are awake and see something, the stimuli comes in through your retina, through your primary visual cortex, then over to your secondary and tertiary visual cortices, etc. But during REM sleep, the activity starts in the secondary and tertiary cortices rather than the primary visual cortex. In other words, those parts of your brain are processing things even though you aren’t actually seeing anything – you are dreaming.

Why do you need sleep?

First off, to restore energy to your brain. While the brain account for only 3% of your body weight, it uses 20-25% of your energy. Unfortunately, your brains cells cannot store energy. You need to replenish your reserves with sleep.

Another very important function of sleep is the consolidation of memories (particularly during REM). If your REM sleep is disrupted, it interferes with your cognition – you won’t remember or learn things as well.

Dreaming is an important activity during sleep. The subcortical/subconscious communicates in the form of images – dream images. Dreaming is also a chance to use circuits in your brain that you may have underused during the day.

Lack of sleep or sleep deprivation is a stressor.  Levels of glucocorticoids rise when you are sleep deprived. This can affect your bodies ability to form long-term memory, your metabolism and your immune systems – and not in a good way.

One way to improve the quality and length of sleep is by practicing a meditation/relaxation exercise right before you go to bed. It will help you sleep more soundly and keep you from waking up as often.

Moira

A Little Shut Eye

How much sleep do you really need? While sleep requirements vary slightly from person to person, most healthy adults need at least eight hours of sleep each night to function at their best.

However, a recent survey found that more people are sleeping less than six hours a night, and sleep difficulties visit 75% of us at least a few nights per week. If you’re not getting the optimal amount of sleep, you are putting yourself at risk for health problems such as weight gain, high blood pressure and a decrease in the immune system’s power.

Sleep is important! It affects:

Learning and memory: As mentioned on Friday sleep helps the brain commit new information to memory through a process called memory consolidation.

Metabolism and weight: Chronic sleep deprivation may cause weight gain by affecting the way your body processes and stores carbohydrates, and by altering levels of hormones that can affect your appetite.

Mood: Sleep loss may result in irritability, impatience, inability to concentrate, and moodiness.

Cardiovascular health: Serious sleep disorders have been linked to hypertension, increased stress hormone levels, and irregular heartbeat.

Disease: Sleep deprivation alters the activity of your body’s NK cells and can affect your immune system.

Short of taking a pill, there are numerous ways to encourage a good night’s sleep.

Relaxation is always beneficial, but especially if you are struggling with sleep. Practicing relaxation techniques before bed is a great way to wind down, calm the mind, and prepare for sleep. Some simple relaxation techniques include:

Deep Breathing

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Visualization 

Sweet dreams!

Moira

The Science of Learning

My niece is learning algebra and she will be the first to admit that it’s hard for her to learn mathematical concepts. She is currently studying the logical properties of equality…don’t ask.

When she learns them, she will change her brain.

The brain has a mechanism to transfer short term memories (if a=b and b=c then a=c) into long term memory. It’s called consolidation. Consolidation requires time between learning sessions. Learners need that time to reprocess information.  

Sleep helps with consolidation. When a person sleeps, there is a change in the overall pattern of brain activity. Things happen during sleep that play a critical role in learning. When we are sleep deprived, consolidation is disrupted. Stress also disrupts consolidation; it shuts down nonessential systems in the body and brain - some of which are related to memory and learning.

My advice for my niece?

•                     It is best to divide studying in sessions so the brain has time to consolidate.

•                     Get enough sleep!

•                     A technique called “priming” can be used when you need to pay attention to certain information. For instance, if you are reading a chapter that has study questions in the back, read those first (even though you don’t know the answers), then after you read the chapter, you are more likely to remember the answers to those questions.

That’s my advice for anyone learning – be it algebra, a new software for your computer at work, a new technique for completing a task or anything else.

Moira

Nothing Will Disturb You

Meditation: Nothing Will Disturb You and Nothing Will Bother You

While comfortably supported, take a deep breath. As you breathe out, notice the feeling of relaxation that exhaling brings. Mentally move this feeling of relaxation into your shoulders and upper arms, then through your elbows, forearms, wrists and hands. Next move the feeling of relaxation into your chest, stomach, hips and upper legs – through your knees, into your lower legs, ankles and feet.

Move the feeling of relaxation from your neck to your head….until it fills your head with a very comfortable, relaxed feeling.

As you exhale, relax twice as deeply as you are now. Each exhalation will relax you more. Continue to become more deeply relaxed and comfortable each time you breathe out.

As you continue to relax, you will feel physically stronger and more fit in every way – so that nothing will disturb you and nothing will bother you. You will feel mentally stronger and your nerves will become steadier, your mind will become calmer and clearer, more composed and tranquil.

Breathe out. Nothing will disturb you and nothing will bother you.

Moira

What Makes Your Heart Beat Faster?

You may not realize how much your heart rate varies throughout the day or that it changes with your emotional state.

By becoming aware of the variability in your heart-rate, you can learn to take control and quiet your emotions. This is called reaching a state of coherence. Practicing a simple relaxation technique will help reduce stress, balance emotions, and increase performance. Used just a few minutes a day, you can learn to transform feelings of anger, anxiety or frustration into peace and clarity, and learn to take charge of your emotional reactions. Your health, communication, relationships and quality of life will improve.

Begin by imagining you are breathing in and out through your heart. Imagine the breath coming into your heart with the inhalation, and out through your heart with the exhalation.

Do this for a few minutes.

Then imagine something or someone whom you really appreciate. This may be different than going to a relaxing place – it could be an activity such as reading to a child, walking your dog, a physical activity, or sitting with someone you love. I imagine myself reading to my son when he was a child and I immediately move to a place of coherence. Imagine this for a few minutes.

Then, go back to breathing in and out through your heart for a few more minutes. Get up, stretch and know you’ve done something good for your whole self.

A Hands on Exercise

When diagnosed with serious or chronic illness, people often feel a loss of control and that their bodies have failed them. Biofeedback training can help people learn self-regulation strategies to help them cope more effectively.

A common type of biofeedback is thermal or hand-warming biofeedback.  Thermal biofeedback training has proven very useful for those who suffer from migraine headaches, high blood pressure, insomnia, pain, stress, asthma and other lung disorders, digestive disorders, treatment side-effects and many other conditions.

The main goal of thermal biofeedback is to assist in measuring your level of stress through skin temperature. The higher the stress level, the lower your hand or foot temperature (75° F is cold, 70° F or below is very cold). The lower the stress level, the higher your hand or foot temperature will be (90° F with a training goal of 95-96° F).

We often use thermal biofeedback in conjunction with different relaxation training exercises to teach someone how to reverse the fight/flight response and quiet their body and mind. This results in warm hands (which means you are calm), the ability to think more clearly and handle daily stresses more easily.

Although biofeedback training is very helpful in giving you the verification that you are reaching your goal, you don’t really need it to learn to self-calm and warm your hands. You can simply pay attention to how cold your hands are. One way to do this is to put your hands against your cheeks and see if they feel cold. If they do, your hand temp is likely in the 70’s. If they are warm to the touch, they are in the upper 80’s or 90’s. If your hands are cold, practice some kind of relaxation technique.

I have explained a number of different techniques in past blogs but one fool proof exercise is deep breathing.

Moira

Be Fearless

Franklin Roosevelt said in his inaugural address, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” What if we could banish our fear?

With meditation fearlessness is possible. Fearlessness is a sense of deep confidence and the feeling of “nothing to gain, nothing to lose”. Meditation can bring to mind a fearless certainty, a deep confidence that nothing can unsettle—decisive and firm, without hesitating, where you’re open to anything. You can enter into a state where you feel, no matter what happens, you have nothing to gain, and nothing to lose – a feeling of freedom from burden.

I’ve written before about visualization. You can use that technique to achieve fearlessness.

Sit in a comfortable position for meditation, close your eyes and breathe naturally through your nose. Then, identify what it is you are currently afraid of. Visualize your fears along with their actual causes in the form of dense thick smoke, and breathe it out. When the smoke leaves your nostrils, it disappears into the furthest reaches of space, where it completely disappears, never to return.

When you inhale, imagine breathing in pure, inspiring energy and fearlessness in the form of white light. Let the light fill your body and mind.

Or, if you’d like, you can focus on the word “fearlessness,” and repeat, “nothing to gain, nothing to lose,” while imagining the feeling of deep confidence.

With practice, this meditation will help you feel lighter, clearer, more peaceful and balanced. You will feel fearlessness.