We all know that we feel better when we sleep well, and every health expert tells us that getting enough sleep is very important to your health. But when you sleep, you get all the benefits you CAN?
We hear a lot about sleep, but we rarely hear about when you sleep - and TIMING is as important as getting enough sleep.
Humans grow as diurnal animals. In fact, as a species, we tend to sleep at night rather than during the day. For thousands of years, we have had no light except for firelight after dark and therefore we SLEPT after dark. With the emergence of electric light, we have learned that we can manipulate this rhythm and stay up all night if we wish. But manipulating our environment, in this case, is going to affect us.
We need to sleep at Night and I'll show you why.
The adrenal gland, a pair of small glands that sit on each kidney, produces cortisol hormones, among other hormones. Cortisol is one of the key hormones responsible for the stress response in our body. It increases when we are stressed and ideally returns to normal when pressure is reduced.
Some people assert that their cortisol levels are always high. Others have so much pressure in their lives that their adrenals cannot produce enough cortisol to remain at normal levels even when pressure is released. These people have low levels of chronic cortisol - not a good condition.
Interestingly, cortisol has daily rhythms going up and down. Levels are usually highest in the morning and lowest around 10pm. This gives us the energy we need to function throughout the day and allows our bodies to rest and recover at night while we sleep.
This rhythm is most effective when we sleep around 10 am-10pm and wake up around 6 am-6pm.
We are friendly to this level of cortisol based on our exposure to light and dark from thousands of years of evolution. This stage is our CONTROLLING CONTROL and we cannot change it based on when we are working and when we are sleeping. People who consistently work at night and sleep during the day do not reset this rhythm, they go EASY to this rhythm and eventually chase after them.
To support this fact, workers who do transitional work have a higher rate of specific illnesses, especially breast cancer and cardiovascular disease, than those who work during the day.
Whenever you sleep after 10:30 pm, your body will notice stress and your cortisol levels will rise.
To make matters worse, DROP late in the cortisol levels that occurs when you sleep under stress around 10pm is what triggers the release of Human Growth Hormone. Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is directly related to body regeneration and repair. It is significant that a relationship has been observed between parental survival and their HGH levels.
There are industries out there trying to make effective HGH supplements so that people can feel more important and have more energy. Many of these supplements are largely ineffective and studies that show these remarkable effects of HGH are mostly done with injections.
But you can increase the level of HGH in your body and reap the benefits that many people are trying to gain in supplements.
Just sleep between 10 and 10:30 pm and get about 8 hours of sleep and you'll MAXIMIZE the amount of HGH you produce.
Between 10pm and 2am is the PRIME hour for rest and repair where the highest amount of HGH is produced. You CAN'T do this with sleep later. Your body ONLY produces this hormone at any given time. If you miss it, it's gone forever!
Cortisol is also responsible for the regulation of the immune system. When cortisol levels are too high or too low, the immune system may not function properly. By sleeping late, you are prone to colds, colds, infections and even cancer if your stress levels compromise your immune system for long enough.
Coming in second only to dietary changes, sleep is the most effective lifestyle change you can make. If you regularly fall asleep before 10:30, you can make PROFOUND changes in your health by getting enough sleep and getting it at the right time.
Sleep - Getting Enough is Only Half the Story
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