You slept for more than the recommended seven hours but you still wake up every morning feeling groggy and tired. You had a hard day and can`t wait to get to your bed, however, once you get there you experience a sudden burst of energy and find yourself unable to fall asleep. Sounds familiar? Well, believe it or not both of these scenarios are caused by the same thing, something called the second wind phenomena.
Sleep plays a vital role in our health throughout our life. It allows your body to learn and retain new information, maintain blood pressure, fight off depression, boost overall energy... What regulates sleep patterns is a small endocrine gland located in the brain and called the pineal gland. It works by releasing a hormone -melatonin at the right time of day, information on which it gets from the optic nerve. It is light-dependent which is why we sleep at night instead of during the day, and also why using a phone before going to sleep is not such a good idea. The amount of melatonin released is at its highest from 10 pm to midnight, after which it starts to decline. Melatonin apart from being responsible from inducing sleepiness has antioxidant properties. Due to these properties it can reduce the chance of certain diseases and even slow down the ageing process.
So what is the second find phenomenon? Well, because of the previously stated information about melatonin, we can say that the most beneficial and revitalizing sleep occurs from 10 pm to 2 am as this time period is correlated with a higher than average secretion of melatonin. Therefore if you stay awake past 10 pm not only will you’ll a harder time falling asleep, the quality of your sleep will suffer as well. The small amount of melatonin left would be used to induce sleep rather than act as an antioxidant, leaving you feeling tired and groggy upon waking up. Putting off sleep can also cause a phenomenon called the second wind, where a person after prolonged period of staying awake, temporarily feels energized making it even harder to fall asleep, thus the desire to turn your entire life around at 2 am and to dance and sing in front of the mirror like a mad man at 3 am. You may also experience the effects of this phenomena early in the morning after staying up all night to pull an all- nighter or binge- watch your favorite TV show (we’ve all been there) because it is the time when you usually wake up ( a result of the circadian 24 hour biological clock).
This may sound great at first, you can stay up all night and still feel energized when you wake up, but remember that burst of energy you experience is temporary and will leave you feeling drained and exhausted soon enough. Another thing to remember is that second winds can over time add up into something called seep depth which leads to mental and physical fatigue. Main health effects of sleep deprivation include cognitive impairment, memory loss, hallucinations, increased risk of heart disease, impaired immune system and many more.
Even though it is important to pay attention to how many hours of sleep you get on a regular basis, it is of even more importance to be aware of the effect the time you go to sleep can have on your life, both short and long-term.
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