Last week, I introduced you to a new book I recently obtained titled Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. It turns out the book title is a perfect introduction to today’s topic, which is how God uses sleep to benefit us throughout our lifetime. I have borrowed some of the following information from an online article from the Cleveland Clinic. Also note that I have highlighted some of the information that I think supports Dr. Walker’s claims in his book.
Sleep is one of the most complex and mysterious body processes known to science. If you’re not getting enough sleep or your sleep quality isn’t good, you’ll probably know it just from how you feel. Without enough quality sleep, your body and brain can’t work as they should. And there’s a whole field of medicine devoted entirely to sleep and treating conditions that affect or disrupt it.
Some of the key things that happen while you’re asleep include:
Stages of sleep can be summarized as follows:
Stage 1 NREM sleep is the lightest stage of sleep. You enter stage 1 right after you fall asleep. This stage usually lasts only a few minutes, making up about 5% of your sleep time.
Stage 2 NREM sleep is still light sleep, but deeper than stage 1. During this stage, your brain waves slow down and have noticeable pauses between short, powerful bursts of electrical activity. Experts think those bursts are your brain organizing memories and information from the time you spent awake. This sleep accounts for about 45% of your time asleep. You’ll go through multiple rounds of stage 2 NREM sleep, and usually, each one is longer than the last.
Stage 3 NREM sleep makes up about 25% of your total sleep time in adults. In stage 3, your brain waves are slow but strong. Your body takes advantage of this very deep sleep stage to repair injuries and reinforce your immune system. The same bursts of brain activity that happen in stage 2 can also happen in stage 3, and brain waves specific to stage 3 help regulate those bursts.
You need stage 3 NREM sleep to wake up feeling rested. Without enough stage 3 sleep, you feel tired and drained even if you slept for a long time. That’s why your body automatically tries to get as much stage 3 sleep into your sleeping period as early as possible.
Because stage 3 NREM sleep is so deep, it’s hard to wake someone up from it. If they do wake up, they’ll probably have “sleep inertia,” a state of confusion or “mental fog.”
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is the stage of sleep where most dreams happen. Its name comes from how your eyes move behind your eyelids while you’re dreaming. During REM sleep, your brain activity looks very similar to brain activity while you’re awake.
REM sleep makes up about 25% of your total time asleep. Your first REM cycle of a sleep period is typically the shortest, around 10 minutes. Each one that follows is longer than the last, up to an hour.
Ron’s summary – As with most of our life, God has a plan for each of us to be nourished and refreshed during the sleeping hours of our life. Will you choose to accept God’s plan for us which will have a major impact on your short- and long-term health! I pray that you will accept God’s offering of rest and peace that only He can provide for you throughout your life.
John 14:27 – “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid,”