Sleep Articles

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You were a general neuroscience researcher for some time, why did you dedicate your research to sleep?

I focused on the neurobiology of learning and memory during my studies, so I needed a strong understanding of sleep for that. Then, when I joined Emma two and a half years ago, I dedicated my whole career to sleep and became obsessed with the wide-ranging impact it has on our lives. I am fascinated by the fact that sleep is important for body regeneration, immune system function, reasoning, decision making, our looks… everything is heavily impacted by sleep!

Why is sleep so important for our general health and wellbeing?

Sleep is crucial for the survival of the whole animal kingdom because our brain and body work differently when we are asleep. We are deeply relaxed, our breathing and heart rate rhythms decelerate, our blood pressure and body core temperature decrease, and growth hormones are released at high concentrations. It’s no wonder our brains are very active during shut-eye! These processes are essential for the body and immune regeneration and proper brain functioning.

Do our genetics have a part to play in our sleep behaviours?

They do. The amount of sleep we need, our inner clock, whether we are early-birds or late risers and even our brain activity at night is somewhat controlled by our genetics. Also, some genetic mutations are linked to reduced sleep need. However, sleep is multifactorial and depends heavily on environmental factors. So, don’t give up on your sleep just because your parents had similar issues. Follow your personal route to good sleep by trying different things out.

Do our sleep patterns change throughout our lives? How/why?

Yes, sleep heavily depends on age. Children need very different sleep from adults! Kids have longer, more fragmented sleep. They also have more dream sleep. Adolescents experience a massive shift in their inner clock which makes them go to bed late and sleep into the day. The older we grow, the more sleep issues we have. This is because of second-order factors like pain, hormones, disease, and amount of exercise.

What are some of the most common misconceptions surrounding sleep?

People often think that the elderly need less sleep, they need the same as everyone else! Also, loads of parents think adolescents sleep in because they are being naughty when it’s actually caused by a natural shift in their body clock. The importance of sleep for our health and wellbeing is often underestimated, so is the fact that our lifestyles when we are awake influence our sleep at night.

There has been a lot of research into the way our brain activity changes when we sleep, but do we really know why we dream?

We do have a pretty good understanding. Dream sleep (REM sleep) helps us to learn new skills, foster creativity and problem solve, it also heals our emotional wounds. Current research indicates that our dreams do not replicate what happens during the day, they mirror emotions that match the previous day. This shows that the brain is trying to separate emotions from experiences while dreaming. The reason why dream sleep is so good at separating experience from emotion is because the stress hormone noradrenaline is absent during REM sleep. Reexperiencing emotions in the absence of this hormone seems to help people to get over emotional wounds more easily.

Can too much sleep be detrimental to our health? How/why?

Whether too much sleep can harm our health is under debate. Studies correlating sleep with health usually create a U-Shaped curve on a graph. Meaning little and a lot of sleep cause more issues. However, it is not clear, if this correlation is conclusive because we usually sleep more when something is wrong!

What are your top 3 tips for a great night’s sleep?

1. Prioritise sleep
2. Your day influences the way you sleep: Seek light, exercise, and love your routines
3. Don’t worry – you are ok

If you, or someone you know, is struggling with sleep and need some extra support now our talksleep hub and mysleep support programme are always open.