CHAPTER 1

Sleep

Sleep is important for all people. Without sleep, we can't function properly. Allpeople have various sleeping needs. Some prefer mornings; others prefer lateevenings or nights. We all need a number of sleeping hours each night, and withoutdoubt, sleep quality also has a major importance. The needs of sleep apply in manytheories, one of which is the possible connection between sleep and learning inhumans. A 2009 study by Peyrache and associates suggests that sleep quality (interms of deep-sleep hours) has a large impact on learning abilities, based on theelectrophysiological recordings of a large number of isolated cells in the prefrontalcortex of rats. The study revealed that the cells that formed upon learning were moreactive during subsequent sleep episodes. This means that those replay events weremore prominent during slow-wave sleep and were coacting with the hippocampusevents.

Is sex more important than sleep? I read about a survey not long ago. Sleep isimportant, we know that. But is it more important than sex? Some of you may say,"Absolutely not!" But what do men think about this issue? Well, a survey clearlyshowed that 80 percent of British men preferred a good night's sleep, than to beinterrupted with a close encounter with their mates. This is surely not due to lack oflust, which is the problem. Sex is just not at the top of the list; many other thingshave to be taken care of during the day, researchers say.

A major contribution to improving your sleep is how you prepare yourself. Are youstill tense and stressed despite several hours having passed since you stoppedworking for the day? Of course, late evenings for morning people are a bad habit. Butthose people who like to wake up early in the morning used to go to bed in time inthe evening. It is more likely that if you stay up late in the evening, you're doing itbecause you can't sleep at the right time. This can have a lot of different causes.However, scientists agree that sleep quality is more important than the total numberof sleeping hours and that sleep requirements fluctuate from person to person.

Sleep Positions

There are some issues based on sleeping in different positions. Through the years,you have obviously determined your favorite sleep position and you will not sleep ina position that feels unpleasant. My experience, though, is that your favorite sleepingpositions may change through the years. I always slept, in my younger years, on mybelly, with my left leg drawn up. This used to be called the recovery position.Nowadays, I lie flat on my back, without snoring hopefully. And snoring,unfortunately, is not dealt with in this book. Snoring is normally about a physicalthroat problem, which needs a lot of medical attention. But what you do in thedifferent sleep stages is harder to do something about. Science states that sleeppostures have both negative and positive factors.

You must have heard many times that someone woke up with pain somewhere,mostly in the neck, and said, "I've been sleeping in the wrong position," or somethingsimilar.

Belly Position

The belly position, or front position, is sleeping with the legs mostly straight and flatagainst the bed. This position will help for breathing problems, but you can findcomments against this position due to head issues. The head-body junction can be ina strained momentum; that front position can lead to nerve problems in the upperbody. Make sure that your cervical vertebrae are not put out of alignment with thespine. This is even more important for older people and for those with increased riskfor arthritis conditions.

Half-Side Position

Sleeping in the half-side position used to be described as...