From an evolutionary perspective, sleep makes no sense. Were you ever afraid of the dark? Are your young children still a little afraid of the dark? There is good reason. If your ancestors lived near warmer waters, alligators and crocodiles could hunt them. Or perhaps your distant ancestors lived in the northern forests? Better keep the campfire burning all night to keep the wolves away. And bears. Were they in warmer climates? They only had to worry about leopards or tigers. It made plenty of sense to be concerned about the night. Those fears have valid evolutionary basis.
With all those risks, why do humans sleep? Sleeping would just have exposed our ancestors to all those risks. Furthermore, why do we need to sleep now? Unless we are going to be on an episode of television series Naked and Afraid, few of us are ever vulnerable to attack by nocturnal predators.
New research from Bar Ilan University in Ramat-Gan Israel begins to explain just why we shut down our system and enter a state of paralysis for seven to nine of every 24 hours. Our individual brain neurons require sleep.
That’s right; at the cellular level repairs are made overnight. According to research led by Professor Lior Appelbaum, who is a faculty member of the Life Sciences and Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center at Bar Israel, there is chromosome work to repair DNA performed while we sleep. From the research: “Sleep gives an opportunity to reduce DNA damage accumulated in the brain during wakefulness”. And “The role of sleep is to…. normalize the levels of DNA damage in each single neuron”. Links to the research here and here.
Previous newsletters have covered the important role sleep plays in organizing memory and the function of the glymphatic system that removes all kinds of waste and sludge from the brain. Add neuron maintenance to the reasons that getting a full night’s sleep consistently night after night.
Are You Getting a Good Night’s Sleep?
If you have any difficulty getting a restful night of sleep, we have two suggestions. A sleep mask and aromatherapy. And we’re offering special bundle pricing!
Have you ever taken a red-eye cross-country flight? Or a long international flight? You likely saw some fellow passengers with sleep masks. They knew that people generally sleep better in the dark, and they used the mask to block out light. If, for whatever reason, you find that you’re in situations where there is more ambient light than desirable for sleep, our over-sized silk sleep mask might be just the thing for you.
And, if you find drifting off into that first sleep stage, a relaxing fragrance might be useful. We offer aromatherapy gift sets in three fragrances that some find relaxing and restful: Jasmine, Lavender and Vanilla. Our fragrances are all natural, made in America by experts and phthalate-free. These sets include a designer glass diffuser and reeds in your choice of colors.
For a limited time, we are offering a bundle that includes a fragrance gift set and a sleep mask. And we’ll ship it for free too! Select a fragrance gift set and add a sleep mask. Normally this would be $47.98, now just $39.99. Enter discount code BRAIN.
Supplies are limited; you need to act quickly to take advantage of this offer.
Please use the links below to share this blog post