18 Do Not Disturb The Importance of Sleep

CHAPTER 1 Get Your Sleep WE SPEND ABOUT ONE THIRD OF OUR TIME SLEEPING—THAT'S ABOUT 122 DAYS A YEAR! Why do we need to sleep? And why do we need to sleep so much? Scientists think that maybe we need sleep to help our bodies repair themselves. Think about how you feel when you're tired. It is difficult to think, work, talk, or walk. Now, think about how your body feels when you're well rested. You feel better. In the daytime, your body uses a lot of energy. When you sleep, you get more energy. Your body needs sleep like a car needs gas. So, how much sleep do we need? Most adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night. But some people need a lot more. New babies need 16 hours a day. Older babies need 12 to 14 hours. Teenagers need about 9 hours. Pregnant women in the first three months of pregnancy need more sleep than other women. Some people don't need much sleep. For example, the artist Pablo Picasso usually slept only 2 to 4 hours a night. Leonardo da Vinci slept only 1 to 2 hours a night! But he did take short 15-minute naps every 4 hours. One man wanted to see how long it was possible to stay awake. Toimi Soini, from Finland, stayed awake for 276 hours!

CHAPTER 2 Dreams and Nightmares OUR BODIES REST WHEN WE SLEEP. BUT WHAT HAPPENS IN OUR BRAINS? There are two different kinds of sleep REM sleep and non-REM sleep. In non-REM sleep, our bodies get the energy we need to live. In this kind of sleep, we don't usually dream. It is easy to wake up from non- REM sleep. But when you wake up from non-REM sleep, you feel sleepy; you don't feel awake and rested. REM sleep is different. REM is short for "rapid eye movement." In REM sleep your eyes move a lot, and they move very fast. This shows that your brain is working hard. It is in REM sleep that we have dreams— or nightmares. Everybody dreams. Do you remember your dreams? Maybe you don't, but you dream every night. Your first dreams of the night are very short, but then they get longer and longer. Your first dream is about 10 minutes long. Your last dream, before you wake up in the morning, is about 45 minutes long. Your dreams help you remember and learn things. When you study, one part of your brain works. When you dream, the same part of your brain works. So, when you want to learn something new, don't study too long. Take a nap. It can help you learn!

Dreaming can also help you with problems. Dreams can help you see a problem in a new way and find an answer. For example, one day in February 1869, Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleev fell asleep. In his dream he saw how to write the Periodic Table! Singer Paul McCartney woke up one morning with the music of the famous Beatles song "Yesterday" in his head. Painter Salvador Dalf often used his dreams for ideas. He always went to sleep with a spoon in his hand. After he fell asleep, the spoon hit the floor and made a noise. He woke up and painted the things from his dreams. Do dreams mean anything? Some people say that the things in your dream are symbols of what you think and feel in your life. For example: a house = your mind. The different rooms in the house are different parts of your mind. a road = where your life is going. a mountain = a problem in your life. hair = your opinion. When you change your hair in your dream, you are changing how you think about something in your life. How can you remember your dreams? Put a pencil and paper next to your bed. When you wake up, write down your dream. What do you think it means?

CHAPTER 3 Can't Sleep? IF WE NEED SLEEP SO MUCH, WHY IS IT SOMETIMES DIFFICULT TO SLEEP? Sometimes you want to sleep, but you can't. Why? There are many reasons why you don't get enough sleep. Sometimes you have to stay up late to study or to work. Or maybe someone in your house snores very loudly. Or you live in a noisy place where there are many cars and people outside your window at night. All these things can stop you from getting your rest. When there's no reason, but you still can't sleep, that's insomnia. Most of us have insomnia at some time in our lives. Everything is quiet, you are tired, but you can't sleep. It's okay if you can't sleep for a night or two, but it's not good if you don't sleep enough for many nights. Too little sleep can be bad for your health: It can make you fat. Often, when people sleep less, they eat more. And they eat bad things, like cake and potato chips. It can make you sad and depressed. It can give you headaches. It can make you sick and make your life shorter! Getting too little sleep can be dangerous, too. For example, it is very dangerous to drive a car when you are sleepy.

So how can you get enough sleep? First, it is important to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. Don't watch TV or look at your computer before you go to sleep. They stimulate your mind. You can't sleep if you're thinking too much and your mind is not relaxed. Try changing the light bulbs in your bedroom. Looking at bright lights before bedtime can stop you from sleeping. Also, a bedroom must not be too warm or too cold. Most people sleep well in a bedroom between 18 and 22 Celsius. Here are more tips for getting a good night's sleep: 1 Don't eat too much before bedtime. If you're hungry before you go to sleep, have something small to eat. 2 Before you go to bed, listen to quiet music or read a book to relax your mind. 3 When you are in bed, close your eyes and breathe very slowly. Don't think about problems or worries. Think about a favorite place, like the beach or a beautiful park. 4 Don't eat or drink anything with caffeine, like coffee or chocolate. 5 Don't take long naps in the day. You can't sleep at night if you sleep too much in the daytime.

CHAPTER 4 Can't Get Up? SOME PEOPLE CAN'T SLEEP ENOUGH, BUT OTHER PEOPLE SLEEP TOO MUCH. Teenagers need more sleep than adults. The brains and bodies of teenagers are growing a lot, so they need more rest. Most high school students need 9 or 10 hours of sleep a day. Also, teenagers' bodies don't start to get sleepy until 11:00 p.m. or later. And some don't go to bed until 1:00 or 2:00 a.m.! This can be a problem for parents. It's not easy to wake their teenagers up in the morning for school. And when these teenagers get to school, they sometimes fall asleep in class. To help with this problem, some schools in the United States start later in the morning. It's normal for teenagers to have problems waking up in the morning. But some people can't stay awake at all! Narcolepsy is a sickness that makes people very sleepy. People with narcolepsy can fall asleep at any time in any place: in a restaurant, at a store, or walking down the street! Narcolepsy can be very dangerous, especially if a narcoleptic person is driving a car. Another problem is called sleep paralysis. Your mind wakes up, but your body is still asleep. It feels like something heavy is on top of you. You can't move or talk for up to 10 minutes. It's like a nightmare!