Happiness Express Read online

  Sleep deprivation can not only impair the production of collagen, but also break down its content in the skin. Consequently, your skin will lose its lustre, your eyes will get that tired, puffy look and you will start looking and feeling terrible.

  Sleep Deprivation Makes You Fat

  Leptin and ghrelin are the hunger hormones. The former is manufactured by fat cells and decreases appetite. The latter makes you feel hungry and is involved with the regulation of body weight.

  If we don’t sleep enough, the production of ghrelin goes through the roof. We feel the urge to eat way too often and especially crave junk food. Have you noticed how people with hunger pangs in the middle of the night never want a healthy green salad? They desire pizza, with oodles of cheese. That’s ghrelin at work. To seal the deal, less sleep equals less leptin. Less leptin means those hunger pangs are magnified even more.

  Around the world, the incidence of obesity has doubled and, in some places, tripled within the last few decades. We’ve already seen that people are sleeping less. There is a direct link.

  Sleep Deprivation Makes You Sick

  The list of diseases that are associated with lack of sleep is nightmarish and keeps growing.

  People who sleep less have greatly increased chances of diabetes, heart diseases, hypertension, mood disorders (depression, anxiety, mental distress), learning disorders, forgetfulness, stroke, compromised immunity and more.

  Less sleep reduces life expectancy. Worse, it lowers life quality.

  Many people, especially men, feel sleeping less is a symbol of virility. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite.

  Red alert for all of us who feel lack of sleep cannot touch them: It will make you lose your youth by ageing your skin and will kill your sex drive! There is a reason our nightly rest is called ‘beauty sleep’.

  Lack of sleep impairs judgement, especially about how much one should sleep. Sleep-deprived people seem to be especially prone to poor judgement when it comes to assessing what lack of sleep is doing to them.

  How Much Sleep?

  Someone asked Dinesh, how long should one sleep?

  He replied, just five more minutes!

  Many sleep researchers agree that this chart represents the optimum amount of sleep we should be getting, depending on our age:

  Optimal Sleep Time

  The chart doesn’t say anywhere that a Type A individual managing a team, eyeing a promotion, frequenting the gym, playing occasional golf, just starting a relationship, or living in 2018 can make do with only four hours of sleep every night.

  It’s tragic that so many people these days actually boast about how little they sleep.

  In a TED talk, Arianna Huffington talks about a dinner date she went on. Her date bragged about how he’d slept for only four hours the previous night. While he droned on and on, she wanted to tell him that if he’d gotten five hours instead, the dinner would have been ‘a lot more interesting’. She says the simplest way to lead a more productive, inspired and joyful life is.Ÿ.Ÿ. to sleep. So, sleep enough. I loved it when she quipped, ‘These days we are in the enviable position to literally sleep our way to the top!’

  Sleeping less is severely detrimental to our well-being. As we have seen, it is expensive, it makes us dumb and fat, ages us faster, and invites all sorts of diseases. It can even kill.

  The Sleeping Brain

  Sleep is an enigma and no one quite understands what exactly goes on in our brain when we are asleep. With the advent of technology, scientists are slowly unravelling this mystery. Researchers in thousands of labs all over the world have hooked up subjects to EEG machines to see what’s going on in the brain while they sleep.

  Some fairly clear patterns have emerged.

  A normal human being has mainly two phases of sleep. There is light sleep and then there is deep sleep. Light sleep is classified into stages N1 and N2. Deep sleep is called N3. And what I like to call dream sleep which is REM. By the way, the N stands for Non-REM.

  Phases of Sleep

  What’s important to note is that N2 is the transitioning phase.

  Sleeping Brain EEG

  When we fall asleep, we first enter N1. We’re more or less aware of what’s happening around us, but not quite. The brain waves slow down and become more synchronised.

  N1 transitions to N2, which sets the stage for deeper levels of sleep. On the EEG, wave patterns called spindles and K-complexes show up. These have been associated with better cognitive ability and the feeling of rejuvenation on waking up.

  From N2, you either go into N3 or REM.

  In N3, the waves are even slower. This is when the body does maintenance and repair work. Millions of our cells die every day and need replacements. The brain secretes the growth hormone and gets busy printing out our body for the next day. Get more N3 sleep, and your brain maps out a younger, healthier version of you. If N3 and the secretion of the growth hormone are hampered, it leads to an older, not-so-healthy version of you.

  The bad news is that as we grow older, the production of this hormone dwindles. Besides, older people have greater difficulty being in N3. This is supposed to be an inevitability and one of the top contributors to the process of ageing. It becomes quite obvious then that not taking advantage of N3 and the nectar of the growth hormone when it is available is going to make us age super fast!

  From N2, we may transition into REM sleep. This is a fascinating period. The brain waves in this stage are quite similar to those when we are awake. The brain is busy sorting out the day, creating a chronology of events, learning, making connections, deciding what to remember and what to forget, and so on.

  Most importantly, dreams happen during this time. All those wild fantasies are happening here. So you don’t hurt yourself by twitching or thrashing about as all those imageries play out, the brain thoughtfully paralyses the entire body, allowing only the eyeballs any movement. That’s the reason it’s called REM. Rapid Eye Movement. Flashes of insight are generated during this time. Remember those times you woke up with some sudden brilliant idea?.Ÿ.Ÿ. You got them from REM sleep.

  REM or N3 always transitions into N2. From N2, one can return to N3 or wake up. Everyone cycles through these stages multiple times through the span of a night.

  Here’s a hypnogram depicting a healthy night’s sleep:

  As you can see, the early parts of the night are devoted to N3; as you are getting ready to awaken, you go more into REM. You finally wake up from N2.

  We cycle through these stages throughout our sleep time. Each cycle is about an hour and a half long. A good night’s sleep constitutes at least five cycles and waking up naturally without the need of an alarm clock.

  Before we talk more about sleep, let’s talk just a bit about waking up.

  A healthy transition into the state of wakefulness is always supposed to be from N2. When we wake up from N2 sleep, we feel amazingly refreshed and energetic. On the other hand, waking up during N3 or REM stages can be disturbing, and will leave us feeling tired, disoriented and groggy until we go back to sleep again.

  There are going to be times, though, when you need to be up earlier or, if you are lucky, later than usual. You may have a flight to catch, an interview to prepare for, or any other urgent task.

  Say you need to get up at 6 a.m. and you’re planning to sleep at 11 p.m. It takes most people between 15-30 thirty minutes to slip into slumber. Your first cycle would start at around 11.30 p.m. Let’s divide your sleep into 90-minute chunks.

  11.30 p.m. to 1 a.m.

  1 a.m. to 2.30 a.m.

  2.30 a.m. to 4 a.m.

  4 a.m. to 5.30 a.m.

  5.30 a.m. to 7 a.m.

  Looking at this, it’s not a good idea to wake up at 6 a.m. You are going to be in the middle of a sleep cycle and waking up at this time will make you feel terrible throughout the day. Much better to wake up half an hour earlier than you planned—at 5.30 a.m. Amazingly, with half an hour less sleep, you will be far more alert and refreshed than if you for
ced yourself awake at 6.

  A bit of this math before sleeping will ensure a fantastic day ahead.

  Certain scientists disagree with this and call it nonsense. They advise on clocking as much sleep as possible. However, I have personally experimented with this, on myself and many others, and found it to be remarkably effective. Maybe it’s placebo.Ÿ.Ÿ. but hey, it works!

  Given that sleep is such a critical factor for human beings to stay healthy, productive and happy, it is astounding that in 5 years of medical school, most doctors-to-be have a lecture of about 2 hours on sleep, sleep disorders and their treatment!

  Although asking about sleep is part of the history-taking protocol, a vast majority of doctors skip this step, mainly because they know so little about it.

  A majority of primary health care practitioners just tell their patients to ‘take some sleeping pills’, not realising the damage that these drugs can cause over time. Except in absolutely exceptional circumstances, sleeping pills don’t make you sleep. They sedate you. Meaning you get little to none REM or N3 sleep. Completely avoid these pills. They are no good for you.

  Insomnia, sleep apnoea and other sleep disorders can be debilitating for the person suffering from them. If you are suffering from any such disorder, please see a doctor specialising in sleep. In my opinion, ayurveda and homoeopahy normally do a far better job than allopathy in treating sleep dysfunctions. In the bibliography at the end of the book, I have listed a few books on sleep in case you want to delve deeper into this subject.

  In the late 1990s, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar was not as busy as He is now and in the evening, after satsang, a few of us would go up to His kutir and sit with Him. We would talk about many, many things, from the mundane to the esoteric. There would be lots of friendly banter, some jokes and always some insights into life.

  It would be a magical hour or so after which He would tell us to go and sleep. We would keep telling Him we wanted to sit with Him for just a few minutes more. He would agree. Then, a little later, He would again ask us to go and rest. To which we would say, ‘Just a few minutes more, Guruji!’ This would go on until He finally managed to get all of us out of His room, so He could get His rest.

  During my stay there for more than a month, this would happen every night. On one of these occasions, Guruji made a fine remark. ‘Through the ages,’ He said, ‘the Enlightened Ones would come to the planet and tell people to wake up. And here I am, asking all of you to go to sleep!’ We couldn’t help but laugh out loud in response.

  Guruji finally added in his soft, endearing voice, ‘Only when you have slept well can you truly wake up. So, go. Go and sleep.’

  The 8 Steps to Absolutely Smashing Sleep

  Get over the caffeine enchantment.

  Ban blue and white light after sunset.

  Transform your bedroom into a sleep haven.

  Know the three sleep positions. Sleep with your head to the east.

  Create a bedtime ritual of winding down.

  Greet the day with joy.

  Make sure you get at least 1000 lux of light for an hour before noon, preferably in the early morning.

  Pay off your sleep debt right away. Nap intelligently.

  The Caffeine Enchantment

  A long time ago, in the highlands of Ethiopia, a goatherd observed his flock developing unusual friskiness and frolic after grazing on the slopes of a certain mountain. The goats had discovered coffee.

  Many a yummy treat has caffeine in it. Coffee is packed with it, while chocolate and tea have it in moderate quantities. So do almost all colas, energy drinks and protein bars. These foods and beverages are the pick-me-ups or the get-up-and-go people all over the world turn to, when they need that picking up or getting up and go feeling.

  Many a time, finishing off our to-do list requires us to stay awake and alert and function beyond our normal capacities. This is when we reach for that cup of coffee, tea or some chocolate.

  But caffeine doesn’t boost our energy as we tend to assume. It enchants our bodies into believing that we aren’t as tired as we think.

  As soon as we wake up, our brain produces a neurotransmitter called adenosine. Our nervous system constantly tracks its quantity in our body. When it reaches a certain level, our system begins to nudge us more and more firmly towards rest by making us feel tired. This is known as the build-up of sleep pressure.

  The caffeine molecule is remarkably similar to adenosine and merrily occupies the spaces where adenosine should be sitting. As the body and brain keep getting overworked, more and more adenosine is produced. But this adenosine simply floats around the system because caffeine has occupied its space. So, even though the brain and body are screaming exhaustion, the nervous system is in denial because it cannot feel the sleep pressure building up.

  Caffeine has one more trick up its sleeve. It stimulates the production of adrenaline. Adrenaline spikes catapult us into a hyper aroused, super alert state of being. Everything becomes clearer, the brain fog vanishes, and decisions are easier. Even our eyes dilate and we can see much better, like going from 359p to ultra HD. But all this comes at a cost. A dip in adrenaline spike causes a huge crash in our system, leaving us feeling drained and fatigued. Of course, we crave to go back to that superman state and so we reach out for more caffeine. The cycle continues, and we alternate between superhero and zombie modes all day. Thus, our caffeine enchantment quickly turns into an addiction, which compromises the quality of our sleep and our life.

  Caffeine has a half-life of 5-8 hours. A cup of coffee has around 200 mg of caffeine. If we consume this cup at around 8 a.m., the caffeine will float in the blood at full power until 4 p.m. Poor adenosine has no chance at this time. The caffeine content will reduce to half in the next 4 hours, i.e., 100 mg till 8 p.m. It will further halve again in 2 hours—50 mg till 10 p.m., and so on. By this time, the adenosine would have found its place and the system would begin to feel naturally tired, paving the way for the real enchantment of great sleep. Note that it takes around 24 hours for all the caffeine to get flushed out of the system.

  It is simple and obvious to conclude that for a good night’s sleep, you must have a non-negotiable curfew on your caffeine intake. Absolutely no caffeine after 2 p.m.

  An interesting thing to note is that people with caffeine in their systems may actually go to sleep, and even sleep for the recommended eight hours. But the quality of their sleep, their ability to go into the deeper stages of sleep are damaged.

  To shake off your coffee addiction, choose a week when you don’t have too much going on in life to gradually wean yourself off it. Start by replacing coffee with strong tea. Hydrate yourself with water and fruit. The next day, reduce the amount of tea you have. Follow the 2 p.m. rule strictly, and keep reducing the amount of tea you have over the week. Drink water every time you feel the urge to adrenalise your system.

  You are going to feel awful for the first couple of days, so be prepared for it and resist the urge to reach for that coffee pot. Surround yourself with things you love to do and people you love to be with. It is tough, but it isn’t a very long ordeal. Within a week to ten days, you can overcome years of coffee addiction. You will feel so much more in control of yourself when you are over this, and sleep so much better.

  No alcohol or smoking before bed. You may think they help you sleep, but all they do is knock you out. This isn’t sleep but sedation. The sleep cycles get deranged, and you always wake up feeling terrible. Actually, stay off the booze and nicotine. They’re really no good for you before bed or at any time of the day or night. Pick a cheaper, healthier vice. Try nail biting!

  Oh, you want that kick alcohol and nicotine give you? Meditate! You get the kick without the hangover or the lung cancer. Chapters on meditation coming up in a bit.Ÿ.Ÿ.

  Ban Blue and White Light After Sunset

  Take a young plant and put it in a greenhouse. Ensure all conditions are favourable for its growth. Switch the lights on for 12 hours, then off for 12 hours and
keep repeating this cycle. You will see that the plant thrives. Keeping everything else absolutely the same, switch the lights on and off randomly. The plant will shrivel and die in no time.

  An entire set of organisms and electrochemical reactions in the brain furiously work to keep us awake. There is another bunch striving equally hard to make us sleep. Each group becomes weaker and weaker as we do more and more of their supporting activity, until it finally gives up. Then the opposing group triumphs, and our state of consciousness changes.

  This back and forth-ing between sleep and wakefulness is called the circadian rhythm. This system is independent of the build-up of sleep pressure.

  A few hours after sunset, the circadian rhythm winds down and the adenosine-induced sleep pressure builds up. The army responsible for sleep becomes stronger, and the secretion of the sleep hormone, melatonin, begins.

  Hold on, though. How does the body know the sun has set?

  There are specialised light receptors in our eyes called rods and cones. As daylight fades and darkness comes, these signal to the brain to start letting the sleep army win. For millions of years, human eyes were exposed to the red-orange-yellow glow of fire or the gentle cooling light of the stars and the moon at night. This light ambience would signal the brain about the onset of night and the need to prepare the body for sleep. The mechanism is so fine-tuned that even the white-blue light of a full moon can make people sleep 5 minutes later and wake up 20 minutes earlier than normal.

  Can you imagine what full-spectrum light at night does to this delicate system in our brains? Bright night lights completely confuse the brain and fool it into thinking that it’s still daytime. The illumination from the screens of your TV, laptop and cell phones isn’t that mellow amber that heralds the beginning of sleep. On the contrary, it keeps hammering into the brain that it isn’t time to sleep yet. Research has shown that even people who clock eight hours of sleep after being exposed to blue-white light wake up tired and far from refreshed. Their quality of sleep is highly compromised.