We've all heard that we need to get a good nights sleep. It's healthy. It'll help your body grow and develop. It'll keep your body from a lowered resistance or weakened immune system. Parents have told us these. Also our grandparents. And teachers, doctors. Even body builders and weight trainers tell us to sleep more, so our muscles can restore themselves and grow, and because if we are tired from staying up late we will end up hungry and eat whereas if we are sleeping, not only will we not be eating and adding calories but we will also be burning more calories - a double advantage. Now add to that list of people egging us to sleep - neuroscientist Jeff Illif who tells us on Ted Talks that sleep is more valuable than we realized!
Watch the video or read the transcript of Jeff Iliff: One more reason to get a good night’s sleep. An engaging short talk that reveals the awesome complexity of what happens when we do something as uneventful as... Sleep, and how vitally important it is to our health!
Watch the short 11-minute video or read the transcript of Jeff Iliff: One more reason to get a good night’s sleep and be surprised at the amazing complexity of brain and body processes that happen when we sleep! Here's a sample excerpt to get a glimpse of that complexity:
"The blood vessels form a complex network that fills the entire brain volume. They start at the surface of the brain, and then they dive down into the tissue itself, and as they spread out, they supply nutrients and oxygen to each and every cell in the brain.
Now, just as every cell requires nutrients to fuel it, every cell also produces waste as a byproduct, and the clearance of that waste is the second basic problem that each organ has to solve."
Image from the video Jeff Iliff: One more reason to get a good night’s sleep.
"So how, then, does the brain solve its waste clearance problem? Well, that seemingly mundane question is where our group first jumped into this story, and what we found as we dove down into the brain, down among the neurons and the blood vessels, was that the brain's solution to the problem of waste clearance, it was really unexpected. It was ingenious, but it was also beautiful. Let me tell you about what we found."
Watch the video to peek deep inside into intricate brain functions. But long story short, and in a kind of spoiler fashion - the solution to waste clearance in the brain is... Sleep! And the key discovery is that the waste clearance effectively happens ONLY during sleep!
Image from the video Jeff Iliff: One more reason to get a good night’s sleep.
We know that when we lack sleep, our minds get cloudy or murky. If I severely lack sleep, I feel like there is a blanket covering my head and I am seeing things and going through the day with that blanket encumbering me. And now through observational science, we begin to understand more of the brain processes that come into play with that shared experience - the clearance of waste byproducts within the brain! This is so important because there is an association, though not yet a proven causal effect, that ineffective clearing and higher levels of this waste byproducts are linked to Alzheimer's disease!
This shows how truly valuable a good nightly sleep is. More so in this current age of "time compression" when people (including myself!) want to pack more and more activities into each day because there are always so much things to do, with entertainment, recreational, social, even educational avenues staying accessible till the wee hours, and where the Internet never sleeps. People's lack of value placed on sleep is one reason why sleep deprivation is so common, causing a drop in productivity and effectivity in schools and offices. But knowing the insights of this study can help us change things in our own lives.
In Psalm 127 there are two curious verses that can guide our decisions in life:
Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late,
To eat the bread of painful labors;
For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.
(Psalms 127:1-2 NASB)
This is not a call to careless fatalism because other verses in the Bible ask us to work excellently in everything, as performing things unto the Lord and not merely to men (Colossians 3:22-23). Instead this is a call to recognize God's sovereignty in our lives and in the affairs of men, and thus to seek Him. A sample scenario could be that you are preparing for a major exam and you study diligently and master 85 out of the 100 potential problems. Then having done so much, you continue with your nightly time of prayer and Bible study. Then you sleep. When exam day comes, you take it with a fresh and alert mind, and with God's blessings you score extremely well.
On the other hand a person who doesn't seek God and doesn't spend any time in prayer and Bible study gets through 97 of 100 potential problems, gets little sleep in his effort to cover everything or maybe in cramming to study, then on exam day he's maybe a bit groggy, and the only 3 problems he hasn't studied come out in the test and he doesn't score as well as the other guy!
In which camp would you rather be? I'd rather be the person in Psalm 127 whom God blesses, even in his sleep!
As one example that this principle in Psalm 127 works, in my own university degree I had to upon graduation undertake a government board licensure exam that lasted 4 full days to test everything we've learned in the 4-year (in De La Salle University) or 5-year (in University of the Philippines and other schools) Bachelor of Science Degree. Given the intensity of the Board Exam, university graduates would review for 3 or 4 months to prepare. I undertook the same review process, but nightly I'd spend 1 or up to 3 hours in personal prayer, worship and Bible study. I did this straight through until exam week. During exam week and when comparing experiences with batch mates, I was cautiously confident and optimistic. My Mom was a Board Topnotcher, No. 1 and a Summa Cum Laude in BS Pharmacy. I wanted to achieve a similar Board exam outcome, to the glory of God. When my batch results were published, I was indeed No. 1 for the November 1986 Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering board exam, with a record score of 97.0, and with a significant lead to the second placer. In the oath taking ceremony for all new licensed Chemical Engineers, I had the opportunity of giving a privilege speech as the No. 1 placer, and in that I praised God and spoke about having a Godly perspective in ones professional career, and used the verse "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:26 NASB).
And so - sleep is valuable, more productive and effective than we thought! Let's not put sleep aside, but instead let's keep Psalm 127:1-2 in mind, recognize God's sovereignty, and sleep well!
Best wishes on life's journeys!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Watch the video or read the transcript of Jeff Iliff: One more reason to get a good night’s sleep. An engaging short talk that reveals the awesome complexity of what happens when we do something as uneventful as... Sleep, and how vitally important it is to our health!
Watch the short 11-minute video or read the transcript of Jeff Iliff: One more reason to get a good night’s sleep and be surprised at the amazing complexity of brain and body processes that happen when we sleep! Here's a sample excerpt to get a glimpse of that complexity:
"The blood vessels form a complex network that fills the entire brain volume. They start at the surface of the brain, and then they dive down into the tissue itself, and as they spread out, they supply nutrients and oxygen to each and every cell in the brain.
Now, just as every cell requires nutrients to fuel it, every cell also produces waste as a byproduct, and the clearance of that waste is the second basic problem that each organ has to solve."
Image from the video Jeff Iliff: One more reason to get a good night’s sleep.
"So how, then, does the brain solve its waste clearance problem? Well, that seemingly mundane question is where our group first jumped into this story, and what we found as we dove down into the brain, down among the neurons and the blood vessels, was that the brain's solution to the problem of waste clearance, it was really unexpected. It was ingenious, but it was also beautiful. Let me tell you about what we found."
Watch the video to peek deep inside into intricate brain functions. But long story short, and in a kind of spoiler fashion - the solution to waste clearance in the brain is... Sleep! And the key discovery is that the waste clearance effectively happens ONLY during sleep!
Image from the video Jeff Iliff: One more reason to get a good night’s sleep.
We know that when we lack sleep, our minds get cloudy or murky. If I severely lack sleep, I feel like there is a blanket covering my head and I am seeing things and going through the day with that blanket encumbering me. And now through observational science, we begin to understand more of the brain processes that come into play with that shared experience - the clearance of waste byproducts within the brain! This is so important because there is an association, though not yet a proven causal effect, that ineffective clearing and higher levels of this waste byproducts are linked to Alzheimer's disease!
This shows how truly valuable a good nightly sleep is. More so in this current age of "time compression" when people (including myself!) want to pack more and more activities into each day because there are always so much things to do, with entertainment, recreational, social, even educational avenues staying accessible till the wee hours, and where the Internet never sleeps. People's lack of value placed on sleep is one reason why sleep deprivation is so common, causing a drop in productivity and effectivity in schools and offices. But knowing the insights of this study can help us change things in our own lives.
In Psalm 127 there are two curious verses that can guide our decisions in life:
Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late,
To eat the bread of painful labors;
For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.
(Psalms 127:1-2 NASB)
This is not a call to careless fatalism because other verses in the Bible ask us to work excellently in everything, as performing things unto the Lord and not merely to men (Colossians 3:22-23). Instead this is a call to recognize God's sovereignty in our lives and in the affairs of men, and thus to seek Him. A sample scenario could be that you are preparing for a major exam and you study diligently and master 85 out of the 100 potential problems. Then having done so much, you continue with your nightly time of prayer and Bible study. Then you sleep. When exam day comes, you take it with a fresh and alert mind, and with God's blessings you score extremely well.
On the other hand a person who doesn't seek God and doesn't spend any time in prayer and Bible study gets through 97 of 100 potential problems, gets little sleep in his effort to cover everything or maybe in cramming to study, then on exam day he's maybe a bit groggy, and the only 3 problems he hasn't studied come out in the test and he doesn't score as well as the other guy!
In which camp would you rather be? I'd rather be the person in Psalm 127 whom God blesses, even in his sleep!
As one example that this principle in Psalm 127 works, in my own university degree I had to upon graduation undertake a government board licensure exam that lasted 4 full days to test everything we've learned in the 4-year (in De La Salle University) or 5-year (in University of the Philippines and other schools) Bachelor of Science Degree. Given the intensity of the Board Exam, university graduates would review for 3 or 4 months to prepare. I undertook the same review process, but nightly I'd spend 1 or up to 3 hours in personal prayer, worship and Bible study. I did this straight through until exam week. During exam week and when comparing experiences with batch mates, I was cautiously confident and optimistic. My Mom was a Board Topnotcher, No. 1 and a Summa Cum Laude in BS Pharmacy. I wanted to achieve a similar Board exam outcome, to the glory of God. When my batch results were published, I was indeed No. 1 for the November 1986 Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering board exam, with a record score of 97.0, and with a significant lead to the second placer. In the oath taking ceremony for all new licensed Chemical Engineers, I had the opportunity of giving a privilege speech as the No. 1 placer, and in that I praised God and spoke about having a Godly perspective in ones professional career, and used the verse "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:26 NASB).
And so - sleep is valuable, more productive and effective than we thought! Let's not put sleep aside, but instead let's keep Psalm 127:1-2 in mind, recognize God's sovereignty, and sleep well!
Best wishes on life's journeys!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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