睡覺裏麵有大學問--兒子跟我談睡覺

       
       兒給我發來的e-mail，專門跟我分享他最近心理學課所讀過的一本關於睡眠的書，主要是要強調睡覺對人體健康的重要性，和解釋什麽樣的或說怎麽樣的睡眠才是最科學，最合理的，最有效的。並叮囑老爸老媽得在這麽重要得睡眠上多加注意。讓我這當老媽的著實被感動了一番。感歎道，如今兒子也真的知道疼他老爸老媽了。

       現如今真是得什麽就都是門兒科學，不曾想就這麽個睡覺也能鬧出這麽些個學問來，還真有專家把它作為一門科學研究了這麽久，別說，似乎還真研究出點名堂來了。據說就兒子這老師Dr.Mass還成了全美的睡眠專家，被不少名人請去做顧問，輔導和幫助解決睡眠問題，因此這些年來，他甚至成為白宮的座上客也不足為怪啦。

      既然睡眠這事有這麽大的學問，又這麽的重要，我就不自私了，拿出來和網上的朋友分享分享，說不定能對哪位睡覺有問題的朋友有個意想不到的幫助呢？

Hi Mom,

I'm currently reading this sleep book for my psychology class (written by James Maas, the professor of the class who also gave the sleep lecture in the beginning of orientation), and there's a section on sleep and blood pressure. Adequate sleep for almost all adults is 7.5-9 hours of sleep per night.

Sleep More, Drop Blood Pressure: One extra hours of sleep per night decreases the risk of artery calcification by 33%. Plus, it's accompanied by a 17mm drop in systolic blood pressure

~Dr. Diane Lauderdale, University of Chicago

Not sleeping often causes the body to produce more stress hormones. Such an imbalance can lead to arteriosclerosis, which can cause heart attacks and strokes, in addition to hypertension, muscle loss, increased fat storage, loss of bone mass, and lower production of growth hormone and testosterone.

In addition, short-sleepers miss out on REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep (predominant between the SEVENTH and EIGHTH hours of the night), during which time the heart pumps more blood to the muscles. This helps it relax as blood pressure falls.

The next sections are on cancer and skin health:

Women who exercise regularly and were generally healthy had a 47% higher risk of cancer if they were sleeping fewer than 7 hours.

Sleep is essential for rebuilding tissues and cells, including the skin. Sufficient sleep is required to maintain good skin texture and a healthy glow. The first area of skin to be affected by a lack of sleep is the eyelids. The skin is very thin here so lack of sleep causes puffy eye bags, fine lines, and dark circles. In the long term, lack of sleep causes skin to age faster leading to wrinkles, poor texture, and discoloration much earlier in life than in the well-rested individual.

I'm really learning a lot of practical information in this class. Even though I'm going to be pretty busy this semester, I'm going to try to get more sleep every night. I think you and Dad should both consider it as well. If between the hours of 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm you find that it is extremely difficult to stay awake especially after having eaten lunch, you probably are mildly sleep-deprived.

Take care,