Sleep, From the Brain and For the Brain

So, where does this sleep come from?

From the historical recollections in the Holy Book, the Creator made the first man sleep, and took one of his ribs to create the first woman. At a point in the same Holy Book, a reigning king of Israel, Saul, engaged his army in search and destruction of his son, David, the Creator’s anointed heir to his throne, because David was a perceived enemy.

The King was made to sleep and fell into David’s danger net which prompted David’s men to quote the creator, “I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish”. But David spared the king from the messy killing out of mercy. This served to teach the king that the power to make or maim is indeed in HIS hands. At other events in different life narratives, people slept spontaneously, self-induced or substance-induced, as we individually experience in our daily lives.

So, where does this sleep come from?

Is it from someone or somewhere or even nowhere? That can be scary if it is from nowhere.

Is it true that it is contagious, such that staying beside or seeing someone sleeping can induce sleep?

Man has also wondered what part of the body actually sleeps. Is it the eyes which get shut and temporarily suspend sight, the ears that never shut but concurrently stop hearing for a time, or the entire body that momentarily ceases conscious movement?

In any case, the heart continues to beat, and the nose continues to breathe. In the days of the Ancient Greek, Romans, Arabians and Egyptians, sleep was serially described to come from various gods. The gods were named after sleep, dreams, or sleep time like the ‘god of night’, and even sleep inducing environments like ‘god of darkness’

Since the medieval ages, over thousands of years, social and physical scientific researchers have continued to strive for better understanding of sleep and its relatives.
Few hundred years BC, an ancient physician declared that sleep resulted from the temporary suspension of blood movement to the brain and drop in the body surface temperature. Some decades later, Aristotle analysed sleep and found it to be a momentary cessation of consciousness supplied from the heart, which, at that period, was believed to be the seat of consciousness and sensibility. But it remained a further puzzle why the heart itself never goes ‘unconscious’ during sleep.

Further down, around 162 AD, one of the researchers, Galen, found that the brain, rather than the heart, is the seat of consciousness. It has been suggested that the brain at this period, due to inadequate knowledge, was supported for quality sleep that will be regenerative for optimum function, and as a result, allowed only minor progress made in understanding of its role in the nature and process of sleep.

More recently, in the Age of Enlightenment, spanning between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, notable discoveries were made with significant identification of the role of the brain in the sleep process through the extensive and ongoing study of sleep in multiple sleep-specialized laboratories. This is done by measuring the activities of the brain, heart, muscles and eyes.

One of the most significant discoveries was the fact that the brain is a mesh of wire-like tiny strands of various lengths called nerve cells, well-arranged in bundles. The strands continually transmit messages similar to electric current among themselves to control the functions of the brain itself and the entire body. The strands are connected to each other at junctions where the message-sending strand releases one or more chemicals that will act on the adjacent message-receiving strand.

One of these chemicals in the brain, melatonin, was further discovered to play roles in the sleep switch. The melatonin cuts off the alertness messages to induce sleep, which involves a disruption of some of the continual message transmissions. Night-time with darkness and brain fatigue causes plenty release of the melatonin, and it gets cleared from the brain by exposure to daylight.

The natural night-day cycle makes this melatonin release and clearance to cause a natural sleep-awake cycle. The whole essence is for the brain to take repeated programmed momentary breaks to rest from the continual message transmissions. And, recoup for further works of control. In the same vein, the entire body also gets to rest too, due to this disruption in the transmission of controlling messages. So, the benefit of sleep is indeed primarily for the brain, from which the same sleep also emanates.

No wonder that in falling asleep, the brain inclines towards the sleep almost uncontrollably, longing for the benefits, its belongings!
As the brain bulldozes for its due belongings, don’t forget to secure a conducive sleeping surface belonging to you. To enable the brain achieve the sleep’s set-goal

Let us remember that where, when and how you sleep affect your mental, physical wellbeing, and, living a healthy life. We all need quality sleep to be well for more productivity in our endeavours

Do you need further information on the above subject?

Are you looking for the best way to maintain quality sleep for generally wellbeing and healthy living?

Are you currently facing any sleeping difficulty?

Remember, a doctor is an appropriate person to offer relevant advice for maintenance of quality sleep, solution and sleep difficulties.

Do you want to contact the Orthopaedic Sleep Consultant, Dr Charles Uzodimma, kindly send your request to sleepinfo@vitafoam.com.ng

Vitafoam is passionate about quality sleep, healthy living and general wellbeing of Nigerians. We are proudly Nigerian and constantly supports Nigerians with consistent quality products for comfort and wellbeing.

With Vitafoam, you don’t just sleep, we give you the comfort that gets you recharged.
To learn more about Vitafoam, visit www.vitafoamng.com