You might have heard this!! Dare to dream. Dreams do come true!! Whether dreams come true or not, but what matters is dreams make a difference to one’s health. How? New research has proven that dreaming refreshes one’s mind. While being lost in dreams our eyes move a lot, leading to RAPID EYE MOVEMENT or the REM state of sleep. When we dream a lot, ( in this REM state of sleep) , there is a massive flow of red blood cells which provides more oxygen to the brain and improves the health of brain. It’s like more traffic of red blood cells which increases the activity in the brain, refreshing it and making it healthier. It is noted that brain issues like Alzheimer’s are a result of decreased blood activity in the brain.

Deep Sleep Removes Brain Waste

Another very important benefit of deep sleep is that clears the waste from the brain. It flushes out the toxic proteins that may cause disorders like Alzheimer’s.

“Deep sleep has been found to have an ancient, restorative power to clear waste from the brain. This waste potentially includes toxic proteins that may lead to neurodegenerative disease”, says a study by the Northwestern University.

Connection Between Sleep and Hormones

Good night sleep balances the hormones in the body. Not sleeping enough is often the cause of hormonal imbalance in the body.

Dr Sara Gottfried, MD, a clinical assistant professor in the department of integrative medicine and nutritional sciences at Thomas Jefferson University says nearly every hormone in the body is released in response to the sleep-wake cycle.

This simply means that if the sleep cycle is not regular it can impact the release of the hormones inside our body. 

Sleep is an important regulator of metabolism, the process of chemical reactions in the body that converts food to energy.

Sleep disruption or poor sleep can directly affect the production and levels of hunger hormones in the body. This can disturb hunger, appetite, and food intake, potentially leading to weight gain.

She says that even one night of bad sleep can negatively affect the insulin levels in the body. She advises compensating the next day by watching one’s sugar intake.

If you are facing too much stress, it’s an indication the quality of your sleep could get affected. It actually works both ways. Stress affects quality of sleep and lack of sleep also imbalances levels of cortisol which is also called the stress hormone.

Poor sleep affects body’s ability to bounce back

Coming back to night sleep, it refreshes one’s brain and body like no other. We have heard since ages about beauty sleep as it aids renewal and replenishment of skin.

While dreaming state of sleep is the best for health but I want to turn the table now to day dreaming.

How about Day Dreaming?

A lot of people like to dream with open eyes. It is like drawing pictures in your head with no specific purpose. It happens quite unexpectedly and randomly with images popping up and down on their own.

Day dreaming Can Give Solutions

Day dreaming can spring up unique solutions to problems that one is facing according to psychologists.

“In a 2013 article in National Geographic, University of Florida Psychiatrist Eugenio Rothe told author Christine Dell’Amore that, as our minds wander, different part of our brains activate, accessing information that may have previously been dormant or out of reach.

According to Rothe, “This accounts for creativity, insights of wisdom and oftentimes the solutions to problems that the person had not considered.”, says Psychology Today.

Not only this, day dreaming has a lot more benefits too. It helps increase creativity, makes mood better and helps beat stress. It can make you happier and researchers have claimed it can boost productivity too.

Excess of everything is bad and hence its important to check that one is not day dreaming too much.

With so many benefits, on a whole, dreams are getting an image makeover. Indulge and reap the benefits whether at day or night!!

References

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210715142347.htm

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210825113638.htm

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210120151044.htm https://www.healthline.com/health/sleep/how-sleep-can-affect-your-hormone-levels#