Food for Thought: SLEEP

Hi guys!

Happy (belated) holidays to those celebrating and Happy New Year!
I must say, when I was watching the fireworks of course from my TV duh, I was almost in tears. Simply because it was such an amazing year, I will miss it the most out of all my years, from however many I can remember. Make the best of the remaining time off and rest up, especially your brain from the stress and drama...

Firstly, apologies for the long gap. I got so stuck with my studies to a point I was trying to survive and just sleep for the sake of my health and let my brain function normally so it does not crash and it explains why I'm here writing this post 😂😂.
I want to apologise for another reason. I recently wrote a draft post, which I titled "Escape the Loop". I almost finished writing it and wanted to post it, you may know that if you follow me on Instagram. Later on, I refrained from posting it. The reason I gave was that the content was so strong, almost out of my comfort zone. It was strong in a different way, in my opinion, it was strong even if it does not seem like it for others. My content is usually light-hearted or emotional when I am in my feels/mood. This is why it took me longer to post a different blog and as you may see, this is a huge topic so it's normal that it would take me more time. This does not mean my unposted blog will remain a draft, the day I feel comfortable, I will post it. My promise to you.

That's enough of making me feel guilty... Let's commence to what I actually want to see...

As you saw from the title in caps, I have a new Food for Thought, which is about sleep. I must say, I am making more food for thought posts than my normal ones. Mainly because I am not getting time to explore and discover new things. Alert! My new few posts will be more thinking and personal orientated, rather than daily objective contents but it seems like you guys enjoy these more. Let me know what you think and what you want for the future.
This topic is really really really close to my heart. I can have a conversation with anyone at any time of any day because I am so so so so passionate about this topic: SLEEEEEEEEP. Not to mention, the countless times my friends have told me to "sleeeeeeeeeeeep" or "why are you awake" or "why did you sleep so late". Dear friends, thank you but some things are like this in life 😝. I love talking about sleep so much to a point where once in my third year of undergrad I went to my neuroscience lecturer and asked if there were any postgraduate or PhD courses only on sleep. Even till this day, if there is a PhD on sleep, I will take it blindly, so please please please inform me on the comments below and I will be highly grateful. Also note, I am not a professional in this topic so anything here is what I know and my perception... and I am not a freak who does not sleep, I do sleep! I would be in the hospital today if I didn't sleep.


What is sleep?

Sleep is one of the simplest activity known and done by living animals, yet it is one of the most favourite activity by billions of people across the world...
Sleep is simply a state where the mind and body are inactive for several hours, which varies in every individual. The main aspects are that your brain and consciousness are partially inactive and the body and muscles are resting and recovering, with your eyes closed.
To be a bit more scientific, there are two states of sleep:

• REM (Rapid Eye Movement): usually where dreams occur, eyes are moving fast and the brain is the most active, in which if you wake up at this part, you can leave you feeling sicklish if someone is woken up at this stage

• NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement), which is subcategorised in 3 stages:

• Stage 1: shifting from awake to sleep and can be easily disrupted to awake again
• Stage 2: initial step to sleeping, lightly
• Stage 3: deep sleep

For more detailed information check this site: Stages of Sleep and Sleep Cycles

Is sleep important?

Yes, because:

• It's the part of the day when you are getting ready for the following day
• Your brain works better from sleep
• You are recovering while you sleep
• Maintain good physical health and physical recovery
• Let's be honest: you feel shit when you had an all-nighter
• Your focus and attention is lacking and can affect daily activities, such as driving

No, because:

• I found no valid arguments as to why it's not important ¬ ¬ 
• Although I find a nice quote by Martha Stewart and I highly agree when she says that “I find that when you have a real interest in life and a curious life, that sleep is not the most important thing.”
• Although from my point of view I would like to say, Hey! You live only once so why waste it by sleeping. Go out and do crazy crap, like when dad says to Simran "ja Simran ja! jee le apni zindagi" (meaning: go Simran go! Live your life, from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, a really old Bollywood movie for non-Asians)

What did people say?

I'm sure if you've been following me and reading my blogs for a while, I love to do polls and ask people their opinions. Basically, I'm all ears for anyone to talk to me, it feels good, maybe sometimes not nagging or moaning. Hence, I asked my followers their opinion on sleep a long time ago. The question was "Is sleep an important aspect of your life?"

• 25/29 (86%) said YES
• 4/29 (14%) said NO

Then proceeded to ask on "degree of importance", which on a scale of 1 to 10, the average said 8, meaning it is pretty important.

1. Do you like sleeping
2. Why do you (or not) like sleeping
3. How much per night do you sleep
4. Do you nap, if so for how long and how many times
5. How much do you prioritise sleep
6. Do you like to sleep but suffer insomnia (diagnosed or undiagnosed)
7. Do you not like sleeping but you have hypersomnia (oversleep)
8. What is your thought on someone that's opposite you (who likes or doesn't like to sleep)?


My answer:

1. No, I don't like to sleep.
2. I don't like sleeping because I think I have plenty of time in the future (if God willing I am alive) to rest and sleep. For now, I could make use of this time doing something useful (like an investment) for the future. I used to sleep a lot when I was young (by a lot I mean up to 14 hours and used to get scolded a lot because of this. Then I started to lose this habit from A Levels when life got extremely stressful. Now, I'm standing in a position where that's not even a necessity for me.
3. It ranges depending on my day, from 4 hours to 8 hours (9 hours if I am free at the most as after that I get headaches)
4. I will only nap if I feel horrible, depressed, heartbroken or got 4 (or less) hours of sleep at night. I mainly tend to rest more than a nap.
5. I don't prioritise at all. I only sleep because it is a natural necessity to function well in life and rest my mind. E.g. I could be sleeping now since 2 am but I am writing this.
6. No, but I do have symptoms of insomnia so if I do purposely want to sleep, I will be unable to do so, especially when I have 6am lessons with my private student.
7. Yeah, I don't but I don't usually oversleep unless I am really tired or on holidays (like now).
8. It's good you are looking after yourself and one day I get to experience this "beauty of sleep" but I also hope you get to experience the efficiency on putting sleep aside for at least one day.

Now, please hear me out when I say that this is completely my own opinion and me answering my own question does not mean I am right. I may be completely wrong as far as I may not be aware but that's how I view it. Please don't be triggered.


What they answered:

1.

• 1 person said NO
• 12 said YES
• YES wins

2.

• No, because: Could use that time to have fun, playing games or whatever

• Yes because:
• Not thinking or worried, just relaxed
• Rest/break from reality
• Refreshes and forgets about life for a few hours
• Relaxing and usually feels better after waking up than before sleeping
• When tired after a long day
• Replenish energy and refresh the brain
• Time flies when sleeping
• Makes you feel good, feels good and lets you avoid "shit"
• To function
• Just love sleeping
• Feels amazing

3.

• On average they get 6 to 8 hours
• Some get 5 hours
• Some get 4 or less
• Some get 10 to 12
• Some get endless
• Basically an average scale of 5-10 hours

4. 

• A lot of them don't nap
• Those that do some get 10 or 20 or 30 minutes
• Some end up napping 1 or 2 hours
• Someone nap up to 4 hours

5. 

• Some said not much
• Some said they miss breakfast to sleep and head to bed half an hour early to sleep
• Makes sure they get enough sleep as it's very important
• Someone said not at all
• Some said they prioritise fairly well
• "Out of 10, 10!"
• "I'll sleep if I have to"
• A Netflix show is the first priority
• Some said it depends, like exams or tasks
• Some prioritise it a lot
• Some do it when they need to be somewhere the next day

6&7.

• No one has hypersomnia, hence they don't oversleep
• Almost everyone does not have insomnia, maybe some of them, which is not diagnosed
• Some wake up in the middle of the night for an hour or so before sleep returns
• Sometimes it's hard to sleep if the mind is awake, like after studying
• Some may have insomnia
• Phones have a huge impact on keeping them awake, and I highly agree
• Some like to stay up late to watch videos to get themselves tired to sleep
• Sometimes does not sleep at all and sometimes sleeps all day long: basically both

8.

• "Fair do, not my choice in how I'd want to spend my time but each to their own"
• "Everyone likes to sleep, I don't think I've ever met anyone who doesn't want to sleep 🤔🤔🤔"
• "I don't know how ppl don't like sleep. The only time I don't like sleep is like when I'm super excited for the next day and just want it to come lol"
• "So basically ******? Their opinion makes sense, but I hope they appreciate the beauty of sleep at some point"
• "Personally I think even if you don’t like sleep, you should definitely prioritise it because it’s very restful and I feel like you usually feel recharged and better quality of my day. At the end, the point of life is to enjoy it and I feel like you enjoy my life a bit more when I’ve slept better because I feel fresh and more energetic"
• "I don’t think of what people do"
• "Nothing, people are different"
• "I never used to like sleep because I saw it as a waste of time, but on days when I fix my sleeping pattern, it’s a great experience. So I got a taste of both. My thoughts would be for both who likes and dislike sleep, good luck🤷‍"
• I mean why not. There are many reasons to hate sleep. It's honestly a waste of time but in my opinion, it's worth it cos it feels good"
• "Idk 😂"
• "Doesn’t bother me"
• I think people who don’t like sleep are silly because sleep is lovely and you need sleep and those who don’t sleep make themselves suffer and that’s very unnecessary.
• "Weirdo"

First of all, I would like to say a big THANK YOU to those who took their time to answer my questions even though I gave very little background information, your answers were used for this 😄. Thank you all! ❤️

It has come to my attention that a lot of people who answered my questions think that those who don't like sleep (i.e. myself), we make ourselves suffer unnecessarily. I will clarify this by saying that we don't make ourselves suffer. Some of us either can't physically sleep at night and we embrace this habit but we don't make ourselves suffer at all. Yes, we might get tired, which then we will rest or sleep because we are not completely against sleep, we just do not prioritise it or don't like it. It's a bit like when people say that they don't like water but it is the most essential form of liquid required for our body.

Let me give a couple of examples...

Once I got very little sleep, like 4 hours. On top of that, I took some kind of medicine, which I remembered it had caffeine because I was in a lot of pain and I was quite ill. At this point, I was high. I don't know how it feels to be high but I can guess that you have no control over your mind. Then late at night, I couldn't sleep and I was checking my starred messages because I was feeling lonely and I star messages where people have said nice things about me to give me a confidence boost and to feel a bit happy. I found a random message where my friend used a girl's initials and I couldn't figure it out when the text was sent 1.5 years ago. At that instance, I figured it out and burst to my friend. The funniest part was that my friend was in Amsterdam and obviously that place is known for its weed and my friend goes "Did I go Amsterdam or did you?"
A lot of my messages there did not make any sense but apparently, it was "enjoyable"? If I'm honest, I enjoyed just being in that state because it gave me an adrenaline rush.

Not only in that instance, I often sleep at 7am and it gives me an amazing feeling with an adrenaline rush. Just the other day I was awake till 7am (because of a personal reason, which made me depressed and emotional). I realised how active my mind was because I spent my night listening to music and a hard maths quiz, which I barely needed clues. Also, I did hear that your mind is the most active late at night, according to one of my student's mum.

Not to mention, when I went back home over the summer holidays, there was not a single day that I slept before 5am, including some days when I visited my village where I got no sleep at all. It sounds exaggerated but it's true.

One where I get weird reactions by people and my friends scold me a lot is when I wake up at 5.20am in the morning, regardless of what time I go to sleep, to teach my student 3 times a week at 6am. Not only do I wake up early, but her mother also wakes her up at 6am to learn. I don't complain because I take my work seriously but often you see her dozing off while I'm teaching her that "5x3 is 15 so obviously 15/5 is 3" 😂😂.


Insomnia and Hypersomnia/Oversleeping

I had to ask the question of insomnia and oversleeping for a reason, mainly insomnia. I'm aware there are many more sleep-related disorders but I think insomnia affects the most in a lot of aspects. A lot of people like to sleep, but it seems that some are unfortunate enough to not being able to sleep. Insomnia can be the trouble of falling asleep at the start or just not getting quality sleep. You may like or hate sleeping but if you are insomniac, you can't help it. It's like me right now, it's 3.15am at night and I'm doing this. If I'm honest to you, I do not feel a single bit sleepy, rather I'm fine. I know this will carry on for a bit but what can I do... I'm sure I have insomnia but it's not diagnosed. It is really hard for an insomniac to have an early start, like 9am lessons or work. They spend the first few hours of the morning feeling irritated because they probably slept really late and probably was just getting into REM sleep (look above for explanation). The first few hours of the morning you feel okay but after that, you get really tired and lose all focus. But to be fair, a lecture will tire you out even with 14 hours of sleep, they just have that aspect to drain your brain power, not sure how they do that! In terms of napping, I can imagine it is hard for someone with insomnia to even nap because they struggle to have proper sleep. It's my perception from my own experience but it may vary within individuals. It is hard for them to get that recovery time and in a long-term, this is damaging, especially girls as we can get breakouts, our worst nightmare. At the end of the day, these are neurochemical changes and regardless of how much you tell off your friend with insomnia (i.e. me), they can't help it or have nothing to do. There are certain things that can be done like certain hand and breathing activities, exercising, OTC pills like Kalms, lavender scented products, baths or candles; which MAY or MAY NOT help. In my instance, it does not help and I tried it all. But on a more serious note, if it does become a serious issue, which may affect your daily lifestyle, it is best to consult a doctor and I shamelessly say this like as if I'm going to do this "lol". Okay, but seriously, if it becomes an issue I will consult with someone or try to change my habit because right now I don't think it's too bad

Then there are people who either love to sleep or they can sleep for hours and hours. They have the ability to doze off anywhere, literally anywhere. I knew someone from my childhood (bless him). He never slept in a bed, rather in his chair because if he slept in a bed, he would not be able to breathe. The special aspect of him was that he would sleep absolutely everywhere. He would sit down to learn to drive and after a few minutes he dozed off. He would be talking to you and then fall asleep there. A little story from my childhood in Spain... This uncle's son was in my class and the parents were invited to a presentation to our new secondary school to transition to year 7. We were not there as we were given a tour of our secondary school or what we call our "bachillerato". Apparently, the uncle sat down with my dad, as they were friends, and after a few minutes, he fell asleep, loudly snoring, every parent looking around to see who it was... Yeah... My dad had a moment there and so did I later when we were returning home... (by the way, I'm not making fun of him, I have much respect for him as I always did and I am likely to stay at their house when I'm leaving in a few weeks as his daughter is one of my best friends from childhood. This is to raise awareness that these issues still exist). It is literally beyond my understanding how this happens but to be honest, oversleeping is an issue. Yes! Sleeping is good for you but sleeping a lot is definitely not good. Oversleeping could be sleeping for over 8 hours, so for those of you who said you can sleep up to 10 hours, you concern me if you are doing this continuously. Anyone who may sleep 12 or 14 hours... *sigh* Mate, please get up and do something better!
Oversleeping can be just out of habit/passion or it can be a clinical condition. You can end up oversleeping that's caused by so many other conditions like depression, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, etc. If this is the case, I highly suggest you get this checked up with a doctor.

Take a look at these sites if you are interested for more information:
Is Sleep Essential?
Short- and long-term health consequences of sleep disruption
Sleep Health: Can We Define It? Does It Matter?

They were interesting so I highly suggest you take a look, or at least the abstract.


As I mentioned above, it is a topic I am very passionate about and I can talk endlessly. This has taken me the longest time to write because there was so much I wanted to talk about and if I'm completely honest to you, I am not done! But I'm not going to keep you for longer here because I realise this is already a very long read for you. If needed, I will write a part 2 to this, so please let me know if you want a part 2 with more content, issues or crazy stories, because I have a lot!


I hope you enjoyed this post and please share around, to your crazy friends or family who may experience crazy sleeping patterns. Comment below your thoughts and anything you would like to read in the future as I'm always open to any suggestions and ideas you always give me.


Before I leave, I have some exciting news to share... The idea of doing this has been in my mind for the longest but due to some reasons, I had to delay it. When I remembered to do it, I did it in a rush and it explains why this post didn't upload on new year's day, as planned, but it's uploaded now...
So......................... I HAVE MY OWN DOMAIN!
Yes! For ages, the name of my website has been bugging me that it has the extra "blogspot.com blah blah blah". Even I used to get the spelling wrong so I don't blame you all my beautiful readers.
From now on, you can access my blog by simply going to www.yoursnafiza.com
Not only that, in the upcoming future I am going to revamp the outlook of my site and of course, there are many many more posts coming throughout the year



Till then... Take care




Yours, Nafiza