Everyone knows you feel better after a good night of sleep, but why? Some interesting research has emerged and was reported in the Journal 'Science', and the BBC News site had the catchy headline: Sleep Cleans the Brain of Toxins. Click below for the full article.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24567412
After reading this, it got me thinking about how we talk to patients here and a common questions is posed; "How much sleep should we get?" I often say to patients, 6-8 hours is good, and from our training in acupuncture and learning the concepts of eastern medicine, it is often said that sleeping between 11pm and 1am is essential to a good night's rest, and that napping for 20 minutes during the day is equivalent to 2 full hours of night rest. Below is a link to a report that suggests that we (humans) used to sleep in two 'shifts', a period of 4 hours, then awake for a bit, then 4 more hours.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783
Logic would have one think that since our bodies and internal chemistry can vary drastically from one to the next, our sleep patterns and requirements may as well, but the above mentioned links / research offer some interesting insight about how important sleeping is to our vitality.