Why You Need to Sleep

 

A detailed explanation of what happens when we sleep, and the effects of not sleeping enough.

~~ Watch the Video ~~

Scriptures:

• Proverbs 3:24
• Exodus 20:8-11
• Deuteronomy 5:15
• Colossians 2:16-17
• Galatians 5:22-23
• Matthew 11:28-29
• Psalms 127:2
• Psalms 4:7-8
• Mark 4:35-40

Outline:

• Introduction
• Traits of Wholeness
• Sabbath Rest Review
• 7 Types of Rest
• Sleep
• Followers of Jesus

Proverbs 3:24

24When you lie down, you will not be afraid;

When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Facts about sleep:

36% of our life is spent sleeping

If you have been married to someone for 60 years that means that you have been asleep together for 21 years

Men who sleep 4 to 5 hours per night have a level of testosterone of a man 10 years older than them

You can’t make up sleep

Human beings are the only species that deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent reason

Today we’ll talk all about … Sleep

Traits of Wholeness

We are in our series called Seeking Wholeness

How can we be  _______ healthy

• spiritually
• emotionally
• mentally

Dealing with life’s current stresses and also being healed from experiences/wounds of the past

We’re not just supposed to have eternal life

• We’re supposed to have: joy, peace, patience, and self control here on earth

Traits of Wholeness

• Authenticity
• Honesty
• Kindness
• Not seeking external approval / validation
• Living by values and principles
• Setting Boundaries
• Taking ownership of your responsibilities
• Living with purpose and passion
• Optimism
• Confidence
• Healthy relationships with others
• Not losing control of your emotions
• Free from addictions
• Addressing Conflict
• Vulnerability
• Not critical or Judgmental
• Not jealous
• Genuinely applaud the success of others
• Forgive those who have wronged you in the past
• Know that you’re worthy of receiving love
• Not afraid to fail
• Able to manage irrational fear, worry, and anxiety
• Selfless encounters with others
• Not manipulating others trying to control their actions/reactions
• You care about how others feel
• Patient
• Don’t give into peer/social pressure
• Can communicate directly
• Don’t take responsibility for other people's emotions
• Take responsibility for your own emotions
• Being led by the Spirit

Sabbath Rest Review

Exodus 20:8-11 (Ten Commandments)

8Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates. 11For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

Obeying the Sabbath was one of the 10 commandments.  

• God commanded that it be a day of complete rest
• They are not supposed to work on that day

The Sabbath was designed into Creation

• God rested on the 7th day
• They were commanded not to grow on the land every 6th year

Our Bodies Need Rest

Lack of sleep is linked to

• Heart disease
• Impaired memory
• Overeating
• Car accidents

The Sabbath was a Form of Faith

• “if I’m still… You will feed me“
• If I stop… I won’t die
• I will trust that God will provide for me

Many of them worked for their days food, so taking a day off was a big deal

Resting says I’m not dependent on my own effort for my provision

The Sabbath is A day to Remember

Deuteronomy 5:15 (10 Commandments)

15 ‘And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to celebrate the Sabbath day.

• To remember God brought you out of Egypt

A reminder that God saved them. He redeemed them.

A day to remember the good things God has done for us

The Sabbath Was Made for Man

In Mark  2:23-28 Jesus tells the Pharisees that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath

 

Jesus tells us that the primary purpose of Sabbath wasn’t as a day to honor God it was to benefit humans

The Sabbath was blessed and Holy, but…

The Sabbath Was a Sign of the Future

Colossians 2:16-17

16 Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon, or a Sabbath day—

17 things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

• Don’t judge someone else based on when they celebrate the sabbath

A Rest From Works Salvation

The Old Testament Sabbath was a rest from physical work

The New Testament Sabbath is a rest for spiritual work

We no longer have to work to be in God’s favor

Sabbath Rest is a Shadow of Life in The Kingdom of Heaven

The Kingdom of God is righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit

• That’s here on earth

Galatians 5:22-23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Jesus tells us that if we are living in the kingdom then we don’t need to worry about

• Tomorrow
• what we eat
• what we drink
• what we wear

The sabbath was a shadow of a rest from

• Striving
• Achieving
• Earning God’s love
• Worry, and anxiety

It was a shadow of the freedom we can have living a life led by the Spirit

7 Types of Rest

Matthew 11:28-29

28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.

• Jesus isn’t just talking about a physical rest
• He says He’ll provide “rest for your souls”

Many of us found ourselves slowing down last year because of the pandemic.  

• We worked less and possibly slept more.  

Yet everyone I’ve talked to says that they didn’t feel  renewed or rested because of it.

For many people resting can look like:

• Sleeping
• Not working
• Binge watching a Netflix series
• Watching "the game"
• Getting a massage

But oftentimes we still aren't refreshed afterwards.

That is due to the fact that there are multiple types of "Rest" that we need, and depending on what type of exhaustion you have, the required rest will differ.

There are different types of rest

Types of rest:

• Physical
• Spiritual
• Mental
• Sensory
• Creative
• Emotional
• Social

The true definition of rest encompasses a recovery from everything that drains you

• Physically well rested
• Feeling mentally ready and emotionally fulfilled
• Feeling creatively recharged
• Free from stress and anxiety

The amount of rest needed differs from person to person

physical rest

If you run a marathon and you want to rest, what do you do?

   … You walk

If you are hiking up a hill…you stop and stand still

If you’re standing at a concert for five hours and you want to rest… You sit

If you’re sitting at the office all day and you want to rest… You lay down

When your body is tired you can use rest

• Sleep
• Stretching
• Massage
• Yoga

Today we will focus on Sleep

Sleep

We are going to go deep into sleep.

Psalms 127:2

It is futile for you to rise up early, To stay up late, To eat the bread of painful labor; This is how He gives to His beloved sleep.

• It is a blessing to be able to sleep

Lack of sleep is linked to problems with

• Overall health
• Emotional and mental health
• Cognitive health

Disruption of sleep causes

• Increased levels of stress
• Increased level of stress suppresses the immune system

Most people need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep

• Some people have a rare gene the customer sleep demand in half

Science of Sleep

Biological Clock

You have a clock in your brain that tells you

• when you need to go to sleep
• when you need to wake up
• where you are within your day

Circadian rhythm

Circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle. These natural processes respond primarily to light and dark and affect most living things, including animals, plants, and microbes.

determines night owl vs early bird

controls your sleep cycle

The light dark cycle is important to synchronize our biological clock

Example:  my sleep pattern changed from this series

• Sleeping earlier
• Don't need alarm

Sleep Pressure

The longer you’ve been awake the more you have “sleep pressure“

Coffee/caffeine suppresses your sleep pressure

• It just blocks the receptors to tell your brain that you are tired

Cortisol

Cortisol is a hormone associated with stress

The body clock controls the normal rhythm of your hormones

High levels of cortisol can disturb your levels of sleep.

• Lack of sleep can disturb your cortisol levels.

Older people have higher levels of cortisol at night

Before waking your cortisol increases  

• As an anticipatory normal preparing you for waking up an activity

The Sleep Cycle

Your body goes through a sleep cycle

• The cycle  takes 60 to 90 minutes
• It happens about three times per night.

4 Sleep Stages

1. Transition between sleep and wake
2. State of deep relaxation
3. Deep sleep
4. REM: Light sleep and dreaming

If you wake someone during stage three they may say that they felt like they didn’t get any sleep at all

Twilight Zone (Hypnagogia)

Who can guess what the period between sleep cycles is called?

• It was an old TV series
• Bizarre episodes mixing science fiction, fantasy, horror

Who remembers the show called The Twilight Zone?

Between sleep cycles you aren’t asleep at all you are in a state called The twilight zone

Environmental stimuli such as noise or temperature could wake you during this period

Deep Sleep

Slow wave sleep helps consolidate declarative of memory (RAM)

• Things from the past
• To do list
• Facts

REM

What do you know about REM sleep?

During REM sleep

• Your muscles go off-line
• Only your eye muscles in your diaphragm remain online
• Designed that way to keep us from acting out dreams
• Our breathing gets irregular
• You dream

Vivid (realistic) dreams seem to be important for

• Processing emotions
• Sorting memories

If you wake up during the REM stage you’ll remember your dream.  

Stress hormones are absent during REM sleep

 

Not getting enough REM sleep can cause

• Inability to remember tasks
• Inability to regulate emotions
• Inability to fight off illnesses
• Metabolism dysfunction and weight gain

REM sleep can be affected by

• Alcohol
• Cannabis
• antidepressants

REM sleep consolidates procedural memory (ROM)

• Task that you’ve learned
• Procedures
• Like riding a bike
• Things that become wrote or habit
• Like washing dishes, driving a car, riding a bicycle

Why do we need sleep

Why do we need to sleep?

During sleep you have

• Information processing
• Memory consolidation
• Toxin clearance
• Tissue repair
• Rebuilding metabolic
• Energy replenishment

Memory

It’s not just a retention of facts… It is also the manipulation of information

• You need sleep after you learn something in order to save it so that you don’t forget
• You need sleep before learning to prepare your brain just soak up the information
• During deep sleep, memories shift from short-term to long-term.  

Health

When people were given four hours of sleep they saw 70% drop in natural immune system killer cell activity

Cancer cells multiply faster the more sleep deprived you are

What happens if you don’t get enough sleep?

• Irritability
• Moodiness
• Lose your inhibitions
• Problems making decisions
• Problems retrieving information
• Problems processing information
• Overeating
• Weight gain
• Lower mental ability
• Higher rates of heart disease

If it continues for prolonged periods

• Apathy
• Slow to speech
• Impaired memory

What can keep you from sleeping?

Contributors to sleep problems

• Stress
• Alcohol, caffeine, nicotine
• Circadian rhythm disturbances like exercise
• Environmental factors
• Room temperature, noise, light
• Children
• Partner sleeping habits
• Screen time

Sleep, wake disorders

Psalms 4:7-8

7 You have put joy in my heart, More than when their grain and new wine are abundant. 8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, LORD, have me dwell in safety.

• David wants to both
• Lie down
• Sleep

Those don’t always go together

Anybody have problems sleeping?

Sleep problems

• Insomnia
• Sleep apnea
• Circadian rhythm disorder
• Jetlag
• Shift work disorder
• Altered sleep phase disorder
• Narcolepsy
• Parasomnia

There are different types of insomnia

• Lie awake and can’t get to sleep
• Fall asleep in minutes but they wake up dozens of times throughout the night
• Wake up way too early I can’t fall back to sleep

Circadian Rhythm Disorders

• Delayed Sleep Phase Insomnia (sleep and wake late)
• Advanced Sleep Phase Insomnia (sleep and wake early)

Solutions

• Timed light
• Melatonin pills

Tips for a better sleep

• No alcohol
• No caffeine
• Get on a regular rhythm
• cool temperature… Around 65°
• Your body needs to drop 2° before you can go to sleep
• Don’t take naps if you can’t fall asleep at night
• No screen time close to sleep
• Watching TV signals do you circadian rhythm that is time to be awake because of the light

Sleeping pills don’t produce naturalistic sleep

Stop “Sleeping in“ since the queue to our circadian rhythm that we are trying to change time zones.  

Sleep paralysis

Sleep paralysis is the inability to move or speak while the brain is awake or conscious.

Has anybody had this?

Sleep paralysis results from incomplete awakening during REM sleep

Parasomnia

A sleep disorder that causes unusual sensations or behavior during sleep

 It usually happens when your sleep schedule is disrupted or you’ve had changes in your sleep schedule

Demons?

Research shows that people in countries as diverse as China, East Africa, Mexico, Newfoundland, and the United States have long believed that paralysis is caused by demons, witches, or other supernatural creatures.

This seems to occur most often when sleeping on your back.

REM Antonia

 it’s when people don’t have their muscles disconnected when they sleep

They often have dreams about

• Being attacked
• Violent

Can result in

• Punching
• Kicking
• Running into walls
• Jump through windows

Interesting Sleep Facts

• Monophasic sleep isn’t always the best option
• Being bored does not make you sleepier

Those with mental health problems are more likely to have insomnia or other sleep disorders.

You Can Get Too much sleep

Getting too much sleep impacts

• Memory
• Attention
• Reasoning skills

Based on a study from the journal “sleep“

Followers of Jesus (Conclusion)

Following Jesus teaching with parables

Mark 4:35-40

35 On that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” 36 After dismissing the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. 37 And a fierce gale of wind developed, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling with water. 38 And yet Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” 39 And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. 40 And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Why were the disciples afraid?

The disciples had a personal relationship with Jesus.

• They were in the boat.  
• They shouldn’t have been afraid

Jesus chastised them saying “Do you still have no faith?”

The disciples were in the storm, but they had access to Jesus

Who else was in the storm?

 36 After dismissing the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him.

There were others who were following Jesus.   They were in the storm too.

They were “followers of Jesus”.

They didn’t have the same relationship as the disciples

• But they were going in the same direction
• They were headed to the same destination

They were:

• going where Jesus was going
• going there at the same time that Jesus
• Following Jesus

Therefore the storm calmed for them too.

Jesus was at peace, so He could sleep.

The disciples didn’t have faith, so they couldn’t sleep

The disciples didn’t have faith, so they were afraid

Resting on the Sabbath day was a display of faith

It says “I’m not trusting on my own effort, but I’m trusting God to provide for me”

In the natural success, may seem like it’s dependent on my effort, but I’m going to depend on God

Why aren’t you sleeping?

• Are you worried about tomorrow
• Are you anxious about what tomorrow will bring?
• Do you feel guilty sleeping?
• Do you feel like there’s more that you need to accomplish before you deserve sleep?
• Do you feel like you’re wasting precious hours?
• Are you dreading the fact that when you wake up it all starts over again?
• Are you afraid of your own dreams?
• Are you afraid of the unknown?

Have faith that if you do your part, then God will do His part.

...rest my child...go to sleep

Sleep When the Wind Blows

https://youtu.be/RwmbHRgxB1o

When you’ve done everything you’re supposed to do, you can go to sleep, rest, and leave the rest to God

Let’s walk in the way, seek the truth, and live the life

Instructor: Michael Leadon

References

What happens to your mind if you don’t sleep

Dr. Tracy marks

psychology of sleep

Youtility

10 Sleep Myths finally debunked

Top think

Sleep is your superpower

Matt Walker - TED Talks

What is REM sleeps – how much do you need?

Sleepopolis

The science of sleep: melatonin to neural pathways

The royal institution

Extra

The Eye

The eye has two distinct task

• Image detection
• Brightness detection

Photoreceptors in the eyes