Introduction
Stress seems to be ruling the recent world. People from all walks of life now engage most of their time looking and researching on methods of coping up with stress, recovering from illness and even solving problems. But, they forget the role of sleep as an immediate cure of these problems. Sleep ensures that your body rests and the energy lost is restored back to its normal level. A powerful night’s sleep has proved to be of great help in coping up with stress.
Sigmund Freud emphasized sleep as natural cycles of activities in our mind. This prompted Neo-Freudian psychologists to research feather and concluded that there are two basic stages of sleep; rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. Originally, the sleep cycle starts with the period of NREM then REM period which is usually very short and even dreams occurs at this stage.
NREM sleep period consist of four stages which lasts between five and fifteen minutes. For a complete cycle of sleep to be achieved, it must progress systematically from stages one to four before REM sleep is reached, then the cycle again starts over.
Stage 1: sleep reading. Eyes are closed and you can be awakened easily but you will feel as if you have not slept at this stage. This may cause sudden contraction of muscle.
Stage 2: is a period of light sleep where sleep reading shows positive and negative waves. Relaxation is felt as body temperature and heart rate slows as the body gets ready for a deep sleep.
Stage 3 & 4: are deep sleep stages where stage 4 is more intense that stage 3.If you are aroused at these stages you will feel disoriented for a few minutes.
The late comings of my roommate interfered with my sleeping pattern causing negative impact; for instance
Slow thought process. Due to sleep deprivation, my though process was slow than usual. Sleepiness hampered my ability perform tasks that needed logical reasoning and also lowed alertness and concentration. Decision making was so poor due to impaired judgment
Memory loss; Sleep solidifies things we learn and experience all day, sleep deprivations leads to forgetting and misplace of things. This inability to focus and concentrates weakens memory
Slows reaction time of reaction hence causing unnecessary accidents and also makes learning difficult and distressing.
Sleepiness altered significantly my mood. It provokes irritability and anger. You feel tired walking and just feel like picking up a quarrel. It affects relationship with your friends. Prolonged sleepiness leads to depression at times.
