Category  AnyOther Company  AnyBashia WilsonSell Rare Collectibles     Price Range  Any$0 to $9.99$10.00 to $29.99$30.00 to $89.99$90.00 to $269.99$270.00+ Sort by  NonePrice: Low to HighPrice: High to LowDate: New to OldDate: Old to NewBest Selling: High to LowBest Selling: Low to High Keyword

$10.00 To $29.99

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

by Jon Clark

For those unfamiliar with it, the whole proverb goes "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." The first bubble to burst here is that Benjamin Franklin was not responsible for coining this phrase. It seems as though it is actually based on a similar English proverb dating from before 1500 and the first instance of the format that we know and love is attributed to my namesake of different spelling, John Clarke. Regardless of its origin, there is a lot of wisdom to be had here.

Birds and dolphins can sleep with one eye open because they are capable of sleeping half a brain at a time. The eye that is closed indicates which side of the brain is asleep. Our vision from both eyes goes to both sides of the brain at once so, unfortunately or fortunately depending on your perspective, it would be very difficult for us to accomplish a similar feat.

Some people spend all day going at 100 mph and view sleep as being an unwanted interruption on the productivity levels of their lives - damn those lucky dolphins. If you fall into that category, it's worth noting that all animals require sleep and - whatever your opinion of sleep - it is essential to your health. For some, that's bubble number two popped.

Although your day may not consist of being out foraging for food and fighting off predators, you still need to recover at the end of the day. Bearing in mind that we do not all have physical jobs or engage in physical activity every day, it seems clear that, at least for humans, sleep is more about the rest and regeneration of the brain than letting the body recover.

Cortisol is a hormone that gets a lot of bad press, but is actually a vital part of keeping you alert, fighting off infections, and reducing inflammation; provided the mechanism is working as it should be. The typical example is one of you being in the jungle and getting startled by a large predator chasing you with the intention of finding out how tasty you are. The well known 'fight or flight' process kicks in and floods your body with various hormones including cortisol and you either take the predator on or run as fast as your legs will carry you. Presuming you don't get eaten, the episode is followed by a corresponding period of relaxation when you have taken the predator out or successfully evaded it. At this point your body can begin to re-stabilise your hormone levels.

Barring random tiger attacks, there should be a natural ebb and flow of cortisol throughout the day. While there are a number of factors affecting the cortisol feedback loop on a daily basis which I'll address in another article, here we are just looking at sleep. Although amount of sleep is clearly important and chronic sleep debt has been shown to contribute to onset of diabetes, what I'd like to look at specifcally here is when you go to sleep.

Going back to the jungle theme for a minute, seeing as you have no technology to tell you the time, you have rely on plain old daylight. Normally that diminishes into the evening, we naturally sleep while it is dark and get up again when we feel our solar alarm clock going off. The Cortisol Awakening Response (C.A.R) does what is says on the tin and your cortisol levels rise naturally to help you awaken and be alert for your daily tasks. After a natural peak, this level gradually decreases throughout the day and reaches a natural low as we get into the evening as daylight wanes. Unfortunately, we aren't that skilled at differentiating between natural light and artificial sources and our evenings tend to be spent watching television, listening to the radio, using the computer, reading, or doing pretty much anything other than gently winding down in the evenings as our hormones would like. The problem is that scenario gives our cortisol levels continual small nudges instead of allowing them to diminish naturally with relaxation and in accordance with what your body is trying to achieve. Think of it like having your car revving hard and never letting the engine slow down, let alone stop - clearly the car in this example won't last as long as it's more rested counterpart.

Having looked at how important it is wind down properly, let's discuss optimal bedtimes and when to get up in the morning. Ideally you should be asleep by 10-10.30pm to be in line with your body's natural rhythms and getting up at around 6am. That range may sound crazy to some of you but (barring seasonal and geographical variations that change the timing of the daylight you receive) it's a good rule of thumb to try to follow. Having spent a long time thinking this advice was nonsense and I was just fine as long as I got sufficient hours - another big topic for another time, as well as popping bubble number three - I can now personally vouch for the massive improvements that sleeping in accordance with your natural rhythms brings to both physical and mental ability. At the very least I've learned that whatever time you get to bed, if you get up during the night to go to the toilet, don't turn the light on because you'll be telling your body that the day has begun and prompt cortisol release. Hopefully what we've discussed might give you a new outlook on the well known phrase: "Early to bed, early to rise..."

About the Author