#sloth? insomnia is a thing. but you should probably sleep if you don’t want to be driven mad upon the rocks

[lovelesslittleloser]

People should be more afraid of asexuals, because they’re the only people that are immune to one of the seven deadly sins

#seven deadly sins #maybe they have metaphorical lust. lust for the aesthetic #asexual #we also should fear aromantics but they aren’t necessarily immune to lust so fear them for the usual reasons #pride? sometimes can be negated by self-hatred but usually shows up when you do something to be proud of. as it should #greed? you might donate your money to orphans but if anyone touches your collection of shiny trinkets their hand will be removed #envy? unless you have never met any other living beings I don’t think it’s possible to escape this one #wrath? work in public service for a week and we’ll get you wanting to fistfight god #gluttony? eating disorders are a thing; however you should definitely eat something unless you wanna die #sloth? insomnia is a thing. but you should probably sleep if you don’t want to be driven mad upon the rocks #honestly too little of the seven deadly sins is also bad. no sloth? you’re barely functioning. no gluttony? you die of starvation. #no wrath? you’ll become a doormat. no envy? you’ll never want to improve yourself. no greed? you give all your stuff away and are now poor #no pride? you don’t love yourself AT ALL. no lust? no new generation. #and frankly that last one isn’t bad in the slightest considering that much is also true for people with a same-gender significant other #(unless they are also trans and willing but that’s a them problem to have) #plus overpopulation is a thing anyway so frankly the less lust the better. #the avatar of lust has been too overworked the past few decades and and wants a damn break for once #tw eating issues #tw eating disorder #eating disorder mention #shitpost

[dontenchantme]

insomnia

Rated T, belphegor x mc.

it was time to make a choice between facing her nightmares and facing her demons.

fics masterlist

She opened her eyes with a sigh, turning towards the clock placed on her bedside table. The fluorescent numbers glowed in the darkness. Hardly anything had changed since her last check.

It was four in the morning and she couldn’t sleep. The House of Lamentation was quiet; even Lucifer, the insomniac workaholic, had turned in for the night. She should know. This wouldn’t be the first time she whiled the night away, waiting for the brothers to rise for breakfast.

Sleep rarely came easily to her, even when she was in the human world. There was too much going on inside her head. Too much noise. Her thoughts and worries clamoured nonstop, and while she had grown used to tuning them out, they always grew louder when night fell.

She knew that at this timing, there was only one brother who could still be awake. The only one who might understand what she meant when she said that she couldn’t sleep.

Belphegor. The seventh-born, the Avatar of Sloth. Belphie, who so often wandered the house in the middle of the night, staring out of the window at the moon, studying the starless sky.

Her phone was right next to her clock. She reached for it, then hesitated. Would Belphie mind if she disturbed him? She didn’t know him well. Would she be intruding on his personal space?

But her searching fingers found the edge of her phone anyway, and the screen flickered to life. In the darkness, it was almost blinding. She squinted through the glare, opening the message tab and scanning through her chats – Belphie’s was the third on her screen.

For a moment, she thought about whether or not she ought to be texting him. She could just put her phone down now and try to go back to sleep. Then she wouldn’t have to worry about disturbing anyone, and she was sure she’d be able to fall asleep eventually.

But then some unexplainable feeling seized her and her fingers began to move across the screen. Maybe it was exhaustion. Maybe it was plain, simple desperation. Maybe it was just that she hadn’t slept properly in weeks and she should have asked for help long before she hit this point.

Either way, a mysterious force compelled her to reach out to him, a force strong enough that it overrode the fear that always gripped her at the thought of the seventh-born.

He had been trying to make it up to her, she knew that. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate his effort. She truly did. But even if he kept giving her those charming smiles, even if he spent the whole day doting on her every whim and fancy, she couldn’t help but remember the feeling of his claws sinking deep into her flesh, the murderous intent that gleamed in his eyes.

The pain never went away, not really. It tainted the skin, a memory that sank and nestled within her very bones. If she had her way, if she was able to seek help from anyone else, she would – but there was no one. And she was desperate. She yearned to close her eyes and sink into the escape that was unconsciousness; by now, her dreams were becoming little more than a distant memory.

She sent the text, wondering how long it would take before she received a reply. But she didn’t have to wonder – he replied almost instantly, saying she could come to his room if she wanted to, or he could come to hers.

She made up her mind within seconds. Belphie should come to her room. If she went over, they might wake Beel, and then he’d probably head down to the kitchen and empty the fridge again. It was exhausting enough trying to deal with her insomnia.

Minutes later, she heard a knock on the door. She clambered off the bed, her heart jumping to her throat – when she opened the door, there he stood, holding onto his favourite pillow, his eyes half-lidded with sleep. He had the same violet-pink eyes as Beel. Such lovely eyes.

Before she came to the Devildom, she’d never have believed that someone like Belphie would be able to commit murder. He was so beautiful, with his delicate features and his gentle smile, his silky hair that was so dark it looked almost blue. How could someone like Belphie ever hurt another being? But she knew better now. Her chest ached with unwanted memories.

“Well, you asked for me, so here I am,” he mumbled, yawning as he spoke. “Be grateful for this – I don’t help just anyone with their insomnia, you know.” His smile was half-hearted; she could barely force a smile in return. Her fingers trembled as she stared at him, and she clutched onto the door, hoping he wouldn’t notice. She didn’t want to be scared. She shouldn’t have to be.

But her body remembered. The aftermath of their terrible, violent intimacy echoed through her, and her heart thudded in her chest. The heart was such a weak, fragile thing. An unwanted reminder of how she had collapsed at his touch, how his demonic strength could so easily rend her apart. In his arms, she was nothing more than a paper doll. Weak, useless, completely defenceless.

He didn’t say a word. He just waited for her, patient, unflinching. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. He was different now. She glanced down at her chest, covered by the thin fabric of her pyjamas. Belphie’s pact mark was placed right over her heart, a cruel reminder of where he had once maimed her – how ironic, that the proof of their bond was located there now.

Finally, she stepped aside, allowing him to enter her room. Wordlessly, she went over to her bed, shifting some cushions so that there was space for him before she laid down, giving him an expectant look. Belphie didn’t need a second invitation – he curled up beside her, and his touch was gentle, his soft voice murmuring lullabies, his fingers twirling through her hair.

He had the delicate hands of an artist, and they were beautiful.

It occurred to her that it was strange to think of her would-be killer as anything but terrifying. Yet he was undeniably beautiful, and his smile was tender. It was a far cry from what things were like all those months ago when he had spoken to her through the door of the attic.

Sometimes, she thought about how gullible and trusting she had been, and she’d wonder if things would have been any different if she had just heeded Lucifer’s warnings. Then maybe she wouldn’t have ended up bleeding her heart out. But it was too late for regrets – and anyway, her death and revival had helped the brothers to patch up their relationship. That was good, right? If she hadn’t come along, who knew how long Belphie would be stuck in the attic.

And things were different now. She didn’t have to be afraid anymore, not with the pacts she had collected, not with the way Belphie treated her. Still, fear was an irrational, unconscious thing and it lingered in the back of her mind, never quite releasing its grip on her.

She found her eyelids steadily lowering as Belphie continued to hum. He had such a soothing voice, one that reminded her of her mother rocking her to sleep as a child. Her mind and body were heavy, and she felt the gentle waves of sleep calling to her, washing up against the shore of her consciousness. It would be nice if she could just let go and sink into the melody he wove for her. She turned towards Belphie, instinctively seeking his warmth, and his fingers paused for a moment before he resumed running his hand through her hair, still humming gently.

He allowed her to rest her head on his shoulder as he waited for her to fall asleep, and he finally stopped humming when he sensed her breathing change, becoming slow and steady. He cast his gaze towards the ceiling, his fingers stilling in her hair. Sometimes, he forgot how fragile she was – in the moments when their fingertips brushed, or when they bumped into each other in the hallway, he could hear the blood flowing in her veins, hear the unsteady beat of her heart and he’d realise just how mortal she was. How easily she could live, how easily she could die.

He forgot that for humans, death was an irrevocable sentence. She was not like his brothers, who could all withstand pain, who brushed away life-threatening injuries as though they were little more than scratches. When humans got stabbed through the heart with claws sharper than knives, they wouldn’t bounce back, taunting their enemies with their fangs bared.

She would simply…die. She’d crumple to the floor like a butterfly with its wings torn off, blood spreading across her chest, dripping in puddles onto the ground. She’d smell like death and her body would cool so rapidly that he wondered if she was ever really real, or if this entire time she was nothing but a mannequin, easily fooled, easily manipulated into doing everything he wanted.

He thought that he’d find deliverance in her death, that he would finally be able to avenge Lilith, but when he killed the human, he just felt…hollow.

Even now, he still wasn’t sure how he felt about the truth. How he felt about the situation they found themselves in. He knew it was his fault that she was afraid of him now; she showed no sign of fear towards his brothers, only him. It was almost funny. He was the seventh-born, the weakest of the seven princes of hell, and yet he was the one she feared the most.

But he was willing to wait. He wanted to make amends. It was due to his prejudice that things had ended up this way, and until she was willing to forgive him, he’d simply continue trying.

She was Lilith’s descendant, after all. Some part of his precious little sister lived on in this girl, this mortal who was the most fragile thing he’d ever seen – and even if she wasn’t related to Lilith, she still fascinated him. Anyone Beel liked enough to share his food with had to be decent. Perhaps he was mistaken about humans. Or maybe it was just her. He couldn’t be sure.

When he looked at her slumbering face, something about it helped him to find some measure of peace. He hadn’t felt this way in a long time. For once he wanted to sleep; he wanted to lay his head down and close his eyes, not because he was the Avatar of Sloth but simply because she was beside him, and there was something unspeakably soothing about her presence.

He would continue to try and continue to wait. One day she might let down her guard around him, the same way she did for his brothers. He had never been particularly patient, but he was willing to wait for her. It was the least he could do to make up for what he had done.

#belphegor obey me #belphie obey me #belphegor x mc #belphie x mc #obey me #obey me shall we date

[elwon]

Tag Game

Rules of the game: Answer 17 questions and tag 17 people you want to get to know better.

Tagged by: @gavotteandgigue

Nickname: el

Zodiac Sign: I’m a very typical scorpio IRL. Online I am a ton more laidback and easy going. I think this is probably a sign most people should not meet me IRL! :D (special shout out to @unhobbity for consistently putting up with me for all these years!)

Height: 5′3″

Hogwarts House: I kinda missed the whole HP thing by virtue of being an adult when it came out, but quizzes tell me ravenclaw?

Last thing I googled: A cinema close to where I live’s films for tomorrow.

Songs stuck in my head: Currently Lurk by the Neighbourhood because I’m writing a GCG JayDick fic, and therefore the title comes from that. Also Church by FalloutBoy

Following: 69   Yes, for exactly that reason.

Followers: 745... HOW?

Amount of sleep I get: 4-6 hours. Insomnia sucks, but on the bright side I have plenty of time to plan fic.

Lucky number: 9. 

Dream Job: Winning the lottery and never needing to work again! Writing, I guess?

Wearing: pajamas because it’s 11.30pm! My sloth pjs, my Arkham Knight hoodie and robin green slipper boots to be exact.

Favorite Song: Uh I have a bunch on rotation, but probably Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen, Lola by the Kinks, Dream a Little Dream of Me by Mama Cass and Cake by the Ocean by DNCE

Instruments: The triangle! ok, seriously, I used to be able to play the piano (badly) the violin (adequately) and the Clarinet (fairly well.) But that was decades ago. so accurately, nothing!

Random Fact: The first letters of July, August, September, October and November spell out JASON.

Aesthetics: hoodies and jeans? IDK what even is this question? punky-goth? 

I don’t know 17 people and most of them have been tagged already so... @lovecinnatwist @paperempires @cherrymiko-art and @solomonara

#meme #me meme #get to know me

[acespaceacepilot]

Tag 10 blogs you want to get to know better - @bowieskam tagged me for this

name: lana

gender: i’m cisfem

height: 5’4” / ~163cm

sexuality: asexual panromantic but i generally just say queer

favorite animal: sloths or jellyfish

average hours of sleep: like typically six hours? i’m a night gremlin with adhd and insomnia and sometimes only get three or four. i wish i had a consistent sleep schedule

dog or cat: i have a dog so i’m contractually obligated to say dogs

current time: 12:38am

dream job: like. if i had all the luck and motivation in the world, an anthropological linguistics professor. or an astronaut. but also i have a career and i love my job; it’s really fulfilling and rewarding.

when i made my blog: it’s been a long ass time, i’ve had it since high school. i don’t remember the exact year, but like. eons. i’m ancient in internet time

reason for my URL: back in 2015 the force awakens came out and disney had yet to fuck over my favorite characters. it’s a joke on poe dameron who i hc as ace out of spite with people shoving him into that latin lover trope. he’s an ace space pilot that is also ace. acespaceacepilot. should i change it to something more consistent with who i am as a person? probably but then i’d have to go through all my author’s notes on ao3 and change my tumblr links and i don’t wanna put the time into that.

i don’t ever really tag people in these kind of things bc thinking of people gives me anxiety, so like. if you want to do this, you can tag me in it. i’ll vouch for you lmaooo

#Lana talks #i Guess

[i-smile-so-i-must-be-fine]

1: My name? jess

2: Do I have any nicknames? lilo, babe, baby

3: Zodiac sign? virgo 

4: Video game I play to chill, not to win? none 

5: Book/series I reread? none 

6: Aliens or ghosts? ghosts

7: Writer I trust enough to read whatever they write?

8: Favourite radio station? capital fm or smooth 

9: Favourite flavour of anything? hmm strawberry

10: The word that I use all the time to describe something great? amazing 

11: Favourite song? stitches - shawn mendes 

12: The question you ask new friends to get to know them better? lol don’t really make new friends often 

13: Favourite word? depends on my mood what i use the most 

14: The last person who hurt me, did I forgive them? no 

15: Last song I listened to? turn me on - riton 

16: TV show I always recommend? never really recommend anything 

17: Pirates or ninjas? pirates 

18: Movie I watch when I’m feeling down? perks of been a wallflower or fault in our stars

19: Song that I always start my shuffle with/wake-up song/always-on-a-loop song? again depends on my mood

20: Favourite video games? none

21: What am I most afraid of? my girl dying or been left 

22: A good quality of mine? i care soooo much about others 

23: A bad quality of mine? paranoia/jealousy 

24: Cats or dogs? cats

25: Actor/actress you trust enough to watch whatever they’re in? don’t really know 

26: Favourite season? autumn 

27: Am I in a relationship? yep 

28: Something I miss? been able to just go to my girls house or have her come to me 

29: My best friend? does my fiancee count.. other than that don’t have one 

30: Eye colour? green/brown they change colour 

31: Hair colour? brown

32: Someone I love? my girl and our son 

33: Someone I trust? my girl 

34: Someone I always think about? my girl and our son 

35: Am I excited about anything? seeing my girl on wednesday 

36: My current obsession? don’t currently have one 

37: Favourite TV shows as a child? lizzy mcguire 

38: Do I have someone of the opposite sex that I can tell everything to? no 

39: Am I superstitious? not really

40: What do I think about most? ...

41: Do I have any strange phobias? no 

42: Do I prefer to be in front of the camera or behind it? behind 

43: Favourite hobbies? listening to music/ watching netflix 

44: Last book I read? can’t remember what its called but i need to finish reading it 

45: Last film I watched? a star is born 

46: Do I play any instruments? no 

47: Favourite animal? tiger

48: Top 5 blog on Tumblr that I follow?

49: Superpower I wish I could have? wish i could have three.. invisibility, fly, read minds 

50: How do I destress? i don’t 

51: Do I like confrontation? no 

52: When do I feel most at peace? with my girl 

53: What makes me smile? my girl and our son 

54: Do I sleep with the lights on or off? off

55: Play any sports? used to 

56: What is my song of the week? don’t have one 

57: Favourite drink? red bull 

58: When did I last send a handwritten letter to somebody? its been a while

59: Afraid of heights? no 

60: Pet peeve? people biting their nails 

61: What was the last concert I went to see? shawn mendes 

62: Am I vegetarian/vegan/pescatarian? no 

63: What occupation did I want to do when I was younger? pe teacher 

64: Have I ever had a friend turn enemy? kinda 

65: What fictional universe would I like to be a part of? dunno 

66: Something I worry about? everything 

67: Scared of the dark? only when im out on my own 

68: Who are my best friends? answered 

69: What do I admire most about others? it varys in each person 

70: Can I sing? LOL no 

71: Something I wish I could do? read minds 

72: If I won the lottery, what would I do? help family out, by my little family a house, learn to drive and buy a car, holidays, 

73: Have I ever skipped school? yea

74: Favourite place on the planet? hmm anywhere with my little family is perfect 

75: Where do I want to live? as a kid i always wanted to move to ameria, and now i’d love to live in greece 

76: Do I have any pets? yea

77: What is my current desktop picture? the quote “love is louder than the pressure to be perfect”

78: Early bird or night owl? night 

79: Sunsets or sunrise? set

80: Can I drive? i wish 

81: Story behind my last kiss? saying goodbye :(

82: Earphones or headphones? both 

83: Have I ever had braces? no 

84: Story behind one of my scars? sh 

85: Favourite genre of music? listen to most genres 

86: Who is my hero? hmm 

87: Favourite comic book character? harley quinn

88: What makes me really angry? anything can trigger it 

89: Kindle or real book? neither

90: Favourite sporty activity? dunno 

91: What is one thing that isn’t tight in schools that should be?

92: What was my favourite subject at school? pe

93: Siblings? 1

94: What was the last thing I bought? a can of monster 

95: How tall am I? 5″3

96: Can I cook? kinda

97: Can I bake? a little 

98: 3 things I love? my girl, my son, my phone 

99: 3 things I hate? been late, my ex, my girls ex 

100: Do I have more girl friends or boy friends? girls 

101: Who do I get on with better, girls or boys? girls 

102: Where was I born? england 

103: Sexual orientation? lesbian 

104: Where do I currently live? england 

105: Last person I texted? my girl 

106: Last time I cried? this morning 

107: Guilty pleasure? dunno 

108: Favourite Youtuber? rose and rosie 

109: A photo of myself. no 

110: Do I like selfies? only if someone else is in them with me 

111: Favourite game app? home scapes 

112: My relationship with my parents? its okay 

113: Favourite accents? canadian 

114: A place I have not been but wish to visit? i want to travel the world so yea 

115: Favourite number? 7

116: Can I juggle? no 

117: Am I religious? no 

118: Do I like space? kinda 

119: Do I like the deep ocean? yea 

120: Am I much of a daredevil? probably 

121: Am I allergic to anything? no 

122: Can I curl my tongue? no 

123: Can I wiggle my ears? no 

124: Do I like clowns? they’re alright 

125: The Beatles or Elvis? neither 

126: My current project? don’t have one 

127: Am I a bad loser? no 

128: Do I admit when I wrong? sometimes 

129: Forest or beach? beach 

130: Favourite piece of advice? dunno 

131: Am I a good liar? kinda

132: Hogwarts house / Divergent faction / Hunger Games district? erm well i got bored of harry potter through the first one.. dunno anything about the second one and hunger games confused me 

133: Do I talk to myself? i talk to the voices in my head if that counts 

134: Am I very social? lol no

135: Do I like gossip? sometimes

136: Do I keep a journal/diary? no 

137: Have I ever hopelessly failed a test? yea plenty of times 

138: Do I believe in second chances? pretty much 

139: If I found a wallet full of cash on the ground, what would I do? keep the cash and hand in the wallet 

140: Do I believe people are capable of change? sometimes 

141: Have I ever been underweight? no 

142: Am I ticklish? very 

143: Have I ever been in a submarine? no but sounds fun 

144: Have I ever been on a plane? a few times 

145: In a film about my life, who would I cast as myself, friends and family? dunno 

146: Have I ever been overweight? story of my life 

147: Do I have any piercings? not anymore 

148: Which fictional character do I wish was real? harley quinn 

149: Do I have any tattoos? 9

150: What is the best decision I have made in life so far? agreeing to meet the person who became my fiancee 3 months later 

151: Do I believe in Karma? i thought i did but apparently it doesn’t happen 

152: Do I wear glasses or contacts? i’m supposed to wear glasses to read 

153: What was my first car? i can’t drive 

154: Do I want children? i have 1 

155: Who is the most intelligent person I know?

156: My most embarrassing memory? to many to name 

157: What makes me nostalgic?

158: Have I ever pulled an all-nighter? i have insomnia sooo 

159: Which do I value more in others, brains or beauty? brains 

160: What colour mostly dominates my wardrobe? black 

161: Have I ever had a paranormal experience? a few times 

162: What do I hate most about myself? everything 

163: What do I love most about myself? tattoos 

164: Do I like adventure? yea 

165: Do I believe in fate? kinda 

166: Favourite animal? tiger 

167: Have I ever been on radio? yea 

168: Have I ever been on TV? does the news count?

169: How old am I? 26

170: One of my favourite quotes? love is louder than the pressure to be perfect 

171: Do I hold grudges? yea

172: Do I trust easily? no 

173: Have I learnt from my mistakes? think so 

174: Best gift I’ve ever received? hmm 

175: Do I dream? i day dream a lot but for the past dunno how long i’ve had nightmares when i’ve been able to sleep

176: Have I ever had a night terror? all the time 

177: Do I remember my dreams, and what is one that comes to mind? there all nightmares 

178: An experience that has made me stronger? erm 

179: If I were immortal, what would I do? god please i hope that never happens 

180: Do I like shopping? if im feeling impulsive 

181: If I could get away with a crime, what would I choose to do? i’d murder a few people 

182: What does “family” mean to me? dunno can’t explain it 

183: What is my spirit animal? sloth 

184: How do I want to be remembered?

185: If I could master one skill, what would I choose? maths 

186: What is my greatest failure? my last relationship but thank fuck it didn’t work out 

187: What is my greatest achievement? my son although it happened out of a very bad situation 

188: Love or money? love 

189: Love or career? love

190: If I could time travel, where and when would I want to go? its difficult coz i’d want to go to the future to see if things actually improve.. but i’d also want to go into the past to change things 

191: What makes me the happiest? my little family 

192: What is “home” to me? been in my girls arms 

193: What motivates me? my son 

194: If I could choose my last words, what would they be?

195: Would I ever want to encounter aliens? sure 

196: A movie that scared me as a child? incredible hulk 

197: Something I hated as a child that I like now? dunno 

198: Zombies or vampires? vampires 

199: Live in the city or suburbs? not fussed 

200: Dragons or wizards? dragons 

201: A nightmare that has stayed with me?

202: How do I define love? love is when you care deeply for someone and so much more

203: Do I judge a book by its cover? i try not to 

204: Have I ever had my heart broken? yea 

205: Do I like my handwriting? no 

206: Sweet or savoury? sweet 

207: Worst job I’ve had? when i was an intern at this little cafe i just hated the whole experience 

208: Do I collect anything? no 

209: Item of clothing or jewellery you’ll never see me without? my engagnment ring and the first ring my girl bought me 

210: What is on my bucket list? to travel 

211: How do I handle anger? depends 

212: Was I named after anyone? dunno 

213: Do I use sarcasm a lot? always 

214: What TV character am I most like? dunno 

215: What is the weirdest talent I have? i have flexible fingers 

216: Favourite fictional character? harley quinn 

[quinlin-blog1]

The Lost Island ~ Chapter Eight

*Shockingly enough, this is the final chapter of The Lost Island. Yeah, I didn’t really write much, and although I did have a second book, it got lost when my previous computer was dropped. So much for that book. Either way I really hope you’ve enjoyed! 

One Week.

Two Weeks.

Three Weeks.

A month.

I Guess I didn't realize how far away Miuros was.

Let me tell you that is wasn't a simple stroll in the park.

We've crossed lakes, Climbed Mountains, passed through valleys and we did it all while trying to stay out of sight of people.

It's probably why we had to do all these things, stay out of the main town areas and we ended up having to take quite a few detours. And I don’t think that when we started this trek, how big the island actually was.

“Mommy!” Dill cried. I rushed to go see what happened.

Though, I don't think I was fully prepared for what I saw.

Dill seemed to have somehow, hung himself from a branch on a tree, above one of our tents.

“How in the name of whoever is out there, did you manage to get up there?” I asked.

“I don't know,” Dill said innocently

“Bets!” I shouted.

“Yeah?” She replied coming closer to me.

“How did Dill get up there?” I asked.

“Well you see Delly. He was trying to be a sloth, because the other sloths were teasing him that he couldn't climb the tree, He just appeared there. Like a fairy appearing in a puff of smoke!” Crystal informed me. Well, at least she's getting back to her animal obsessive-ness.

Wait, did she say puff of smoke?

“Yes Delly. I said puff of smoke,” Crystal replied.

Damn It! I thought I stopped that!

“Well you didn't,” Porter said, appearing out of, literally, nowhere.

“For God’s sake!” I said as I jumped back in shock, causing Crystal and Porter to laugh.

“Ha-ha hilarious!” I scowled.

“Mommy! Hewp! Helwp!”  Dill called.

Well at least it's a good way for me to practice my abilities.

I watched as my hands and eyes began to glow golden, I was watching myself, outside of my body.

“Alright Dill. Jump,” I told him.

He shook his head at me.

“Dill. You have to jump!” I provoked him.

He nodded and jumped out of the tree. My dis-embodied self caught him and pulled him over to where my embodied self was. Then as my hands and eyes stopped glowing, my dis-embodied self disappeared.

I looked at Dill, who looked back at me.

“Mommy! The fairies taught me how to Poof!” He exclaimed

“Is that so?” I asked.

“Yup! Dey said that I'm gonna be fwiend to Dem. Dey taught me to Poof!”

“Show me your Poof,” I said.

I set Dill on the ground, he stepped about four feet away from me before putting on a very concentrated face. (He looked like he was constipated), and he suddenly disappeared, leaving a trail of smoke and smog in his trail.

“Wow,” I said.

“Did you see mwe?! Did you see mwe?!” Dill shouted from behind me.

“I did see you and it was amazing.” It was also good to have a great get away trick.

Dill seemed extremely happy at my pride and approval.

“Dey said dat dey can teach mwe more later,” Dill told me.

“Really? They did? When did they say that?” I asked.

“Earlier, Dey said dat dey like mwe,” Dill explained briefly.

“Well they seem nice.” I said. You may possibly be thinking that I'm insane for encouraging such behavior, but you saw what he did just then, those things don't just come by themselves.

If Dill said it was the fairies then the fairies it was.

“Dey said dat dey like you too Mommy! Dey like all of us!” Dill stated.

“Do they now? Well I'm glad we made a good impression on them. Do you like them?”

“Uh-Huh! Dey nice!”  

“Well I'm glad that you made some friends. But try not to Poof into a tree next time” I responded.

    The next day, was, I will admit, extremely cold. I could have sworn that I saw frost on the bases of trees as we trudged through the forest, I'd say that now, we were two thirds of the ways there. Not too bad. But we could have been closer.

I had wrapped Dill up in my cloak that Carmen had lent me. Crystal had on her purple leather jacket and Porter was wrapped in two different green cloaks. It was just that cold.

“Damn sloths! Making it cold!” Crystal cursed.

“I don't think Damning the sloths will help our situation Bets” Porter pointed out.

“Well it's all I can do,” Crystal said.

“Dell, are you sure that we're going the right way?” Porter asked.

“Yes, why do you ask?” I wasn't used to leading, that was usually Catherine and Crystal kind of thing, but Crystal had wounded herself by trying to be a sloth so I was stuck in the leader position.

“Because we past that bush that looks like Darth Vader's helmet four times already” Porter point to the bush that I had indeed stated, looked like Darth Vader's Helmet. I sighed and buried my cold nose on the top of Dill's head.

“Well, what route should we take this time?” I asked

“I think we should take that scary looking path!” Crystal piped up, pointing down into the end of the forest that looked just as friendly as it sounded.

“How about no” Porter said.

“Well it's the only way we haven't gone yet,” Crystal told us.

As much as I wanted to disagree with Crystal and say that we should take the safe route, now that I thought about it, it really was the only way we hadn't gone yet.  

“Nope, I'm not going down there,” Porter protested.

“I thought that you were supposed to be loyal to the orders of the Alpha and the Beta?” Crystal inquired.

“Yes, but we don't follow your every wish and demand. If I see a problem with what you're saying, it's my job to point it out to you.”

“But there's a point in time where you have to just follow along.”

“Not now! That's a bloody death trap! There's no way on this Earth that you're going to get me to go into there,” Porter said.

So, I let them continue their pointless argument, I went down the right path, no matter how scary it was, they'd have to follow the guardian, they had to follow. Dill was still shivering slightly, but he was almost asleep. I wished that I could be the same. With the combination of cold, worry and slight fear, I was suffering from insomnia.

I wondered for a moment how Catherine was holding up.

How had they been treating her?

No better than they would you or any other person.

Had she given them what they wanted?

Knowing Catherine, she probably would have spit in their faces.

Did she know that we coming for her?

She's probably denying it, but she knows we wouldn't abandon her.

Is she still alive?

Yes!

What if she isn't?

She has to be.

That all depends on how stubborn those people are and how much she denied them.

Well now you're just not helping.

Did you expect me to?

Sometimes, I hate my brain.

“Well too bad for you Sissy, you're stuck with it and us.” Not helping Cal.

“We're not trying to help. You’re fun to mess with,” Arrow teased

I focused hard and heard a loud thunk that echoed through the vaults of my mind.

“OW!” They all exclaimed.

“That's what you get,” I snickered.

“That ain't nice Baby sis,” Zell stated.

“Yeah, but it was fun,” I said.

“Now that, I ain't gonna deny,” Zell told me.

“Hey! Zell! You're supposed to be on my side!” Arrow exclaimed.

“Yeah but he likes me more than any of you,” I smirked.

Arrow gasped “Zell! How could you! I thought you loved me! That's it! We're over!” Arrow yelled.

”I knew it!” I shouted, making Dill look at me. “Sorry.”

“Knew what?” Tori asked.

“The romance Tor! Can't you see the love?” I teased.

“I can!” Cal stated.

“Totally,” Tori agreed.

“I hate you all,” Arrow pouted.

“Everyone loves me Arrow,” I told him.

“It's not just him. I hate you guys too,” Zell pointed out.

“Don't be like that guys,” I said.

“We can be however we want to be and you can't say nothing about it,” Arrow said.

“How much wood could a wood-chuck chuck, if a wood-chuck could chuck wood?” Cal asked.

“I'm not even sure how that became a part of the conversation,” I blinked.

“Me too,” The others replied.

“Are you guys always this loud?” I heard Crystal ask.

“Yes. Did you guys finally finish arguing?”

“For now.” Porter said simply.

“Can you hear them?” I asked gesturing to my head.

“Only just now, Carrie connected us for a moment so I could understand why your facial expressions go too rapidly from grumpy, to happy, then serious then confused, then laughing and back to serious again.”

“I'm not that bad!” I defended.

“Yeah you are,” The others said.

“Shut up,” I grumbled.

“What? We didn't say anything,” Porter told me.

“Not you,” I said.

“Me?” Crystal asked.

“NO!”

I pointed to my head, where Cal and Zell had just gotten into a fight. From what it sounds like, it's a fist fight. Great.

“Would you Stop IT!” I yelled. Making everyone, including Porter, Dill and Crystal stop.

“Us?” Crystal and Porter asked while Dill looked at me.

“Sorry,” Cal and Zell said.

“No, Cal and Zell got into a fist fight.”

“Who won?” Porter asked excitedly.

“I did!” Cal and Zell said.

“They did,” I repeated.

“No I did!”

“No, they did,” I repeated.

“Uh-uh.”

“Uh-uh.”

“Don't be mean!”

“Don't be mean!”

I think by this time I had thoroughly freaked out the others.

“Quickly, quietly get the brain surgeon,” Crystal whispered to Porter.

“Or maybe a Psychiatrist” Porter replied quietly.

“Why not both?”

“I can hear you!” I shouted.

“We weren't doing anything!” They shouted and I rolled my eyes.

“And I don't need a brain Surgeon or a Psychiatrist!” I told them.

“Are you sure?” Bets asked me.

“OK, maybe I might need a psychiatrist. But I don't fancy the brain surgeon,” I cringed.

“Neither do we.” They replied.

“You guys Awe weird,” Dill said.

“Thank you,” I said drowsily, my eyes drooping down.

It had been a while since I had a good night’s rest. With staying up as look-out and watching over Dill and Crystal and Porter, really, I didn’t get much sleep.

It wasn't even a moment later that my eyes started drooping and I was pretty much sleep walking. Poor Dill probably got a fright.

“Delly!”

“It wasn't me!” I was lucky enough to be able to dodge the tree I was heading for.

I heard snickering and turned to see Porter really trying his best to not laugh at me. Key word, Trying.

OK, I really tried to look angry, but really, I was confused so I gave up on that and looked in front of me just in time.

All emotions washed away when we came upon a city that wasn't there in our time. The entire thing was in ruins, yet it looked intact. It looked old and abandoned, it may have been old, but there was life there.

It felt cold, but not the cold you get from snow or the wind. No, I wished it was that cold. It was the cold that you would identify something that was undead and ghostly.

“The Lost City,” I muttered as I looked at Crystal and Porter. The wind howled by our ears in an eerie fashion. Even Dill seemed to not like this place.

 “The Lost City.” They repeated. Taking the first step into the unknown City.

#School #fantasy #adventure #teen fiction #magic #superpowers #time travel

[sherristockman]

Catastrophic Consequences of Chronic Sleep Deprivation Dr. Mercola By Dr. Mercola About 1 in 3 Americans gets less than seven hours of sleep a night and more than 83 million adults in the U.S. are sleep-deprived.1,2 If you work long hours, have a sleep disorder or spend a lot of time in front of electronic screens, you may be sleeping five or fewer hours per night. Such little sleep can trigger a wide range of health issues, such as chronic disease, increased risk of accidents, reduced sex drive and weight gain. You may not realize sleep also plays an important role in memory formation, and chronic-sleep dysfunctions such as sleep apnea have been shown to accelerate memory loss. Earlier in life I disregarded the importance of sleep, at times getting no more than five or six hours a night. Now, because I value sleep as a significant factor with respect to my health and longevity, I get the recommended eight hours most nights. I have said it many times before, and I hope you are taking this advice to heart: Most adults need about eight hours of sleep per night to function well. Children and teenagers, because they are still growing and developing, require nine or more hours of rest. As you likely have observed, it is also common for them to sleep even longer on weekends. Sleep Deprivation: A Serious Threat to Society Matthew Walker, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience and psychology, and founder and director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley, defines sleep deprivation as sleeping less than seven hours a night. "No aspect of our biology is left unscathed by sleep deprivation," says Walker. "It sinks down into every possible nook and cranny.”3 Sleep deprivation, he notes, is associated with a number of serious diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, mental illness, obesity and stroke. In an interview with The Guardian,4 Walker points out how easy it is to observe sleep problems: “I get on a flight at 10 a.m. when people should be at peak alert, and half of the [passengers on the] plane [have] immediately fallen asleep.” According to a Gallup Poll,5 Americans slept an average of 7.9 hours a night in 1942, but only 6.8 hours in 2013. Walker pins the blame for our consistently declining slumber patterns on the following “enemies of sleep:” Alcohol and caffeine: These and other substances, such as sleeping pills, interfere with sleep quality and sleep time Artificial lighting: We have effectively electrified the night, and light at night damages your health by degrading your sleep Loneliness, anxiety and depression: The longing for connection and the effects of mental illness can often interfere with or cause people to forego sleep Long work hours: The international business environment, increased global competition and longer commuter times are just a few of the factors contributing to the increase in work hours and stress-related burnout Overcommitment: Schedules are filled from morning to night, and many people are unwilling to trade entertainment or socializing with family and friends for sleep Interesting Facts About Our Global Sleep Problem Below are some intriguing facts about our global sleep problem that may surprise you:6 Two-thirds of adults in developed nations fail to receive the World Health Organization’s recommended eight hours of sleep per night A 2013 study7 reported men who slept too little had sperm counts 29 percent lower than those who regularly got a full night’s sleep You are 4.3 times more likely to be involved in a crash than a well-rested driver when you drive on less than five hours of sleep; on just four hours of sleep, your risk of crashing is 11.5 times higher A hot bath before bed readies you for sleep because it causes your dilated blood vessels to radiate inner heat, lowering your core body temperature, which is an essential activity to initiate sleep More than 100 diagnosed sleep disorders exist, the most common of which is insomnia The global population comprises 40 percent morning types, those who prefer to awaken at or around dawn; 30 percent evening types, those who go to bed late and wake up late; and 30 percent who are classified as somewhere in between Why Is Lack of Sleep a Badge of Honor While Healthy Sleep Is Vilified? According to Walker, for whatever reason, lack of sleep in modern times has become a sort of “badge of honor.” You may feel compelled to talk about how busy you are or how much you are accomplishing, even if pushing yourself to do increasingly more is causing you to damage your health by foregoing sleep. On the other hand, good sleep can sometimes be characterized as a sign of sloth. “We have stigmatized sleep with the label of laziness,” says Walker. “We want to seem busy, and one way we express that is by proclaiming how little sleep we’re getting.” Walker asserts no one would look at an infant and suggest he or she was a lazy baby. That’s the case because “we know sleeping is nonnegotiable for a baby.” Unfortunately, the notion that sleep is vital to our well-being is quickly dispensed with as we age. “Humans are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent reason,” suggests Walker. Based on years of studying sleep, he is certain there is not a single person on the planet who can make it on five hours or less of sleep without suffering some level of short-term impairment or long-term illness. When asked if he takes his own advice about sleep, Walker replied: “I give myself a nonnegotiable eight-hour sleep opportunity every night, and I keep very regular hours. If there is one thing I tell people, it’s to go to bed and to wake up at the same time every day, no matter what. I take my sleep incredibly seriously because I have seen the evidence. Once you know that after just one night of only four or five hours of sleep, your natural killer cells — the ones that attack the cancer cells that appear in your body every day — drop by 70 percent, or that a lack of sleep is linked to cancer of the bowel, prostate and breast … how could you do anything else?” Sleep Affects Your Body’s Hunger-Regulating Hormones You may not realize a lack of consistent, high-quality sleep wreaks havoc on two of your body’s hunger-regulating hormones. Chronic lack of sleep can cause ghrelin — also known as your “hunger hormone” — to skyrocket, which has the effect of making you feel hungry when you really don't need to eat. Ghrelin appears to act on your brain’s pleasure centers. This explains why you may be inclined to reach for a second brownie based on remembering how good the first one tasted and made you feel while you were eating it. Leptin, also referred to as the "obesity hormone," helps regulate your appetite, metabolism and feelings of satiety. Leptin tells your brain when you’re full and when it should start burning calories. When you are sleeping, your leptin levels increase, signaling your brain you have sufficient energy and letting it know to curtail any calorie burning or signals for hunger. The decrease in leptin brought on by sleep deprivation often results in your metabolism slowing down and your body signaling a constant feeling of hunger even though you do not need to eat. Because leptin is secreted by fat tissue, if you are overweight, you likely have higher than normal levels of leptin, which may lead to leptin resistance. Overly high levels of leptin have been tied to heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and stroke, as well as blood sugar problems.8 If you are leptin resistant, your body will receive signals that may lead you to continue to eat even when you’ve actually had enough. While chronic sleep deprivation cannot shoulder total responsibility for the continuing surge in global obesity rates, Walker believes it certainly plays a significant role. He states:9 “I’m not going to say the obesity crisis is caused by the sleep-loss epidemic alone. It’s not. However, processed food and sedentary lifestyles do not adequately explain its rise. Something is missing. It’s now clear sleep is that third ingredient.” The researchers stated, “These differences in leptin and ghrelin are likely to increase appetite, possibly explaining the increased BMI observed with short sleep duration.” 11 A sleep-disorders study involving more than 1,000 participants, which was designed to uncover a link between sleep problems and metabolic hormones, concluded:10 Those who slept for five hours had 14.9 percent higher ghrelin levels and 15.5 percent lower leptin levels than those who achieved eight hours of sleep The short sleepers had higher body mass indexes (BMIs) Running Low on ZZZs May Put You at Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease While working on his Ph.D. in neurophysiology, Walker stumbled into the realm of sleep. After failing to successfully identify brainwave patterns in people with different forms of dementia while testing them during daytime hours, Walker stumbled across a scientific paper revealing a probable link between sleep and dementia. In the ensuing six months, Walker set up a sleep laboratory and began to study his patients’ brainwave patterns at night. In doing so, he found that sleep quality, it seemed, could be an early diagnostic for dementia. Now, Walker is convinced too little sleep during your adult life span significantly raises your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. This is the case because amyloid-beta deposits that would normally be cleaned out of your brain nightly during deep sleep accumulate as plaques and kill off surrounding cells.12 This waste-removal system has been dubbed the glymphatic system, and operates similarly to your body's lymphatic system, which is responsible for eliminating cellular waste products. Because your brain is a closed system, protected by the blood-brain barrier, it needs its own system for waste elimination. Your glymphatic system gets into your brain by piggybacking on blood vessels in your brain. By pumping cerebral spinal fluid through your brain's tissues, your glymphatic system flushes waste from your brain back into your circulatory system for elimination by your liver. Because your glymphatic system ramps up its activity during sleep, when you don’t get enough sleep, the damaging plaques build up, attack and degrade particular regions of your brain. Walker notes a brain affected by Alzheimer’s has lost most of its ability to remove the amyloid-beta waste products, mainly because it is caught in a vicious cycle: more amyloid, less deep sleep; less deep sleep, more amyloid. If you are not sure of the steps you can take to help prevent Alzheimer’s disease, please review my previous article “Alzheimer’s Disease — Yes, It’s Preventable!” Lack of Quality Sleep Contributes to Chronic Pain A U.K. study13 published in Sleep Medicine Reviews suggests poor sleep makes you two to three times more likely to develop a chronic pain condition, while also putting you at risk for other health problems. “Sleep and pain problems are two of the biggest health problems in today’s society,” said lead author Esther Afolalu, a Ph.D. student in the department of psychology at the University of Warwick in Coventry. Afolalu and her colleagues reviewed 16 prior sleep studies involving more than 60,000 adults from 10 countries. The studies looked at how well people were sleeping at the onset of the research as well as the effects of longer-term sleep changes on participants’ immune function, pain and physical health. Half the participants were tracked upward of four years. Afolalu and her team wrote: “A decline in sleep quality and sleep quantity was associated with a two-to-three-fold increase in the risk of developing a pain condition, small elevations in levels of inflammatory markers and a decline in self-reported physical health status.” Based on the research, if you do not get adequate sleep, you may be at risk for: Reduced ability of your immune system to fight off bacteria, viruses and other foreign substances Increased levels of inflammation Higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol Increased levels of other biomarkers related to fatigue, pain and poor health Deficits in physical functioning Notably, Afolalu and her team discovered recently developed insomnia doubles your risk of a chronic pain disorder and hip-fracture problems. While increases in sleep did not appear to directly diminish pain or arthritis, improved sleep did help participants function better physically. Keep in mind Afolalu’s research has two notable limitations: reliance on individuals to self-report their sleep patterns and a lack of consistent tools for measuring sleep quality and quantity. Poor Sleep, Depression and Your Brain’s Reward Center While the precise causes of depression are not always evident, certain factors such as poor sleep have been shown to contribute to it.14 Insomnia, for example, has been shown to influence the onset, severity and recurrence of depressive episodes. If you routinely suffer from insomnia, you are at twice the risk of developing depression as compared to individuals who sleep well. A study published in the Journal of Neuroscience15,16 suggests your brain’s reward center may help protect you from the depressive symptoms traditionally associated with poor sleep. Researchers at Duke University have taken a closer look at the involvement of your ventral striatum (VS) — an area of your brain responsible for reward processing and motivation. Their objective is to better understand the role your VS may play with respect to depression and poor sleep. Dysfunction in your VS is thought to be associated not only with depression, but also with addiction, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and Parkinson’s disease. Because poor sleep is not necessarily associated with depression in every individual, researchers have found that stimulating the VS region of the brain has a therapeutic effect on some depressed patients. Reut Avinun, Ph.D., department of psychology and neuroscience, Duke University, and her colleagues engaged more than 1,000 university students to explore the relationship among depression, self-reported sleep patterns and VS activity. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data collected while study participants played a card-guessing game designed to engage the VS indicated students with higher reward-related VS activity were less likely to report symptoms of depression even when their sleep quality was poor. Avinun said:17 "In our study, we showed how the negative effects of poor sleep can also be modulated by [the ventral striatum], so high reward-related activation can buffer the effect of poor sleep on depressive symptoms. This same region has been associated with optimism, so it's possible individuals with this high reward responsiveness can cope with stressful and negative experiences better by having a more positive outlook." Further research in this area may help scientists gain further insight into how depression works, as well as assist them in identifying biomarkers for depression risk. Says Avinun: "In the future, I plan to work on gaining a better understanding of depression susceptibility, and help to identify the individuals who are more at risk of developing depression by looking at their brain and DNA." Is Your Chronic Sleep Problem Caused by Sleep Apnea? Some 30 million adult Americans suffer from undiagnosed sleep apnea,18 a serious health condition which causes you to stop breathing while you are sleeping. Depending on the severity of your condition, these breath interruptions may occur just a few times — or hundreds of times — an hour. During these moments without breath, your brain and the rest of your body is literally being starved of oxygen. If you have undiagnosed sleep apnea, you may be unknowingly putting yourself at risk for diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke. In addition, sleep apnea can contribute to depression, insomnia, impotence, pregnancy complications and weight gain. Clearly sleep apnea is not something to be taken lightly. Sleep apnea can often go unnoticed because doctors don’t routinely screen for it and you may be inclined to dismiss daytime sleepiness as “a bad night’s sleep” or stress. If you suspect you may be suffering from sleep apnea, you’ll want to seek the help of a qualified sleep specialist. Ask your general practitioner for a recommendation, and also do your own research. Some sleep doctors offer solutions focused on addressing only secondary problems, while you will want to uncover and treat the root issue(s). Treatment Options for Sleep Apnea Potential treatment options for addressing sleep apnea are as follows: Buteyko Breathing Method: The Buteyko technique, which is named after the Russian doctor who developed it, is useful to reverse health problems caused by improper breathing, including sleep apnea Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP): CPAP is a special type of sleeping mask prescribed for severe sleep apnea, which is designed to mechanically restore your breathing by applying air pressure to open your airway Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy: Myofunctional therapy involves the neuromuscular reeducation or repatterning of your oral and facial muscles, including facial and tongue exercises and behavior modification techniques to promote proper tongue position, improved breathing, chewing and swallowing Oral appliance: If you have mild to moderate sleep apnea related to jaw or tongue issues, dentists specializing in sleep apnea can design a custom “mouth guard” you can wear while sleeping to facilitate proper breathing Weight loss: Because obesity and sleep apnea often go hand in hand, you may be able to dramatically relieve the effects of sleep apnea simply by losing weight; weight loss will reduce pressure on your abdomen and chest, thereby allowing your breathing muscles to function more effectively when you sleep When it comes to how you breathe, your diet may play a bigger role than might imagine. Processed foods, which tend to acidify your blood in an attempt to maintain normal pH, cause you to breathe more heavily and can lead to chronic overbreathing. As such, processed, high-protein and high-grain meals have been shown to have negative effects on the way you breathe. Give your body a break by consuming more water, fruits and vegetables, which have lesser impact on your breathing. Sleeplessness Is Having a Catastrophic Effect on Health and Well-Being In the video above, Walker asserts his belief that getting sufficient quality sleep is the single most effective thing you can do to reset your brain and body and invigorate your health on a daily basis. I agree wholeheartedly. You may be surprised to know the World Health Organization, since 2007, has tagged shift work as a “probable human carcinogen” because it causes circadian disruption.19 While this news may surprise you, the truth is if you work erratic hours, particularly the night shift, you most assuredly are putting yourself at greater risk for diseases such as cancer, diabetes and obesity. While you may not be a shift worker, you very likely are wrestling with one or more issues that are causing you to sleep poorly. No matter the root issue(s) you face, research linking chronic poor sleep and lack of sleep to disease and illness cannot be ignored. The scientific facts underscore my belief that there is no substitute for, nor any excuse for not getting, a full night’s rest. Says Walker:20 “The decimation of sleep throughout industrialized nations is having a catastrophic impact on our health and wellness. It is a silent sleep-loss epidemic. It’s time for us to reclaim our right to a full night of sleep, without embarrassment or the stigma of laziness. In doing so, we may remember what it feels like to truly be awake during the day.” Given its importance, I encourage you to take a few moments today to evaluate your sleep habits. Are you getting enough sleep? If not, what’s one change you can make to improve the length and/or quality of your sleep? If you need help getting started, check out my 16 Chronological Tips to Improve Your Sleep.

#VitalityPath

[vitalmindandbody]

The shorter your sleep, the shorter their own lives: the new sleep discipline

Leading neuroscientist Matthew Walker to the reasons why sleep deprivation is increasing our peril of cancer, heart attack and Alzheimers and what you can do about it

Matthew Walker “ve learned to” dreaded the issues to” What do you do ?” At parties, it signals the end of his evening; thereafter, his new acquaintance will unavoidably cling to him like ivy. On an aeroplane, it generally means that while everyone else watches movies or reads a thriller, he will find himself running an hours-long store for the benefit of passengers and crew alike.” I’ve begun to lie ,” he says.” Earnestly. I just tell people I’m a dolphin manager. It’s better for everyone .”

Walker is a sleep scientist. To be specific, he is the director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley, a research institute whose objective- perhaps unachievable- is to understand everything about sleep’s impact on us, from delivery to fatality, in sickness and health. No meditate, then, that people long for his advise. As the line between operate and leisure germinates ever more blurred, uncommon is the person who doesn’t worry about their sleep. But even as we contemplate the shadows beneath our eyes, most of us don’t know the half of it- and perhaps this is the real conclude he has stopped telling strangers how he makes his living. When Walker talks about sleep he can’t, in all conscience, limit himself to whispering comforting nothings about camomile tea and warm bathtubs. It’s his conviction that we are in the midst of a” cataclysmic sleep-loss epidemic “, the consequences of which are far graver than any of us could imagine. This place, he accepts, is exclusively likely to change if government get involved.

Walker has invested the last four and a half years writing Why We Sleep , a complex but pressing book that cross-examine the effects of this epidemic be closed down, the idea being that once people know of the powerful linked with sleep loss and , among other things, “Alzheimers disease”, cancer, diabetes, obesity and poor mental health, they will try harder to get the recommended eight hours a night( sleep destitution, astounding as this may sound to Donald Trump characters, constitutes anything less than seven hours ). But, in the end, the individual can achieve merely so much. Walker craves major institutions and law-makers to take up his ideas, more.” No side of our biology is left unscathed by sleep deprivation ,” he says.” It settle down into every possible nook and cranny. And yet no one is doing anything about it. Things have to change: in the workplace and our communities, our homes and families. But when did “youve been” find an NHS poster advocating sleep on beings? When did a medical doctor prescribe , not sleeping pills, but sleep itself? It should still be prioritised, even incentivised. Sleep loss costs the UK economy over PS30bn a year in misplaced revenue, or 2% of GDP. I could double the NHS budget if simply they would association policies to mandate or powerfully foster sleep .”

Why, precisely, are we so sleep-deprived? What has happened over the course of the last 75 years? In 1942, less than 8% of specific populations was trying to survive on six hours or less sleep a night; in 2017, virtually one in two people is. The grounds are apparently obvious.” Firstly, we electrified the darknes ,” Walker says.” Light is a profound degrader of our sleep. Second, there is the issue of wield: is not simply the porous borders between when you start and finish, but longer commuter times, too. No one wants to give up meter with their family or amusement, so they give up sleep instead. And anxiety plays an active role. We’re a lonelier, more depressed civilization. Alcohol and caffeine are more widely available. All these are the adversaries of sleep .”

But Walker accepts, extremely, that in the developed countries sleep is strongly associated with weakness, even reproach.” We have stigmatised sleep with the label of laziness. We want to seem busy, and one path we express that is by exclaiming how little sleep we’re getting. It’s a badge of standing. When I throw lectures, parties will wait behind until there is no one around and then tell me quietly:’ I seem to be one of those people who need eight or nine hours’ sleep .’ It’s humiliating to say it in public. They would rather wait 45 minutes for the confessional. They’re convinced that they’re abnormal, and why wouldn’t they be? We scold parties for sleeping exactly what we, after all, merely sufficient sums. We think of them as slothful. No one would look at an infant newborn sleeping, and say’ What a lazy babe !’ We know sleeping is non-negotiable for a baby. But that thought is promptly abandoned[ as we grow up ]. Humans are the only species that purposely deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent reasonablenes .” In action you’re wondering, the number of people who can exist on five hours of sleep or less without any disorder, expressed as a percent of specific populations and rounded to a whole number, is zero.

The world of sleep discipline is still relatively small. But it is growing exponentially, thanks both to ask( the multifarious and originating influences caused by the epidemic) and to new technology( such as electrical and magnetic intelligence stimulators ), which facilitates researchers to have what Walker describes as “VIP access” to the sleeping mentality. Walker, who is 44 and was born in Liverpool, is currently in the field for more than 20 years, having written his first research paper at the age of merely 21.” I would love to tell you that I was fascinated by awareness territories from childhood ,” he says.” But in truth, it was accidental .” He started out studying for a medical grade in Nottingham. But having been observed that doctoring wasn’t for him- he was more enthralled by wonders than by refutes- he switched to neuroscience, and after graduation, began a PhD in neurophysiology supported by the Medical Research Council. It was while working on this that he stumbled into the realm of sleep.

Matthew Walker photographed in his sleep laboratory. Picture: Saroyan Humphrey for the Observer

” I was looking at the brainwave structures of people with different forms of dementia, but I was neglecting miserably at observing any difference between them ,” he remembers now. One darknes, however, he read a technical paper that changed everything. It described which parts of the intelligence were being attacked by these different types of dementia:” Some were attacking regions of the brain that had to do with restrained sleep, while other types left those sleep cores unaffected. I realised my mistake. I had been quantifying the brainwave task of my patients while they were awake, when I should have been doing so while they were asleep .” Over the next six months, Walker learnt himself how to set up a sleep laboratory and, sure as shooting, the recordings he made in it subsequently communicated loudly of a clearly defined difference between cases. Sleep, it seemed, could be a brand-new early diagnostic litmus test for different subtypes of dementia.

After this, sleep grew his obsession.” Exclusively then did I question: what is this thing called sleep, and what does it do? I was always curious, annoyingly so, but when I started to read about sleep, I would look up and hours would have gone by. No one could react the simple question: why do we sleep? That seemed to me to be the greatest technical whodunit. I was going to attack it, and I was going to do that in two years. But I was naive. I didn’t realise that some of the greatest technical minds had been trying to do the same stuff for their entire vocations. That was two decades ago, and I’m still cracking away .” After gaining his doctorate, he moved to the US. Formerly a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, he is now prof of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California.

Does his infatuation extend to the bedroom? Does he take his own admonition when it comes to sleep?” Yes. I establish myself a non-negotiable eight-hour sleep possibility each night, and I prevent very regular hours: if there is one thing I tell people, it’s to go to bed and to wake up at the same period every day , no matter what. I take my sleep incredibly earnestly because I have accompanied the evidence presented. Once you know that after just one night of only 4 or five hours’ sleep, your natural gunman cells- the ones that assault the cancer cells that appear in your form every day- drop by 70%, or that a lack of sleep is linked to cancer of the bowel, prostate and tit, or even exactly that the World Health Organisation has classed different forms of night-time change project as a probable carcinogen, how could you do anything else ?”

There is, however, a stinging in the tale. Should his eyelids fail to close, Walker admits that he can be a touch” Woody Allen-neurotic “. When, for example, “hes come to” London over the summer, he found himself jet-lagged and wide awake in his hotel chamber at two o’clock in the morning. His trouble then, as ever in these situations, was that he knew too much. His brain initiated to race.” I reputed: my orexin isn’t being turned off, the sensory barrier of my thalamus is wedged open, my dorsolateral prefrontal cortex won’t shut down, and my melatonin surge won’t happen for another seven hours .” What did he do? In the end, it seems, even macrocosm experts in sleep deed just like the rest of us when struck by the curse of insomnia. He turned on a light-colored and read for a while.

Will Why We Sleep have the impact its scribe hopes? I’m not sure: the science fragments, it must be said, require some concentration. But what I can tell you is that it had a strong impression on me. After read it, I was utterly determined to go to bed earlier- a government to which I am sticking determinedly. In a acces, I was prepared for this. I firstly encountered Walker some months ago, when he spoke at an happening at Somerset House in London, and he struck me then as both passionate and convincing( our afterward interview takes place via Skype from the basement of his” sleep centre”, a spot which, with its bedrooms off a long hallway, apparently resembles the ward of a private hospital ). But in another way, it was unpredictable. I am chiefly immune to health admonition. Inside my honcho, there is always a expres that says” merely enjoy life while it lasts “.

The evidence Walker presents, nonetheless, is enough to send anyone early to plot. It’s no various kinds of choice at all. Without sleep, there is low force and illnes. With sleep, there is vitality and health. More than 20 large scale epidemiological studies all report the same clear affair: the shorter your sleep, the shorter their own lives. To take just one example, adults aged 45 years or older who sleep less than six hours a night are 200% more likely to have a heart attack or stroking in their lifetime, as compared with those sleeping seven or eight hours a nighttime( part of the reason for this has to do with blood pressure: even exactly one darknes of meagre sleep reduction will hasten the rate of a person’s mettle, hour upon hour, and significantly increase their blood pressure ).

A lack of sleep also appears to hijack the body’s effective control of blood sugar, the cells of the sleep-deprived appear, in experiments, to become little responsive to insulin, and thus to stimulate a prediabetic nation of hyperglycaemia. When your sleep grows short, furthermore, you are susceptible to weight gain. Among the reasons for this are the fact that insufficient sleep decreases levels of the satiety-signalling hormone, leptin, and increases levels of the hunger-signalling hormone, ghrelin.” I’m not going to say that the obesity crisis is caused by the sleep-loss epidemic alone ,” says Walker.” It’s not. However, processed food and sedentary lifestyles do not adequately made a statement in explanation rise. Something is missing. It’s now clear that sleep is that third part .” Tiredness, of course, too alters motivation.

Sleep has a powerful influence on the immune system, which is why, when we have flu, our first instinct is to go to bed: our form is trying to sleep itself well. Reduce sleep even for a single nighttime, and your resilience is drastically reduced. If you are tired, you are more likely to catch a cold. The well-rested too respond better to the flu inoculation. As Walker has already said, more gravely, analyses show that short sleep can affect our cancer-fighting immune cadres. A number of epidemiological studies have reported that night-time alteration cultivate and the disruption to circadian sleep and lilt that it causes increase the odds of developing cancers including tit, prostate, endometrium and colon.

Getting too little sleep across the adult lifespan will significantly create the health risks of developing Alzheimer’s disease. The reasons for this are difficult to summarise, but in essence it has to do with the amyloid accumulations( a poison protein) that accumulate in the brains of those suffering from the disease, killing the surrounding cells. During deep sleep, such accumulations are effectively cleaned from the brain. What occurs in an Alzheimer’s patient is a kind of vicious circle. Without adequate sleep, these plaques build up, especially in the brain’s deep-sleep-generating fields, attacking and degrading them. The loss of deep sleep caused by this assault therefore abridges our ability to remove them from the mentality at night. More amyloid, less deep sleep; little deep sleep, more amyloid, and so on.( In his notebook, Walker notes “unscientifically” that he has always determined it strange that Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, both of whom were vocal about how little sleep they needed, both went on to develop the disease; it is, moreover, a illusion that older adults necessity less sleep .) Away from dementia, sleep facilitates our ability to realize new storages, and rebuilds our capabilities for learning.

And then there is sleep’s effect on mental health issues. When your mom told you that everything would look better in the morning, she was shrewd. Walker’s book includes a long section on dreams( which, says Walker, contrary to Dr Freud, cannot be analysed ). Here he details the various ways in which the dream regime connects to ingenuity. He likewise suggests that reverie is a allaying balm. If we sleep to remember( see above ), then we also sleep to forget. Deep sleep- the side when we begin to nightmare- is a therapeutic country during which we cast off the emotional charge of its own experience, shaping them easier to bear. Sleep, or a lack of it, too changes our feeling more generally. Brain examines being conducted by Walker uncovered a 60% elaboration in the reactivity of the amygdala- a key spot for prompting fury and rage- in those who were sleep-deprived. In children, sleeplessness has been linked to aggressivenes and browbeat; in teens, to suicidal beliefs. Insufficient sleep is too associated with lapsing in addiction diseases. A existing sentiment in psychiatry is that mental disturbance effect sleep interruption. But Walker believes it is, in fact, a two-way street. Regulated sleep designed to improve the health of, for example, those with bipolar disorder.

I’ve mentioned deep sleep in this( more brief) summary several times. What is it, exactly? We sleep in 90 -minute cycles, and it’s only towards the end of each one of these that we go into deep sleep. Each round consists of two kinds of sleep. First, there is NREM sleep( non-rapid eye movement sleep ); this is then must be accompanied by REM( rapid eye movement) sleep. When Walker talks about these repetitions, which still have their riddles, his tone changes. He clangs bewitched, nearly dazed.

” During NREM sleep, your intelligence goes into this incredible synchronised pattern of rhythmic chanting ,” he says.” There’s a remarkable solidarity across the surface of the brain, like a deep, slow mantra. Researchers were once fooled that this territory was same to a coma. But nothing could be further from the truth. Immense amounts of reminiscence processing going on here. To create these brainwaves, hundreds of thousands of cells all sing together, and then get silent, and on and on. Meanwhile, your body colonizes into this lovely low-grade state of energy, the best blood-pressure medicine you could ever hope for. REM sleep, on the other hand, is sometimes known as rem sleep, because the brain patterns are identical to when you’re awake. It’s an incredibly active psyche territory. Your heart and nervous system go across spates of act: we’re still not exactly sure why .”

Does the 90 -minute cycle mean that so-called power naps are worthless?” They can take the edge off basic sleepiness. But you need 90 times to get to deep sleep, and one cycle isn’t enough to do all the work. You necessity four or five cycles/seconds to get all the benefit .” Is it possible to have too much sleep? This is unclear.” There is no good evidence at the moment. But I do think 14 hours is too much. Too much water can kill you, and too much food, and I repute eventually the same will prove to be true for sleep .” How is it possible to tell if a person is sleep-deprived? Walker thinks we should rely our inclinations. Those who would sleep on if their alarm clock was turned off are simply not getting enough. Ditto those who need caffeine in the afternoon to stay awake.” I see it all the time ,” he says.” I get on a flight at 10 am where individuals should be at top alerting, and I look around, and half of the plane has immediately fallen asleep .”

So “whats being” the individual do? First, they are able to evade gathering “all-nighters”, at their desks or on the dancefloor. After being awake for 19 hours, you’re as cognitively impaired as someone who is drunkard. Second, they should start “ve been thinking about” sleep as a kind of toil, like going to the gym( with the key difference that it is both free and, if you’re me, entertaining ).” Beings use frightens to wake up ,” Walker says.” So why don’t we have a bedtime fright to tell us we’ve got half an hour, that we should start cycling down ?” We should start thinking of midnight more in terms of its original meaning: as the middle of the night. Schools should consider subsequently starts for students; such delays correlate with improved IQs. Firms should think about honoring sleep. Productivity will rise, and reason, ingenuity and even high levels of franknes will be improved. Sleep can be measured using tracking inventions, and some far-sighted companies in the US already sacrifice hires time off if they clock enough of it. Sleeping pills, by the way, are to be avoided. Among interesting thing, they are unable have a deleterious influence on memory.

Those who are focused on so-called ” clean” sleep are determined to outlaw mobiles and computers from the bedroom- and quite right, very, given the effect of LED-emitting inventions on melatonin, the sleep-inducing hormone. Ultimately, though, Walker believes that technology will be sleep’s saviour.” There is going to be a revolution in the quantified self in industrial nations ,” he says.” We will know everything about our organizations from one day to the next in high fidelity. That will be a seismic shift, and we will then start to develop techniques by which we can enlarge different components of human sleep, and do that from the bedside. Sleep will come to be seen as a preventive medicine .”

What queries does Walker still most want to answer? For a while, “he il be” quiet. “It’s so difficult,” he says, with a sigh.” There are so many. I would still like to know where we go, psychologically and physiologically, where reference is nightmare. Daydream is the second district of human rights consciousness, and we have only scratched the surface in so far. But I would also like to find out when sleep rose. I like to posit a ridiculous assumption, which is: perhaps sleep did not evolve. Perhaps it was the thing from which wakefulness emerged .” He laughs.” If I could have certain kinds of medical Tardis and go back in time to look at that, well, I would sleep better at night .”

* Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker is published by Allen Lane( PS20 ). To ordering a print for PS17 go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p& p over PS10, online tells exclusively. Telephone tells min p& p of PS1. 99

Sleep in numbers

# Two-thirds of adults in developed commonwealths fail to obtain the nightly eight hours of sleep put forward by the World Health Organisation.

# An adult sleeping merely 6.75 hours a night would be predicted to live only to their early 60 s without medical intervention.

# A 2013 examine reported that men who slept too little had a seman weigh 29% lower than those who regularly get a full and restful night’s sleep.

# If you drive a car when you have had less than five hours’ sleep, you are 4.3 times more likely to be involved in a gate-crash. If you drive having had four hours, you are 11.5 times more likely to be involved in an accident.

# A red-hot shower assistants sleep not because it sees you warm, but because your dilated blood vessels extend inner heat, and your core body temperature puts. To successfully establish sleep, your core temperature must be free to descend about 1C.

# The age taken to reach physical exhaustion by contestants who obtain anything less than eight hours of sleep, and especially less than six hours, drops-off by 10 -3 0 %.

# There was more than 100 diagnosed sleep ailments, of which insomnia is the most common.

# Morning kinds, who prefer to awake at or around dawn, even off about 40% of the population. Evening forms, who prefer to go to bed late and wake up sometime, account for about 30%. The abiding 30% lie somewhere in between.

Read more: www.theguardian.com

The post The shorter your sleep, the shorter their own lives: the new sleep discipline appeared first on vitalmindandbody.com.

from WordPress http://ift.tt/2yDjSmd via IFTTT

#IFTTT #WordPress

[thirteenthanda]

'Sleep should be prescribed': what those late nights out could be costing you

Leading neuroscientist Matthew Walker on why sleep deprivation is increasing our risk of cancer, heart attack and Alzheimer’s – and what you can do about it

Matthew Walker has learned to dread the question “What do you do?” At parties, it signals the end of his evening; thereafter, his new acquaintance will inevitably cling to him like ivy. On an aeroplane, it usually means that while everyone else watches movies or reads a thriller, he will find himself running an hours-long salon for the benefit of passengers and crew alike. “I’ve begun to lie,” he says. “Seriously. I just tell people I’m a dolphin trainer. It’s better for everyone.”

Walker is a sleep scientist. To be specific, he is the director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley, a research institute whose goal – possibly unachievable – is to understand everything about sleep’s impact on us, from birth to death, in sickness and health. No wonder, then, that people long for his counsel. As the line between work and leisure grows ever more blurred, rare is the person who doesn’t worry about their sleep. But even as we contemplate the shadows beneath our eyes, most of us don’t know the half of it – and perhaps this is the real reason he has stopped telling strangers how he makes his living. When Walker talks about sleep he can’t, in all conscience, limit himself to whispering comforting nothings about camomile tea and warm baths. It’s his conviction that we are in the midst of a “catastrophic sleep-loss epidemic”, the consequences of which are far graver than any of us could imagine. This situation, he believes, is only likely to change if government gets involved.

Walker has spent the last four and a half years writing Why We Sleep, a complex but urgent book that examines the effects of this epidemic close up, the idea being that once people know of the powerful links between sleep loss and, among other things, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and poor mental health, they will try harder to get the recommended eight hours a night (sleep deprivation, amazing as this may sound to Donald Trump types, constitutes anything less than seven hours). But, in the end, the individual can achieve only so much. Walker wants major institutions and law-makers to take up his ideas, too. “No aspect of our biology is left unscathed by sleep deprivation,” he says. “It sinks down into every possible nook and cranny. And yet no one is doing anything about it. Things have to change: in the workplace and our communities, our homes and families. But when did you ever see an NHS poster urging sleep on people? When did a doctor prescribe, not sleeping pills, but sleep itself? It needs to be prioritised, even incentivised. Sleep loss costs the UK economy over £30bn a year in lost revenue, or 2% of GDP. I could double the NHS budget if only they would institute policies to mandate or powerfully encourage sleep.”

I get on a flight at 10am when people should be at peak alert, and half of the plane has immediately fallen asleep

Why, exactly, are we so sleep-deprived? What has happened over the course of the last 75 years? In 1942, less than 8% of the population was trying to survive on six hours or less sleep a night; in 2017, almost one in two people is. The reasons are seemingly obvious. “First, we electrified the night,” Walker says. “Light is a profound degrader of our sleep. Second, there is the issue of work: not only the porous borders between when you start and finish, but longer commuter times, too. No one wants to give up time with their family or entertainment, so they give up sleep instead. And anxiety plays a part. We’re a lonelier, more depressed society. Alcohol and caffeine are more widely available. All these are the enemies of sleep.”

But Walker believes, too, that in the developed world sleep is strongly associated with weakness, even shame. “We have stigmatised sleep with the label of laziness. We want to seem busy, and one way we express that is by proclaiming how little sleep we’re getting. It’s a badge of honour. When I give lectures, people will wait behind until there is no one around and then tell me quietly: ‘I seem to be one of those people who need eight or nine hours’ sleep.’ It’s embarrassing to say it in public. They would rather wait 45 minutes for the confessional. They’re convinced that they’re abnormal, and why wouldn’t they be? We chastise people for sleeping what are, after all, only sufficient amounts. We think of them as slothful. No one would look at an infant baby asleep, and say ‘What a lazy baby!’ We know sleeping is non-negotiable for a baby. But that notion is quickly abandoned [as we grow up]. Humans are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent reason.” In case you’re wondering, the number of people who can survive on five hours of sleep or less without any impairment, expressed as a percent of the population and rounded to a whole number, is zero.

The world of sleep science is still relatively small. But it is growing exponentially, thanks both to demand (the multifarious and growing pressures caused by the epidemic) and to new technology (such as electrical and magnetic brain stimulators), which enables researchers to have what Walker describes as “VIP access” to the sleeping brain. Walker, who is 44 and was born in Liverpool, has been in the field for more than 20 years, having published his first research paper at the age of just 21. “I would love to tell you that I was fascinated by conscious states from childhood,” he says. “But in truth, it was accidental.” He started out studying for a medical degree in Nottingham. But having discovered that doctoring wasn’t for him – he was more enthralled by questions than by answers – he switched to neuroscience, and after graduation, began a PhD in neurophysiology supported by the Medical Research Council. It was while working on this that he stumbled into the realm of sleep.

“I was looking at the brainwave patterns of people with different forms of dementia, but I was failing miserably at finding any difference between them,” he recalls now. One night, however, he read a scientific paper that changed everything. It described which parts of the brain were being attacked by these different types of dementia: “Some were attacking parts of the brain that had to do with controlled sleep, while other types left those sleep centres unaffected. I realised my mistake. I had been measuring the brainwave activity of my patients while they were awake, when I should have been doing so while they were asleep.” Over the next six months, Walker taught himself how to set up a sleep laboratory and, sure enough, the recordings he made in it subsequently spoke loudly of a clear difference between patients. Sleep, it seemed, could be a new early diagnostic litmus test for different subtypes of dementia.

After this, sleep became his obsession. “Only then did I ask: what is this thing called sleep, and what does it do? I was always curious, annoyingly so, but when I started to read about sleep, I would look up and hours would have gone by. No one could answer the simple question: why do we sleep? That seemed to me to be the greatest scientific mystery. I was going to attack it, and I was going to do that in two years. But I was naive. I didn’t realise that some of the greatest scientific minds had been trying to do the same thing for their entire careers. That was two decades ago, and I’m still cracking away.” After gaining his doctorate, he moved to the US. Formerly a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, he is now professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California.

Does his obsession extend to the bedroom? Does he take his own advice when it comes to sleep? “Yes. I give myself a non-negotiable eight-hour sleep opportunity every night, and I keep very regular hours: if there is one thing I tell people, it’s to go to bed and to wake up at the same time every day, no matter what. I take my sleep incredibly seriously because I have seen the evidence. Once you know that after just one night of only four or five hours’ sleep, your natural killer cells – the ones that attack the cancer cells that appear in your body every day – drop by 70%, or that a lack of sleep is linked to cancer of the bowel, prostate and breast, or even just that the World Health Organisation has classed any form of night-time shift work as a probable carcinogen, how could you do anything else?”

There is, however, a sting in the tale. Should his eyelids fail to close, Walker admits that he can be a touch “Woody Allen-neurotic”. When, for instance, he came to London over the summer, he found himself jet-lagged and wide awake in his hotel room at two o’clock in the morning. His problem then, as always in these situations, was that he knew too much. His brain began to race. “I thought: my orexin isn’t being turned off, the sensory gate of my thalamus is wedged open, my dorsolateral prefrontal cortex won’t shut down, and my melatonin surge won’t happen for another seven hours.” What did he do? In the end, it seems, even world experts in sleep act just like the rest of us when struck by the curse of insomnia. He turned on a light and read for a while.

Will Why We Sleep have the impact its author hopes? I’m not sure: the science bits, it must be said, require some concentration. But what I can tell you is that it had a powerful effect on me. After reading it, I was absolutely determined to go to bed earlier – a regime to which I am sticking determinedly. In a way, I was prepared for this. I first encountered Walker some months ago, when he spoke at an event at Somerset House in London, and he struck me then as both passionate and convincing (our later interview takes place via Skype from the basement of his “sleep centre”, a spot which, with its bedrooms off a long corridor, apparently resembles the ward of a private hospital). But in another way, it was unexpected. I am mostly immune to health advice. Inside my head, there is always a voice that says “just enjoy life while it lasts”.

The evidence Walker presents, however, is enough to send anyone early to bed. It’s no kind of choice at all. Without sleep, there is low energy and disease. With sleep, there is vitality and health. More than 20 large scale epidemiological studies all report the same clear relationship: the shorter your sleep, the shorter your life. To take just one example, adults aged 45 years or older who sleep less than six hours a night are 200% more likely to have a heart attack or stroke in their lifetime, as compared with those sleeping seven or eight hours a night (part of the reason for this has to do with blood pressure: even just one night of modest sleep reduction will speed the rate of a person’s heart, hour upon hour, and significantly increase their blood pressure).

A lack of sleep also appears to hijack the body’s effective control of blood sugar, the cells of the sleep-deprived appearing, in experiments, to become less responsive to insulin, and thus to cause a prediabetic state of hyperglycaemia. When your sleep becomes short, moreover, you are susceptible to weight gain. Among the reasons for this are the fact that inadequate sleep decreases levels of the satiety-signalling hormone, leptin, and increases levels of the hunger-signalling hormone, ghrelin. “I’m not going to say that the obesity crisis is caused by the sleep-loss epidemic alone,” says Walker. “It’s not. However, processed food and sedentary lifestyles do not adequately explain its rise. Something is missing. It’s now clear that sleep is that third ingredient.” Tiredness, of course, also affects motivation.

Sleep has a powerful effect on the immune system, which is why, when we have flu, our first instinct is to go to bed: our body is trying to sleep itself well. Reduce sleep even for a single night, and your resilience is drastically reduced. If you are tired, you are more likely to catch a cold. The well-rested also respond better to the flu vaccine. As Walker has already said, more gravely, studies show that short sleep can affect our cancer-fighting immune cells. A number of epidemiological studies have reported that night-time shift work and the disruption to circadian sleep and rhythms that it causes increase the odds of developing cancers including breast, prostate, endometrium and colon.

Getting too little sleep across the adult lifespan will significantly raise your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. The reasons for this are difficult to summarise, but in essence it has to do with the amyloid deposits (a toxin protein) that accumulate in the brains of those suffering from the disease, killing the surrounding cells. During deep sleep, such deposits are effectively cleaned from the brain. What occurs in an Alzheimer’s patient is a kind of vicious circle. Without sufficient sleep, these plaques build up, especially in the brain’s deep-sleep-generating regions, attacking and degrading them. The loss of deep sleep caused by this assault therefore lessens our ability to remove them from the brain at night. More amyloid, less deep sleep; less deep sleep, more amyloid, and so on. (In his book, Walker notes “unscientifically” that he has always found it curious that Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, both of whom were vocal about how little sleep they needed, both went on to develop the disease; it is, moreover, a myth that older adults need less sleep.) Away from dementia, sleep aids our ability to make new memories, and restores our capacity for learning.

And then there is sleep’s effect on mental health. When your mother told you that everything would look better in the morning, she was wise. Walker’s book includes a long section on dreams (which, says Walker, contrary to Dr Freud, cannot be analysed). Here he details the various ways in which the dream state connects to creativity. He also suggests that dreaming is a soothing balm. If we sleep to remember (see above), then we also sleep to forget. Deep sleep – the part when we begin to dream – is a therapeutic state during which we cast off the emotional charge of our experiences, making them easier to bear. Sleep, or a lack of it, also affects our mood more generally. Brain scans carried out by Walker revealed a 60% amplification in the reactivity of the amygdala – a key spot for triggering anger and rage – in those who were sleep-deprived. In children, sleeplessness has been linked to aggression and bullying; in adolescents, to suicidal thoughts. Insufficient sleep is also associated with relapse in addiction disorders. A prevailing view in psychiatry is that mental disorders cause sleep disruption. But Walker believes it is, in fact, a two-way street. Regulated sleep can improve the health of, for instance, those with bipolar disorder.

I’ve mentioned deep sleep in this (too brief) summary several times. What is it, exactly? We sleep in 90-minute cycles, and it’s only towards the end of each one of these that we go into deep sleep. Each cycle comprises two kinds of sleep. First, there is NREM sleep (non-rapid eye movement sleep); this is then followed by REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. When Walker talks about these cycles, which still have their mysteries, his voice changes. He sounds bewitched, almost dazed.

“During NREM sleep, your brain goes into this incredible synchronised pattern of rhythmic chanting,” he says. “There’s a remarkable unity across the surface of the brain, like a deep, slow mantra. Researchers were once fooled that this state was similar to a coma. But nothing could be further from the truth. Vast amounts of memory processing is going on. To produce these brainwaves, hundreds of thousands of cells all sing together, and then go silent, and on and on. Meanwhile, your body settles into this lovely low state of energy, the best blood-pressure medicine you could ever hope for. REM sleep, on the other hand, is sometimes known as paradoxical sleep, because the brain patterns are identical to when you’re awake. It’s an incredibly active brain state. Your heart and nervous system go through spurts of activity: we’re still not exactly sure why.”

Does the 90-minute cycle mean that so-called power naps are worthless? “They can take the edge off basic sleepiness. But you need 90 minutes to get to deep sleep, and one cycle isn’t enough to do all the work. You need four or five cycles to get all the benefit.” Is it possible to have too much sleep? This is unclear. “There is no good evidence at the moment. But I do think 14 hours is too much. Too much water can kill you, and too much food, and I think ultimately the same will prove to be true for sleep.” How is it possible to tell if a person is sleep-deprived? Walker thinks we should trust our instincts. Those who would sleep on if their alarm clock was turned off are simply not getting enough. Ditto those who need caffeine in the afternoon to stay awake. “I see it all the time,” he says. “I get on a flight at 10am when people should be at peak alert, and I look around, and half of the plane has immediately fallen asleep.”

So what can the individual do? First, they should avoid pulling “all-nighters”, at their desks or on the dancefloor. After being awake for 19 hours, you’re as cognitively impaired as someone who is drunk. Second, they should start thinking about sleep as a kind of work, like going to the gym (with the key difference that it is both free and, if you’re me, enjoyable). “People use alarms to wake up,” Walker says. “So why don’t we have a bedtime alarm to tell us we’ve got half an hour, that we should start cycling down?” We should start thinking of midnight more in terms of its original meaning: as the middle of the night. Schools should consider later starts for students; such delays correlate with improved IQs. Companies should think about rewarding sleep. Productivity will rise, and motivation, creativity and even levels of honesty will be improved. Sleep can be measured using tracking devices, and some far-sighted companies in the US already give employees time off if they clock enough of it. Sleeping pills, by the way, are to be avoided. Among other things, they can have a deleterious effect on memory.

Those who are focused on so-called “clean” sleep are determined to outlaw mobiles and computers from the bedroom – and quite right, too, given the effect of LED-emitting devices on melatonin, the sleep-inducing hormone. Ultimately, though, Walker believes that technology will be sleep’s saviour. “There is going to be a revolution in the quantified self in industrial nations,” he says. “We will know everything about our bodies from one day to the next in high fidelity. That will be a seismic shift, and we will then start to develop methods by which we can amplify different components of human sleep, and do that from the bedside. Sleep will come to be seen as a preventive medicine.”

What questions does Walker still most want to answer? For a while, he is quiet. “It’s so difficult,” he says, with a sigh. “There are so many. I would still like to know where we go, psychologically and physiologically, when we dream. Dreaming is the second state of human consciousness, and we have only scratched the surface so far. But I would also like to find out when sleep emerged. I like to posit a ridiculous theory, which is: perhaps sleep did not evolve. Perhaps it was the thing from which wakefulness emerged.” He laughs. “If I could have some kind of medical Tardis and go back in time to look at that, well, I would sleep better at night.”

Sleep in numbers

■ Two-thirds of adults in developed nations fail to obtain the nightly eight hours of sleep recommended by the World Health Organisation.

■ An adult sleeping only 6.75 hours a night would be predicted to live only to their early 60s without medical intervention.

Advertisement

■ A 2013 study reported that men who slept too little had a sperm count 29% lower than those who regularly get a full and restful night’s sleep.

■ If you drive a car when you have had less than five hours’ sleep, you are 4.3 times more likely to be involved in a crash. If you drive having had four hours, you are 11.5 times more likely to be involved in an accident.

■ A hot bath aids sleep not because it makes you warm, but because your dilated blood vessels radiate inner heat, and your core body temperature drops. To successfully initiate sleep, your core temperature needs to drop about 1C.

■ The time taken to reach physical exhaustion by athletes who obtain anything less than eight hours of sleep, and especially less than six hours, drops by 10-30%.

■ There are now more than 100 diagnosed sleep disorders, of which insomnia is the most common.

■ Morning types, who prefer to awake at or around dawn, make up about 40% of the population. Evening types, who prefer to go to bed late and wake up late, account for about 30%. The remaining 30% lie somewhere in between.

by Rachel Cooke