Palinurus said:
I take it taking a nap doesn't count?
On the contrary ! I would urge you to take each and every opportunity you can arrange for taking naps of about 20 Min's. a time. It could save you from the burnout that is almost a given to occur sooner rather than later -- as I know from personal experience. Been there, done that; although it's long ago now I still sometimes can feel remnants of the exhaustion I encountered once I was done in. Be very careful I would say and try everything you can imagine to alter your schedule asap.
My two cents...
I'll second this advice.
In order to have a restorative good night sleep, what matters is completing a number of sleep cycles more than the total sleep time. Each cycle has 5 different phases which exhibit specific brain-wave patterns. As
Dr. Gregg D. Jacobs explains :
Every 60-100 minutes we go through a cycle of four stages of sleep
-Stage 1 is a drowsy, relaxed state between being awake and sleeping - breathing slows, muscles relax, heart rate drops.
- Stage 2 is slightly deeper sleep - you may feel awake and this means that, on many nights, you may be asleep and not know it
-Stage 3 and Stage 4, or Deep Sleep - it is very hard to wake up from Deep Sleep because this is when there is the lowest amount of activity in your body.
-After Deep Sleep, we go back to Stage 2 for a few minutes, and then enter Dream Sleep - also called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep - which, as its name suggests, is when you dream.
In a full sleep cycle, a person goes through all the stages of sleep from one to four, then back down through stages three and two, before entering dream sleep.
Sleeping should respect our natural circadian rhythm – our body’s internal clock - and its restorative hormones. Whenever you feel fatigued or need to catch up on non-REM sleep cycle deficiencies, taking brief naps of no more than 20 to 30 minutes during the day, is the key that will help you feel refreshed and restore your brain’s lack of non-REM sleep deficiencies.
Make sure to sleep in TOTAL darkness and as EMF free as you can in order to maintain your melatonin levels.
Exposure to electrical light between dusk and bedtime strongly suppresses melatonin levels and may impact physiologic processes regulated by melatonin signaling. Melatonin is particularly susceptible to blue light which is sold now by the billions in computers, televisions, and cellphones since they are more energy-efficient. A 1 hour light exposure of an overhead fluorescent fixture can delay melatonin production and sleep by up to 2 hours. In addition to that, short nights with artificial light suppress our master hormone leptin, leading to all kinds of imbalances including carb cravings.
Melatonin helps regulate other body hormones and it is a powerful antioxidant. Low melatonin production leaves you susceptible to inflammation, accelerated aging, depression and mood problems. People with lower levels of melatonin have lower immune/defense function, less antioxidant activity and accelerated cancer cell proliferation, and they also tend to have more unhealthy imbalances in gut bacteria.
Melatonin is produced from the brain chemical serotonin and melatonin's immediate precursor –acetylserotonin - stimulates the same circuits in the brain activated by the growth factor BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), our brain’s super fertilizer. A lack of BDNF, which pushes brain cells to grow and helps them resist stress, is behind depression and several neurodegenerative diseases. Less melatonin production is something you definitely want to avoid! As anthropologist Teresa S.Wiley says :
If the NIH has run most of the studies that provide the evidence that depression, obesity, heart disease, and cancer can be prevented in a great many cases by sleeping more and turning the lights off, why have they kept us in the dark? Why do they continue to insist high-carbohydrate diets and exercise will cure us? Are they really trying to kill us? [...]
Your body translates long hours of artificial light into summertime. Because it instinctively knows that summer comes before winter, and that winter means no available food, you begin to crave carbohydrates so you can store fat for a time when food is scarce and you should be hibernating. [...]
With artificial light, we've created an endless summer, and altered this rhythm and in turn we've altered our hormonal balance. Since we evolved and adapted to this new rhythm, when we are exposed to heat, sugar, and light for twelve months of the year, we naturally experience accelerated biological time; which ultimately is the reason for cancer, high levels of insulin that lead to heart disease and diabetes. "Because once you've lost the rhythm, you're out of step and you lose your balance. Then comes the fall - from Grace.
Wiley explains how cells called cryptochromes in our bloodstream pick up the blue spectrum of the light through our skin and that light energy can even keep pathological gut bacteria thriving. She reports of an experiment where a fiber-optic cable behind the knee of a study subject, which illuminated a patch of skin no bigger than the size of a quarter, affected this subject’s melatonin secretion. He was otherwise in complete darkness, yet this small amount of light affected him. This goes to show that wearing night eye covers would simply not do! And most people even sleep with all-night TV, street lights coming through their windows and electronic devices in their rooms including their alarm clocks.
In short, sleeping in total darkness is essential if we are to enhance naturally our bodies secretion of melatonin during the night, and the darker, the better. The room where you sleep has to be completely dark to the point of not been able to see anything. If lights seep underneath your door, put a towel along the base. There are actually special cushions you can put in the door’s lower gap. Cover your electric clock radio with something or get an old type one. Alarm clocks which light up only with movement are also available. Remember, even the smallest light can decrease melatonin secretion, even if you're not able to see it with your own eyes. There are also blackout shades or drapes you can use for the windows. Get rid or cover any light coming from electronical devices.
You’ll be surprised how much better you'll feel by taking short naps and sleeping what you can in total darkness. Hopefully your situation will improve so you can have enough rest throughout the night.
