Opinion: '8 hours sleep is the best amount to have' - Primary research

When you fall asleep are there like different phases you go through? like light sleep, heavy sleep, etc. if so, what are they and how long is each?


" Hello,

Following are the stage of sleep we have:

Stage 1 (Drowsiness) – Our brain gives the signal to our heart to beat at a slower rate, give signal to our body for a drop in body temperature , to our muscles for a slow in muscle activity and our eyes to more slowly under the eyelids. During this stage, it takes about 5 – 10 minutes for us to fall asleep. 

Stage 2 (Light Sleep) – After a while, we are in light sleep. Our heart beat has slows, body temperature has drops, muscles has slow and eyes movement has stop. We can be easily waken up during this stage.

Stage 3 (Slow Wave Sleep) – We are now in deeper sleep and cannot be waken up easily. Some people may have a sleepwalk while Children may experience bedwetting at this stage. 

Stage 4 (Deep Sleep) – We are in deepest sleep and is very difficult to wake up at this stage. If being awaken, we can be confused and disoriented for a few minutes.

Stage 5 (REM Sleep or Dream Sleep) – REM stand for rapid eye movement. We enter into REM Sleep after 90 minutes in our sleep cycle. Our eyes will move back and forth rapidly beneath our eyelids, our heart will beat faster and breathe less regularly. We can have 2 – 5 REM every night. We dream during REM sleep."

Opinion: '8 hours sleep is the best amount to have' - Science behind it

Opinion: '8 hours sleep is the best amount to have' - Facts

-The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses.
- It's impossible to tell if someone is really awake without close medical supervision. People can take cat naps with their eyes open without even being aware of it.
- Anything less than five minutes to fall asleep at night means you're sleep deprived. The ideal is between 10 and 15 minutes, meaning you're still tired enough to sleep deeply, but not so exhausted you feel sleepy by day.
- A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours lost sleep for parents in the first year
- One of the best predictors of insomnia later in life is the development of bad habits from having sleep disturbed by young children.
- The continuous brain recordings that led to the discovery of REM (rapid eye-movement) sleep were not done until 1953, partly because the scientists involved were concerned about wasting paper.
- REM sleep occurs in bursts totalling about 2 hours a night, usually beginning about 90 minutes after falling asleep.
- Dreams, once thought to occur only during REM sleep, also occur (but to a lesser extent) in non-REM sleep phases. It's possible there may not be a single moment of our sleep when we are actually dreamless.
- REM dreams are characterised by bizarre plots, but non-REM dreams are repetitive and thought-like, with little imagery - obsessively returning to a suspicion you left your mobile phone somewhere, for example.
- Certain types of eye movements during REM sleep correspond to specific movements in dreams, suggesting at least part of the dreaming process is analagous to watching a film
- No-one knows for sure if other species dream but some do have sleep cycles similar to humans.
- Elephants sleep standing up during non-REM sleep, but lie down for REM sleep.
- Some scientists believe we dream to fix experiences in long-term memory, that is, we dream about things worth remembering. Others reckon we dream about things worth forgetting - to eliminate overlapping memories that would otherwise clog up our brains.
- Dreams may not serve any purpose at all but be merely a meaningless byproduct of two evolutionary adaptations - sleep and consciousness.
- REM sleep may help developing brains mature. Premature babies have 75 per cent REM sleep, 10 per cent more than full-term bubs. Similarly, a newborn kitten puppy rat or hampster experiences only REM sleep, while a newborn guinea pig (which is much more developed at birth) has almost no REM sleep at all.

- Scientists have not been able to explain a 1998 study showing a bright light shone on the backs of human knees can reset the brain's sleep-wake clock.
- British Ministry of Defence researchers have been able to reset soldiers' body clocks so they can go without sleep for up to 36 hrs. Tiny optical fibres embedded in special spectacles project a ring of bright white light (with a spectrum identical to a sunrise) around the edge of soldiers' retinas, fooling them into thinking they have just woken up. The system was first used on US pilots during the bombing of Kosovo.
- Seventeen hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%.
- The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, the Challenger space shuttle disaster and the Chernobyl nuclear accident have all been attributed to human errors in which sleep-deprivation played a role.
- The NRMA estimates fatigue is involved in one in 6 fatal road accidents.
- Exposure to noise at night can suppress immune function even if the sleeper doesn’t wake. Unfamiliar noise, and noise during the first and last two hours of sleep, has the greatest disruptive effect on the sleep cycle.
- The "natural alarm clock" which enables some people to wake up more or less when they want to is caused by a burst of the stress hormone adrenocorticotropin. Researchers say this reflects an unconscious anticipation of the stress of waking up.
- Some sleeping tablets, such as barbiturates suppress REM sleep, which can be harmful over a long period.
- In insomnia following bereavement, sleeping pills can disrupt grieving.
- Tiny luminous rays from a digital alarm clock can be enough to disrupt the sleep cycle even if you do not fully wake. The light turns off a "neural switch" in the brain, causing levels of a key sleep chemical to decline within minutes.
- To drop off we must cool off; body temperature and the brain's sleep-wake cycle are closely linked. That's why hot summer nights can cause a restless sleep. The blood flow mechanism that transfers core body heat to the skin works best between 18 and 30 degrees. But later in life, the comfort zone shrinks to between 23 and 25 degrees - one reason why older people have more sleep disorders.
- A night on the grog will help you get to sleep but it will be a light slumber and you won't dream much.
- After five nights of partial sleep deprivation, three drinks will have the same effect on your body as six would when you've slept enough.
- Humans sleep on average around three hours less than other primates like chimps, rhesus monkeys, squirrel monkeys and baboons, all of whom sleep for 10 hours.
- Ducks at risk of attack by predators are able to balance the need for sleep and survival, keeping one half of the brain awake while the other slips into sleep mode.
- Ten per cent of snorers have sleep apnoea, a disorder which causes sufferers to stop breathing up to 300 times a night and significantly increases the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke.
- Snoring occurs only in non-REM sleep

- Teenagers need as much sleep as small children (about 10 hrs) while those over 65 need the least of all (about six hours). For the average adult aged 25-55, eight hours is considered optimal
- Some studies suggest women need up to an hour's extra sleep a night compared to men, and not getting it may be one reason women are much more susceptible to depression than men.
- Feeling tired can feel normal after a short time. Those deliberately deprived of sleep for research initially noticed greatly the effects on their alertness, mood and physical performance, but the awareness dropped off after the first few days.
- Diaries from the pre-electric-light-globe Victorian era show adults slept nine to 10 hours a night with periods of rest changing with the seasons in line with sunrise and sunsets.
- Most of what we know about sleep we've learned in the past 25 years.
- As a group, 18 to 24 year-olds deprived of sleep suffer more from impaired performance than older adults.
- Experts say one of the most alluring sleep distractions is the 24-hour accessibility of the internet.
- The extra-hour of sleep received when clocks are put back at the start of daylight in Canada has been found to coincide with a fall in the number of road accidents.

Opinion: '8 hours sleep is the best amount to have' - Benefits

Sleep helps to repair your body. 
Your body produces extra protein molecules while you're sleeping that helps strengthen your ability to fight infection and stay healthy. These molecules help your immune system mend your body at a cellular level when you are stressed or have been exposed to compromising elements such as pollutants and infectious bacteria.


Sleep helps keep your heart healthy. 

Your cardiovascular system is constantly under pressure and sleep helps to reduce the levels of stress and inflammation in your body. High levels of "inflammatory markers" are linked to heart disease and strokes. Sleep can also help keep blood pressure and cholesterol levels (which play a role in heart disease) in check.



Sleep reduces stress. 
A good night's sleep can help lower blood pressure and elevated levels of stress hormones, which are a natural result of today's fast paced lifestyle. High blood pressure can be life threatening and the physical effects of stress can produce "'wear and tear" on your body and degenerate cells, which propel the aging process. Sleep helps to slow these effects and encourages a state of relaxation.



Sleep improves your memory. 
That 'foggy' feeling that you struggle with when deprived of sleep makes it difficult to concentrate. This often leads to memory problems with facts, faces, lessons, or even conversations. Sleeping well eliminates these difficulties because, as you sleep, your brain is busy organizing and correlating memories.
One of the great benefits of sleep is that it allows your brain to better process new experiences and knowledge, increasing your understanding and retention. So, next time you hear someone say "why don't you sleep on it," take their advice.

Sleep helps control body weight issues. 
Sleep helps regulate the hormones that affect and control your appetite. Studies have shown that when your body is deprived of sleep, the normal hormone balances are interrupted and your appetite increases. Unfortunately this increase in appetite doesn't lead to a craving for fruits and veggies. Rather, your body longs for foods high in calories, fats, and carbohydrates.
So, if you're trying to lose those stubborn few pounds that just keep hanging around, consider the benefits of sleep on weight control and make sure that getting enough sleep each day. For more information on sleep and body weight.


Sleep reduces your chances of diabetes
Researchers have shown that lack of sleep may lead to type 2 diabetes by affecting how your body processes glucose, which is the carbohydrate your cells use for fuel.
The Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School reports that a study showed a healthy group of people who had reduced their sleep from eight to four hours per night processed glucose more slowly. Other research initiatives have revealed that adults who usually sleep less than five hours per night have a greatly increased risk of developing diabetes.


Sleep reduces the occurrence of mood disorders.
With insufficient sleep during the night, many people become agitated or moody the following day. Yet, when limited sleep becomes a chronic issue, studies have shown it can lead to long-term mood disorders such as depression or anxiety.
The benefits of sleep are extensive and can make a difference in your quality of life, as well as the length of your life. Therefore, it is vital to place a priority on getting ample, consistent sleep. 

Opinion: '8 hours sleep is the best amount to have' - Dreaming

Dreaming I feel has a strong link between sleep and the amount you have, for instance, many of us can be woken by a nightmare, and to dream we have to be in a certain state of sleep.

-Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep.

- The scientific study of dreams is known as oneirology

- Scientists believe that everyone dreams, but people will tend to forget them when they naturally pass out of sleep through the traditional sleep cycle

- If a person is awoken during REM sleep, they are much more likely to remember the dream.

- Dreams mainly occur in the R.E.M. stage (rapid-eye movement) of sleep, that is when brain activity is high and signalled by continuous movements of the eyes

- Dreams are a connection to the human subconscious. They can range from normal and ordinary to overly surreal and bizarre

-  Dreams can often at times make a creative thought to the person or give a sense of inspiration

- Dream interpretations date back to 5000-4000 B.C., where they were documented on clay tablets. The earliest recorded dreams were acquired from materials dating back approximately 5000 years, in Mesopotamia

- In some of the earliest societies, people were unable to tell the difference between the dream world and the waking world. They just simply chose not to make the distinction because they believed that the dream world was an extension of reality, though a more powerful world.

- The most common emotion experienced in dreams is anxiety. Other emotions include abandonment, anger, fear, joy, happiness, etc. Negative emotions are much more common than positive ones.

- A small minority of people say that they dream only in black and white.

- A daydream is a visionary fantasy, especially one of happy, pleasant thoughts, hopes or ambitions, imagined as coming to pass, and experienced while awake.

Opinion: '8 hours sleep is the best amount to have' - About

I have always been told having 8 hours of sleep a night means you feel at your best in the morning. Since being told this, from a young age, I have always scheduled my bed routine to make sure I get the right amount of sleep.  I think this works best for me as I have stuck to this routine for years. I'm not sure if its medically proven so I wanted to do a little research to find out. I want to look into other people's opinions too, as I believe its massively dependant on your age and lifestyle.



HOW MUCH SLEEP DO YOU NEED?

While sleep requirements vary by individual, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke reports that most adults need seven to eight hours a night. Though, some people may need as few as 5 hours per night and others may need up to nine or ten hours of sleep each day for proper functioning.

Sleep Requirements by Age

Newborns (0-2 months old)	12-18 hours
Infants (3-11 months old)	14-15 Hours
Toddlers (1-3 years old)l	12-14 Hours
Pre-schoolers (3-5 years old)	11-13 Hours
School-aged Children (5-10 years old)	10-11 Hours
Teens (11-17 years old)	8-9 Hours
Adults	7-9 Hours

Studies show that people who get the appropriate amount of sleep on a regular basis tend to live longer, healthier lives than those who sleep too few or even too many hours each night. This underscores the importance of making sleep a top priority.

Opinion: '8 hours sleep is the best amount to have'

Reasons I think '8 hours sleep is the best amount to have'

- Its the amount I feel most refreshed after
- I feel its the least amount i can have, without feeling grotty the next morning
- I feel its the healthiest amount
- I like my bed, the more time the better!
- Its a good idea to have, you set your alarms and bed time to fit to it
- You wake up happy :)
- You get a better nights sleep knowing you have 8 hours to sleep

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Facts about '8 hours sleep is the best amount to have':

-  Sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles
- The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses.
- It’s impossible to tell if someone is really awake without close medical supervision. People can take cat naps with their eyes open without even being aware of it.
- Anything less than five minutes to fall asleep at night means you’re sleep deprived. The ideal is between 10 and 15 minutes, meaning you’re still tired enough to sleep deeply, but not so exhausted you feel sleepy by day.
- Dreams, once thought to occur only during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, also occur (but to a lesser extent) in non-REM sleep phases. It’s possible there may not be a single moment of our sleep when we are actually dreamless.
- REM dreams are characterised by bizarre plots, but non-REM dreams are repetitive and thought-like, with little imagery – obsessively returning to a suspicion you left your mobile phone somewhere, for example.
- REM dreams are characterised by bizarre plots, but non-REM dreams are repetitive and thought-like, with little imagery – obsessively returning to a suspicion you left your mobile phone somewhere, for example.
- Elephants sleep standing up during non-REM sleep, but lie down for REM sleep
- Some scientists believe we dream to fix experiences in long-term memory, that is, we dream about things worth remembering. Others think we dream about things worth forgetting – to eliminate overlapping memories that would otherwise clog up our brains.

- Dreams may not serve any purpose at all but be merely a meaningless byproduct of two evolutionary adaptations – sleep and consciousness.

- Scientists have not been able to explain a 1998 study showing a bright light shone on the backs of human knees can reset the brain’s sleep-wake clock
- British Ministry of Defence researchers have been able to reset soldiers’ body clocks so they can go without sleep for up to 36 hrs. Tiny optical fibres embedded in special spectacles project a ring of bright white light (with a spectrum identical to a sunrise) around the edge of soldiers’ retinas, fooling them into thinking they have just woken up. The system was first used on US pilots during the bombing of Kosovo.
- The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, the Challenger space shuttle disaster and the Chernobyl nuclear accident have all been attributed to human errors in which sleep-deprivation played a role
-  The “natural alarm clock” which enables some people to wake up more or less when they want to is caused by a burst of the stress hormone adrenocorticotropin. Researchers say this reflects an unconscious anticipation of the stress of waking up.
- Tiny luminous rays from a digital alarm clock can be enough to disrupt the sleep cycle even if you do not fully wake. The light turns off a “neural switch” in the brain, causing levels of a key sleep chemical to decline within minutes.
- Humans sleep on average around three hours less than other primates like chimps, rhesus monkeys, squirrel monkeys and baboons, all of whom sleep for 10 hours.
- Ducks at risk of attack by predators are able to balance the need for sleep and survival, keeping one half of the brain awake while the other slips into sleep mode.
- Diaries from the pre-electric-light-globe Victorian era show adults slept nine to 10 hours a night with periods of rest changing with the seasons in line with sunrise and sunsets.
- Most of what we know about sleep we’ve learned in the past 25 years
- The extra-hour of sleep received when clocks are put back at the start of daylight in Canada has been found to coincide with a fall in the number of road accidents.
- Experts say one of the most alluring sleep distractions is the 24-hour accessibility of the internet.

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Words relating to'8 hours sleep is the best amount to have':


- Sleep
- Dreaming
- Bed
- Healthy
- Benefits
- REM
- Refreshed
- Sleepy
- Tired

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Opinions about '8 hours sleep is the best amount to have':

All answers and questions found on yahoo answers

" Whats the best amount of sleep to get "

" everybody has differnent need physically. there are baseline normals for all of us, research shows results and examples on large controlled groups in testing but each individual has there own requirements. obviously you've payed attention to your sleeping habits. 8-9 hours isnt for you. also, how controlled were your sleeping envoirnments. alot of things factor in such as stress, diet, exercise, time, outside elements, health, etc.. you cant just test yourself once, keep monitoring your sleeping habits and surrounding elements for a few weeks. maybe your first test of 8-9 was comprimised by another factor besides actual time sleeping " 


"  What are the different phases of sleep "


" Following are the stage of sleep we have:
Stage 1 (Drowsiness) – Our brain gives the signal to our heart to beat at a slower rate, give signal to our body for a drop in body tempreture to our muscles for a slow in muscle activity and our eyes to more slowly under the eyelids. During this stage, it takes about 5 – 10 minutes for us to fall asleep.
Stage 2 (Light Sleep) – After a while, we are in light sleep. Our heart beat has slows, body temperature has drops, muscles has slow and eyes movement has stop. We can be easily waken up during this stage.
Stage 3 (Slow Wave Sleep) – We are now in deeper sleep and cannot be waken up easily. Some people may have a sleepwalk while Children may experience bedwetting at this stage.
Stage 4 (Deep Sleep) – We are in deepest sleep and is very difficult to wake up at this stage. If being awaken, we can be confused and disoriented for a few minutes.Stage 5 (REM Sleep or Dream Sleep) – REM stand for rapid eye movement. We enter into REM Sleep after 90 minutes in our sleep cycle. Our eyes will move back and forth rapidly beneath our eyelids, our heart will beat faster and breathe less regularly. We can have 2 – 5 REM every night. We dream during REM sleep. "

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Images of '8 hours sleep is the best amount to have':

Opinion: 'Ginger is the new blonde'

Reasons I think 'Ginger is the new blonde':


- It's different
- It's not cliche'
- It's interesting
- It's far less common
- It's fashionable
- It's no longer a burden to be ginger
- More and more people choose to dye their hair ginger, me included!
- Strawberry blonde is now ginger.
- The more orange the better

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Facts about 'Ginger is the new blonde':


- You wouldn't think it but ginger goes with everything!
- It makes an outfit that bit more interesting
- It's individual
- There is now a wider range of hair dye due to popular demand (I would know)
- It makes you stand out in pictures
- A lot of famous folk are becoming positive role models when it comes to red hair, Blake lively 
- Red hair occurs on approximately 1–2% of the human population
- It occurs more frequently (2–6%) in people of northern or western European ancestry, and less frequently in other populations. Red hair appears in people with two copies of a recessive gene on chromosome 16 which causes a mutation in the MC1R protein
- Red hair varies from a deep burgundy through burnt orange to bright copper. It is characterized by high levels of the reddish pigment pheomelanin and relatively low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. 
- The term redhead (originally redd hede) has been in use since at least 1510. It is associated with fair skin color, lighter eye colors (gray, blue, green, and hazel), freckles, and sensitivity toultraviolet light.
- Cultural reactions have varied from ridicule to admiration; many common stereotypes exist regarding redheads and they are often portrayed as fiery-tempered.
- it is associated particularly with the people located in the United Kingdom and in Ireland
- Scotland has the highest proportion of redheads; 13 per cent of the population has red hair and approximately 40 per cent carries the recessive redhead gene
- In the United States, it is estimated that 2-6% of the population has red hair. This would give the U.S. the largest population of redheads in the world, at 6 to 18 million, compared to approximately 650,000 in Scotland and 420,000 in Ireland.
- Red hair is the rarest natural hair color in humans. The pale skin associated with red hair may have been advantageous in far-northern climates where sunlight is scarce
- Two studies have demonstrated that people with red hair have different sensitivity to pain compared to people with other hair colors. One study found that people with red hair are more sensitive to thermal pain (associated with naturally occurring low vitamin K levels), while another study concluded that redheads are less sensitive to pain from multiple modalities, including noxious stimuli such as electrically induced pain.
- Researchers have found that people with red hair require greater amounts of anesthetic.

- Henna hair dye is becoming more popular, dying hair 'ginger' in a safer less toxic and damaging way.

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Words relating to 'Ginger is the new blonde':


- Henna
- Orange
- Vibrant
- Different
- Scottish
- Red head
- Dye
- Girls aloud
- Popular
- Pale skin
- Sunlight

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Opinions about 'Ginger is the new blonde':


“People tell me it’s unique and I’m getting a lot more work recently – maybe it’s because having red hair’s cool again,” 
“Without sounding big-headed, people often assume people with red hair are really unattractive.”
“When I was 18, I met a boy in a nightclub and we were getting on really well until we all walked outside at the end of the night and his friends saw my hair under the lights and pointed out I was ginger – that actually happened to me a few times."
“I wouldn’t act like that these days because I’m really proud of it"

“It had a real effect on me and before our first date I actually sent a text to my current boyfriend ‘warning’ him I was a red-head. - Rachel Vaughan-Jones

“I recently did a show with L’Oreal and they told me they were actively looking for models with red hair because it was so striking.

“It’s as if it’s the end of blonde ambition and women are dying their hair red – my mum always told me that would happen one day!” - Rachael 

"When I was a blonde, guys treated me like a girl...a girly girl," Walsh told Women's Health back in 2006. "Then as a redhead, I was a little more sassy, maybe a little more boorish -- more how I am inside."

Deborah Ann Woll went red. "As a fair skinned blonde, I disappeared into the background. I've always been a loner, so I suppose dyeing my hair red was a way to say, 'I'm here, I exist, I'm a human being and you can't just push me aside,'" 

Christina Hendricks traded in her blonde hair long ago for Joan's signature color. "I was obsessed with Lucy [from I Love Lucy] and I was a huge Ginger fan, from Gilligan's Island," she admits. "I decided to dye my hair red because of Anne of Green Gables when I was ten."

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Images of 'Ginger is the new blonde':


Wilma Flintstone. Daphne from Scooby Doo. Jessica Rabbit. Lois Griffin in Family Guy. Arial in The Little Mermaid. Princess Fiona in Shrek. Nicola roberts

Blake Lively

It's even in the papers - Blondes going ginger

The natural Nicola Roberts embracing her red hair

Wilma

Daphne

Jessica Rabbit

Lois Griffin

The little Mermaid

Fiona