Topic about sleep

What is sleep?

While you are sleeping, you are unconscious, but your brain and body functions are still active. Sleep is a complex biological process that helps you process new information, stay healthy, and feel rested.

During sleep, your brain cycles through five stages: stage 1, 2, 3, 4, and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Different things happen during each stage. For example, you have a different pattern of brain waves during each one. Your breathing, heart, and temperature may be slower or faster in some stages. Certain phases of sleep help you

• Feel rested and energetic the next day
• Learn information, get insight, and form memories
• Give your heart and vascular system a rest
• Release more growth hormone, which helps children grow. It also boosts muscle mass and the repair of cells and tissues in children and adults.
• Release sex hormones, which contributes to puberty and fertility
• Keep from getting sick or help you get better when you are sick, by creating more cytokines (hormones that help the immune system fight various infections)

You need all of the stages to get healthy sleep.

How much sleep do I need?

The amount of sleep you need depends on several factors, including your age, lifestyle, health, and whether you have been getting enough sleep recently. The general recommendations for sleep are

• Newborns: 16-18 hours a day
• Preschool-aged children: 11-12 hours a day
• School-aged children: At least 10 hours a day
• Teens: 9-10 hours a day
• Adults (including older adults): 7-8 hours a day

During puberty, teenagers' biological clocks shift, and they are more likely to go to bed later than younger children and adults, and they tend to want to sleep later in the morning. This delayed sleep-wake rhythm conflicts with the early-morning start times of many high schools and helps explain why most teenagers do not get enough sleep.

Some people think that adults need less sleep as they age. But there is no evidence to show that older adults can get by with less sleep than people who are younger. As people age, however, they often get less sleep or they tend to spend less time in the deep, restful stage of sleep. Older adults are also more easily awakened.

And it's not just the number of hours of sleep you get that matters. The quality of the sleep you get is also important. People whose sleep is frequently interrupted or cut short might not get enough of certain stages of sleep.

If you are wondering whether you are getting enough sleep, including quality sleep, ask yourself

• Do you have trouble getting up in the morning?
• Do you have trouble focusing during the day?
• Do you doze off during the day?

Quranic facts about sleep

God Almighty has told us about sleep as a verse and emphasized that sleep is a verse, whether at night or during the day. The Almighty says: 

[وَمِنْ آَيَاتِهِ مَنَامُكُمْ بِاللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ وَابْتِغَاؤُكُمْ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآَيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَسْمَعُونَ) [سورة الروم: 23)

(And of His signs is your sleep by night and day and your seeking of His bounty. Indeed in that are signs for a people who listen.) [Surah Al-Rum:23]

 And some recent research has revealed the necessity of sleeping during the day also for a short period and the effect of this on brain health and improving memory and performance as we have seen.

 I admire my beloved and even wonder: When this verse was revealed, who addressed God to it? Faithful or atheists? Undoubtedly, it is a discourse for people to listen to. Therefore, God Almighty told us about a great verse and a great miracle which is sleep, but we told us about it to think and discuss the secrets of sleep !! Unfortunately, I find that non-Muslims are the ones who think, research and spend on these researches, and Muslims are asleep, oblivious to these verses !! Therefore, we find that the West has surpassed us greatly, so should we pay attention to the importance of scientific research!

And God has spoken in his book about the importance of sleep, The Almighty says: 

[47:وَهُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ اللَّيْلَ لِبَاسًا وَالنَّوْمَ سُبَاتًا وَجَعَلَ النَّهَارَ نُشُورًا) [سورة الفرقان)

(And it is He who has made the night for you as clothing and sleep [a means for] rest and has made the day a resurrection.) [Surah Al-Furqan:47]

Sleep is lethargic, that is, human rest. Indeed, if it were not for sleep, a person could not do anything correctly, his performance would be impaired, and therefore sleep is necessary for the continuation of life. Therefore, the Almighty says:   

And made your sleep [a means for] rest [Surah Al Naba:9] [9:وَجَعَلْنَا نَوْمَكُمْ سُبَاتًا) [سورة النبأ)

And made the night as clothing [Surah Al Naba:10] [10:وَجَعَلْنَا اللَّيْلَ لِبَاسًا ) [سورة النبأ)

And made the day for livelihood [Surah Al Naba:11] [11:وَجَعَلْنَا النَّهَارَ مَعَاشًا ) [سورة النبأ)