Sleep and sex

Sleep is one of the most underrated and poorly understood phenomena of human life. Sleep cannot be replaced by anything, sleep does not come by force of will, it cannot be bought, borrowed, or rewarded. Every 20 years, scientific knowledge about sleep changes dramatically, but remains far from understanding the nature, evolution and biochemistry and neurophysiology of sleep.

 

Sleep is inextricably linked to consciousness and, being its flip side, is defined as the antipode of consciousness, that is, in fact, not defined at all, like consciousness itself. This is a difficult problem.

 

In sleep, consciousness leaves the person, and the senses lose touch with reality. At first glance, sleep is a more than dubious endeavor from an evolutionary perspective, especially for those not at the top of the food chain, but in fact, the restorative and mental functions of sleep and the actions of planning sleep and the transitions from wakefulness to sleep and from sleep to wakefulness enhance the effectiveness of natural selection.

 

 Sleep is an absolute physiological necessity for humans: sleep deprivation or restriction leads inevitably to death.

 

Humans sleep according to circadian rhythms. They do not hibernate like bears, they have not learned to sleep separately with left and right hemispheres, like dolphins or seals.

 

Humans have not learned to regulate the transition from wakefulness to sleep, nor have they found a recipe for quality sleep. To date, there are no simple and safe remedies for sleep onset and no ways to improve sleep quality.

 

During a night's sleep each person goes through four to six complete cycles of slow and REM (or paradoxical) sleep, and while during slow sleep brain activity decreases, during REM sleep its intensity does not differ from the brain activity of an awake person.

 

Night and daytime sleep differ significantly: most adults do without daytime sleep. Daytime sleep is restorative in nature, contributing to increased performance and improved cognitive abilities, so many people like to sleep in the afternoon, and in the offices of some companies there are “quiet rooms” in which you can nap for 20-25 minutes during the working day and there are special hotels for short-term daytime sleep.

 

A good night's sleep is taken for granted, but a bad night's sleep becomes a nightmare for the sleeper. Long-term observations have shown that poor sleep leads to an increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease and diabetes, negatively affects immunity, memory and cognitive abilities, psychological well-being and, in general, the quality and duration of life.

 

We can confidently say that there is a direct link between sleep quality, productivity and human longevity.

 

But there are no miracle pills to improve sleep quality. Therapies for insomnia are medical, they are harmful or very harmful, CPAP masks are functional but not convenient to use, sleep hygiene requires self-discipline and regularity, psychological techniques are tedious, new sleep technologies are often based on pseudoscientific principles, and they promise more than they can deliver.

 

Humans have created a huge market for sleep products, with hundreds of billions of dollars revolving in it, invented Sleep Tech and Consumer Sleep Technology. But a good mattress and a comfy blanket create a pleasant experience when you fall asleep, but they won't help you fall asleep faster or get a better night's sleep, and they absolutely won't help prevent spontaneous awakening, snoring, or sleep apnea.

 

Alas, neither a good mattress nor a comfortable blanket has a functional mechanism of impact on the person falling asleep and sleeping that can reduce the time to fall asleep and improve the quality of sleep. From a physiological point of view, the effect of a mattress and blanket on a person is manifested through touch, through which it is difficult to establish a direct and feedback mechanism to the user.

 

Sex is embedded in living beings at a genetic level. Its social significance is as important as sexual, sex strengthens the emotional bond between partners, restores and harmonizes their relationship.

 

Most often people sleep and have sex in the same place - on the bed in the bedroom. And while a lack of sex does not have the same catastrophic consequences as a lack of sleep, and some people live without sex at all, for most people their sensual pleasures are important.

 

For very, very many reasons, people are not inclined to change their sleep and sex habits and rituals.