The Mechanics of A Poor Night's Sleep

How Oxygen Depletion and Toxin Accumulation Affect Your ZZZs

Have you ever wondered why you get tired before bedtime? Or perhaps your curious about how sleep has the power to refresh and restore the body. In the last post, we identified what a good night's sleep looks like. Now we'll consider some of the important processeses  that occur in the body before and during sleep.

Toxic Collection

During our waking hours, there is a gradual buildup of wastes in our bloodstream. This is a natural and normal occurrence. Throughout the day, waste products in our bodies accumulate faster than they can be eliminated. Again, this is normal. But it does leave an imbalance of toxins in the bloodstream.

Oxygen Depletion

Also, during the day, our bodies use more oxygen than our lungs can supply. This is especially true if we have poor breathing habits and/or we do not get moderate exercise during the day.  While this is normal, it still leaves an imbalance of oxygen in the blood supply.

You Are Getting Sleepy

As a result of  increased toxins and decreased oxygen in our bloodstream -- at the end of a normal day -- we become tired and ready for bed. This is a normal daily process, part of how God has designed the human body.

Sleep Eliminates Toxins and Oxygenates the Body

While sleeping, the body works to cleanse the body of toxins and to re-oxygenate the blood. No new waste (or food) products are introduced into the body, so it is able to concentrate on eliminating those previously ingested. In addition, little activity occurs while sleeping, so the body does not expend nor need the same amount of oxygen as it does during more active times. This allows the body to store up oxygen for the next day.  The elimination systems are busy during the night removing toxins and importing oxygen. The lungs and skin are especially active.

Lungs: While sleeping, our breathing rate excels, increasing the amount of oxygen in the blood. Since we are not active during sleep, the rate of oxygenation exceeds the needs of the body, allowing our bodies to stock up for the next day, when the cycle begins again.  In addition to oxygenation, breathing removes large amounts of CO2 and other toxins through exhalation.

Skin: Our skin, which is the largest organ of the body, plays a large role in the removal of toxins. While sleeping, perspiration increases, allowing large amounts of waste to be eliminated through the skin. If you have ever woken up sweating, this may be why.

Finding Balance

The increase in our breathing and perspiration continues until our blood chemistry becomes balanced. At that time a significant change takes place in the sleeping pattern. Our breathing slows down, perspiration rate decreases, waste elimination slows down, and we fall into a deep level of restorative sleep. This is the kind of sleep we should be getting each night.

Unfortunately, most Americans do not get this kind of rest. If our body doesn't recover from lack of oxygen because our levels are too depleted or the amount of toxins in our body are too high, our body will not enter into the restorative sleep state. Rather the body will continue with the increased breathing and perspiration in an effort to achieve balance. The balance may never occur even after spending 8-10 hours per night sleeping.

Staying in bed longer does not improve the situation, but can actually exacerbate the problem as too much sedentary time can impede blood circulation and starve cells and tissues of much needed nutrients.

Too much waste and too little oxygen in our blood can prevent us from falling into a state of restorative sleep. Or if we do fall into a state of restorative sleep, we will not stay there long enough to recover.  The body is still trying to rid the bloodstream of its wastes and still trying to bring more oxygen into the blood. The result is that we wake up tired. Though time has been spent in bed, we feel as though we need more.

The next post will discuss the solution to poor sleep. But, all of life is connected, and in order to continually achieve restorative sleep, all the principles shared on Reformed Health should be applied.

Next: The Natural Solution to a Poor Night's Sleep

Return to: Biblical Health Study