Script for sleep documentary

This contains some of the script i'll be using

It is said The average person will sleep for a third of their lives, equivalent to nine-thousand one hundred and twenty five days and  2 hundred and 29 thousand, 9 hundred and 61 hours in their entire lifetime, basing of an average of 8 hours of sleep per night,  but for some of us this only a distant dream and how much truth is really behind it?

First of, let's tackle the question of what really is the sleep?

Sleep is the mysterious shift in consciousness that our bodies require every day. It’s vital for our health and wellbeing, and not only do we function less well when we don’t get enough quality sleep, but it can lead to long-term health problems. That’s why we need to do all that we can to ensure that we enjoy quality sleep and deal with any sleep problems.

During this stage the body begins to repair itself, from repairing muscle fibres, tissue growth to restoring our energy for the day ahead. So does this mean if we jump right into bed all these things happen straight away, the answer is no.   

Stages of sleep:

As you know when we get into bed, there is a time where beforehand where we actually begin to fall asleep, it can be from 10 minutes to 30 minutes or even longer, this varies from person to person and is also known as sleep latency which i’ll be talking about later. But for now, once we fall asleep do we start dreaming straight away, not really. This is because there is a starting point from where we go through a continuous cycle that runs around and around throughout the night. This is also known as the stages of sleep.

People usually pass through 5 stages, starting of at stage 1 to REM Sleep.

During stage 1: Stage one is also known as light sleep, this is a stage between sleep and can be easily awakened.

Stage 2 is when eye movement stops and you become disengaged from your surroundings.

Stage 3 and 4: is also known as deep sleep, during stage 3 and 4 it becomes difficult for them to be awakened where there is no eye movement and muscle activity.

The last stage REM sleep: This is the stage where dreams mostly occur and when we wake up we can remember them. Breathing becomes more rapid and heart rate increases.

The optimum stages that are most beneficial for us is stage 3 and four that allows our bodies to fully recover on both psychological and physical measures.

With that being said doctors do not know the exact reason as to why we need sleep? But we do know the functions that sleep serve in order to maintain our health and wellbeings.

Now what about those who don’t and can't sleep?

– where the muscles and soft tissues in the throat relax and collapse sufficiently to cause a total blockage of the airway; it is called an apnoea when the airflow is blocked for 10 seconds or more

Lack of sleep: In the 21 century our busy lives are filled with ideals, jobs, deadlines, relationships taking up half or if not the whole of the day. What is worse is coming home to bed, and you can’t fall asleep. The reason being is that some of us are unaware that we unconsciously bring these along to bed with us, thoughts, feelings, day to day stress all in a time where can actually think about them therefore this replaces our actual time to relax and snooze off.

Even though some of us are consciously aware, we are unable to sleep, this is also known as Insomnia.

As many as 30 to 35 percent of adults complain of insomnia. It is more common in groups such as older adults, women, people under stress and people with mental health problems such as depression.

People who have insomnia tend to find it difficult to fall alseep, waking up several times per night, feeling irritated and difficulty concentrating during the day.

I conducted a interview with a couple people who had past experiences with insomnia

The results i got showed 90% of the people i interviewed showed showed a link between lack of sleep and productivity.

STudies show that lack of sleep decreases our productivity, it can effect our general mood, ability to learn and retain information and is also a safety concern as we are more likely to cause accidents.

Another study also shows that lack of sleep makes you more vulnerable to common colds.

Although lack of sleep is may seem different to insomnia but i believe it is not to far apart since both share some of the same symptoms, a person who lacks sleep may develop sleeping patterns that are irregular and this increases into another deadly cycle which develops into insomnia in time.

I’ve conducted an interview with a to further explain this hypothesis:

With this information this regards that those we do not sleep through free will may lead to circumstances similar to insomnia being unable to sleep.

Prevention:

So how do we prevent this from happening:

Treating sleep as something very important is the first step, sleep

I interviewed a fitness instructor to tell us about what how exercise affects the quality of sleep we get.

Expanding on his point a study by the national sleep foundation shows that people sleep significantly better and more alert during the day when the person spends at least 150 minutes of exercise week.

Self-help

Books

There are many ways to track sleep whether its for medical reasons or just to see your own sleep patterns, Some sleep clinics provides sleep labs where patients are to stay a night where doctors can view your brainwaves pinpointing problems and help you adjust to a better night sleep.

However there is a reliable way where anyone at home track your own sleeping patterns, devices such as Jawbones and fitbits allow a individual to track the amount exercise, calories and quality of sleep you get, turning you into a healthier individual.