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remove all toxic, noxious substances from the blood on a daily basis. If we don’t give the liver the energy
it needs to conduct its most basic activities, we sow the seeds of illness throughout the body.
Sleep may be divided into two major portions—before-midnight and after-midnight. Among adults,
the most important processes of purification and renewal occur during the two hours of sleep before
midnight. This period includes deep sleep, often referred to as “Beauty Sleep.” Deep sleep lasts for about
an hour from 11:00 p.m. until midnight. During this period, you enter a dreamless state where oxygen
consumption in the body drops by about eight percent. This results in profound physical rest and
relaxation. The physiological rest, which you gain during this hour of dreamless sleep, is at least three
times deeper than what you get during the sleep after midnight, when oxygen consumption in the body
rises again by 5-6 percent.
Growth factors, commonly known as growth hormones, are secreted profusely during this hour of deep
sleep. These powerful hormones are responsible for cellular growth, repair and rejuvenation. People age
faster if they don’t produce enough growth hormones. The latest “fashion” in the beauty market is to
consume synthetic growth hormones, which create “fantastic” rejuvenating results but can also have
devastating side effects, including heart disease and cancer. On the other hand, if the body makes these
hormones at the right time and in the correct amounts, as happens during deep sleep, they can keep the
body vital and youthful at every age.
Deep sleep never occurs after midnight, and it comes only if you go to sleep at least two hours before
midnight. If you miss out on deep sleep regularly, your body and mind become overtired. This triggers
abnormal stress responses in the form of constant secretions of stress hormones such as adrenaline,
cortisol or cholesterol. (Yes, cholesterol is a stress hormone that rises with stress!) To keep these
artificially derived energy bursts going, at least for a while, you may be tempted to take such stimulants as
cigarettes, coffee, tea, candy, caffeinated soft drinks or alcohol. When the body’s energy reserves are
depleted, though, chronic fatigue results, and stimulants will no longer work.
Fatigue is a major causal or contributing factor to today’s health problems. When you feel tired, it is
not just your mind that is tired. In fact, when fatigued, all the cells that make up your heart, lungs,
digestive organs, kidneys and every organ and system of the body suffer from low energy and are unable
to function properly. When you are tired, your brain no longer receives adequate amounts of water,
glucose, oxygen and amino acids—its most essential nutrients. The short supply of brain nutrients can
lead to innumerable problems in a person's mind, body and behavior, including more fatigue. When you
drive a car during the night, for example, your body has to keep fighting the “sleepy” hormone melatonin,
which naturally tries to keep your body at its lowest level of performance and activity. According to
research in the field of chronobiology, attention span after midnight drops considerably. This dramatically
raises your risk for making mistakes and having an accident. Most highway road accidents occur during
the nighttime, and accidents in factories are 20 percent more likely to occur on the night shift.
Doctors at the University of California in San Diego, have found that losing a few hours of sleep not
only makes you feel tired the following day but can also affect the immune system, possibly impairing the
body’s ability to fight infection. Since immunity diminishes as tiredness increases, your body is unable to
defend itself against bacteria, microbes and viruses. It also cannot cope efficiently with the buildup of
harmful substances in the body.
Frequent tiredness and low energy precedes any type of chronic disease and most acute illnesses,
including cancer, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, AIDS, the common cold and
the flu. Studies have found a direct relationship between sleep and health conditions. Insufficient sleep
even affects growth hormone secretion that is linked to obesity. As the amount of hormone secretion
decreases, the chance for weight gain increases. In other words, the less quality sleep you get, the more fat
you become. Furthermore, blood pressure usually falls during the sleep cycle. However, interrupted sleep