Why You Need Lots of Sleep after Stroke

Sleep is one of the most important ingredients in any stroke rehabilitation regimen. Without good sleep, you won’t have the energy or motivation to pursue your rehab exercises.

Do you constantly feel tired after experiencing a stroke?

Do you sleep a lot after stroke and worry that it’s abnormal?

Don’t worry – it’s completely normal! Your brain has sustained a serious injury and now it needs lots of rest in order to repair and rewire itself. In fact, your brain normally uses 20% of your energy, and that percentage only increases when it’s busy trying to fix itself.

Why Sleep Is Oh-So Important?

Sleep is necessary for a healthy brain. When we sleep, our brain gets a chance to clean itself up and flush out toxic moleculesthat build up during waking hours. If we don’t get enough sleep and these toxins continue to build up in our brain, it could lead to neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Sleep Helps Improve Movement Recovery after Stroke

Sleep also helps your brain store information related to motor tasks. During REM sleep, your brain turns short-term memories about muscle movement into long-term memories that become stored in the part of the brain that’s in charge of muscle activity. Essentially, sleep helps your brain remember those movements that you’ve been practicing all day. So if sleeping is the only thing that you want to do after you finish your rehabilitation exercises, rest assured. You’re doing your body a great service!

Take It from a Stroke Survivor

Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroscientist who experienced a huge stroke, wrote a book about her 8-year stroke recovery and all the lessons she learned. One of  those lessons was the incredible importance of getting plenty of sleep after stroke. In fact, it’s her top recommendation for healing! Take it from a stroke-surviving neuroscientist – sleep is important!

Now that you how crucial good sleep is for stroke recovery, do you feel less guilty about getting all those zzz’s? We hope so.

Do you know someone who feels weird about how much they sleep after stroke? Share this article with them so that they know they’re doing things right.

Source: Flint Rehabilitation Devices