Editor's note: This article is a reprint. The first edition was published on his June 1, 2017.
The importance of sleep is widely ignored, despite the fact that it is associated with everything from reduced work productivity and increased risk of serious accidents to psychological deterioration and physiological dysfunction. , its cost is rarely considered.
The evidence is very clear. Regularly ignoring your body's need for sleep to repair and recharge will damage your health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also warns: Lack of sleep is a public health epidemic, and sleep deprivation has been linked to a variety of health problems.
Rates of insomnia are skyrocketing among U.S. military personnel and could impact operational readiness, a study warns.1 Over the past decade, insomnia among military personnel has increased fourfold, and sleep apnea has increased fivefold.
As for the question, how much sleep do you need, research shows that most adults need about eight hours of sleep each night for optimal health and disease prevention. Children and teens need more. Also, when you're sick or recovering from an illness, you need more sleep than usual.
How sleep deprivation affects your health
Some of the many health problems that lack of sleep can cause or cause include:
Increased risk of car accidents |
Painkillers are ineffective in treating the hypersensitivity induced by sleep deprivation, which increases sensitivity to pain. This means that painkillers may not be as effective if you are sleep deprived.2 |
Decreased ability to perform tasks |
decreased ability to learn or remember |
Decrease in work productivity |
Decrease in creativity |
Decline in athletic ability |
Increased risk of type 2 diabetes, obesity, cancer, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and cardiovascular disease |
Increased risk of depression and anxiety. Insomnia, in particular, has been shown to follow anxiety and precede depression.3 |
Increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease |
Decreased immune function |
delayed reaction time |
Decreased regulation of emotion and emotion recognition |
poor grades at school |
Increased susceptibility to stomach ulcers |
Exacerbation of chronic diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), and cancer |
Increased expression of genes associated with inflammation, immune excitability, diabetes, cancer risk, and stressFour |
Premature aging by interfering with the production of growth hormone, which is normally released by the pituitary gland during deep sleep |
Common problems that rob you of sleep
Science Alert published an article reviewing nine common sleep problems and some tools and techniques to address them.Five
• Shoulder and back pain — To improve your sleep quality when you have shoulder pain, avoid sleeping on the painful side and try hugging your pillow closer to your chest. Strategically placed pillows can also help with lower back pain. Try placing a pillow under your knees if you sleep on your back, or between your legs if you sleep on your side.
• can not sleep – Identify and avoid the most common causes, including drinking coffee or caffeinated drinks too late in the day and exercising or using electronic devices too close to bedtime. Turn off your computer, tablet, and smartphone and limit television viewing at least two hours before bed.Also, be sure avoid blue light Light sources such as LED lighting or excessively bright lighting at night, or wear $11.99 red glasses After the sun goes down.
• I can't stay asleep — Two common causes are consuming alcohol and raising the temperature of the room too high. The ideal room temperature for sleeping is below 70 °F (21 °C).
• It’s hard to wake up — Wake up at the same time every day, seven days a week, and stick to a regular bedtime routine. Establishing a consistent, comfortable bedtime routine will increase your chances of falling asleep easily. Activities such as taking a warm bath, reading a book, and relaxation exercises can help. Try to go to bed by 10pm to optimize your chronobiological cycle.
• Leg cramps — Warming, stretching, and massaging the area can help. I keep an exercise therapy tool called Tigertail by my bedside in case I get occasional leg cramps during the night.
However, the featured article notes that leg cramps are often a sign of a magnesium or potassium deficiency, so if your leg cramps are due to one of these nutritional deficiencies, increase your magnesium and/or potassium. I didn't point out that you can solve the problem from the root. .
To sleep better, assess and address these two variables.
Sleep is the result of two types of variables:
• sleepiness – Under normal circumstances, sleepiness increases throughout the day and peaks just before bedtime at night. This is ideal if you want to get a good night's sleep at the beginning of the night. Exposure to bright sunlight and quality lighting during the day and reducing light exposure once the sun goes down will maximize your natural sleep cycle and help you feel appropriately sleepy by bedtime.
• „noise“ – Noise occurs in three zones: the mental level, the physical level, and the environmental level. To get a good night's sleep, your sleepiness level needs to be high and your noise level needs to be low. Conceptually, if the noise is louder than your drowsiness level, you won't fall asleep.
Examples of body noise include pain, discomfort, indigestion, or residual caffeine from drinking coffee too late in the day. Environmental noise includes things like traffic, a snoring partner, music, lights, and too much heat.
The most common type of mind noise is called „cognitive popcorn,“ where unstoppable thoughts race through your mind as soon as your head hits the pillow. It is also the most commonly reported cause of insomnia.
Do your thoughts keep you awake at night?
A CNN article on this topic states:6
„Some nights, it can feel like you can't shut your brain off long enough to fall asleep. In your head, you're looking back at the day you just finished and previewing the day ahead. Sometimes your mind may even travel far back in time.'' Visit the archives and pull out the embarrassing things you did in high school.
It is very fun! …Of course, there is no one solution that will work for everyone. So instead he compiled suggestions from eight sleep experts. ”
Here we've summarized some tips from sleep experts on calming your racing thoughts.
1. Use creative distractions — If worry is controlling you, try thinking about something else that is interesting but not important. Dr Neil Stanley, a sleep expert, said: 'I fly a lot so I imagine having my own private jet, but how would you arrange the furniture on it? “If you like going to festivals, what do you do?” What will the lineup be like? ”
2. get out of bed – Instead of tossing and turning and getting frustrated, get out of bed. Try writing down your thoughts. Be sure to dim the lights. Telling yourself to stay awake instead can have the paradoxical effect of making you sleepy. The reason is that when you feel comfortable staying awake, your level of irritation and excitement decreases, making it easier to fall asleep.
3. Plan to spend more time in the sun — Lack of sun exposure during the day (especially early in the morning) is often the cause of persistent sleep problems. Bright sunlight first thing in the morning or around noon helps set your body clock so you can fall asleep „on time.“7
Four. sleep naked — One of the benefits of a good night's sleep, although not covered by CNN's sleep experts, is that it improves the quality of your sleep by preventing you from overheating. One study showed that a difference in skin surface temperature of just 0.08°F (or 0.4°C) led to healthier sleep.8,9,Ten
Food choices and meal timing can affect your sleep
A cup or two of black organic coffee may be good for your health, but drinking too much, especially in the afternoon or evening, can overstimulate you and change your body clock in the long run.11 The same goes for alcohol. It may make you nod off faster, but studies have shown that drinking alcohol can make you wake up more easily during the night and make you feel less rested in the morning.
Spicy foods and unhealthy fatty and sweet foods can also cause fragmented sleep.12 Especially when eating late at night. This is thought to be due to the brain chemical hypocretin, a neurotransmitter that makes you feel sleepy and is also involved in appetite.
Eating too close to your bedtime or late at night when you'd normally be sleeping can throw your body clock out of whack. Refraining from eating for at least three hours before bed can help lower blood sugar levels while you sleep and minimize mitochondrial damage.
2012 survey13 provides strong support for this recommendation. As a result, even a temporary change in your typical eating habits, such as waking up in the middle of the night to eat a snack, can cause certain proteins to throw your body's food clock out of sync, which can make you feel unwell and create a vicious cycle. It turns out that there is. moving.
Electromagnetic fields: environmental “noise” that interferes with sleep
In addition to exposing yourself to the right kind of light during the day and avoiding excessive amounts of light or blue light at night, it's also important to deal with electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted by wiring and electronic devices. Electromagnetic radiation from electronic devices not only inhibits melatonin secretion, but also damages mitochondria by causing oxidative damage.
Exposure to EMFs is also thought to be associated with changes in brain neurons that affect memory and learning abilities.14 Most homes have electrical current flowing into them, so eliminating EMF exposure can be difficult. Still, depending on how far you go, you can reduce EMF more or less significantly. Here are some suggestions to consider to improve your sleep quality.
• Please turn off Wi-Fi at night. You can also turn off the breaker in your bedroom before going to bed. This reduces microwave radiation as well as electromagnetic interference in the room.
If you're not using Wi-Fi at night, why leave it on? Why expose yourself to unnecessary and dangerous microwave energy that impairs mitochondrial function? Get a switch and turn it off every night when you go to bed. Your body and health will thank you.
• Do not run electrical cords under the bed.
• Move alarm clocks and other electronic devices away from your head or, if possible, out of the room. If you must use these devices, place them as far away from your bed as possible, preferably at least 3 feet away. Keep cell phone base units and wireless routers as far away from your bedroom as possible.
• Avoid sleeping with your head facing a wall that has unshielded electrical wiring, electric meters, breaker panels, televisions, stereos, etc. on the other side. Move the bed 3 feet away from the wall, install an EMF protection canopy over the bed, or turn off the power breaker in the bedroom.
emergency treatment
In the short term, you can also try gentle sleep aids while implementing more permanent lifestyle and environmental changes. Some natural sleep remedies that can help you get a good night's sleep include:
- Melatonin — Start with a minimum of 0.25 milligrams (mg) and increase by quarter-gram increments from there until you achieve the desired effect.
- Valerian root — What we learned from the research valerian root Helps improve15 How fast you fall asleep, how deep you sleep (reach deep sleep 36% faster)16) and overall sleep quality. Start with the lowest dose and use the lowest dose needed to achieve the desired effect, as increasing the dose may produce more energetic effects in some people. Typical doses used in studies range from 400 mg to 900 mg, taken 30 minutes to 2 hours before bedtime.
- Chamomile — This herb is usually used in the form of a decoction, tea, liquid extract, or essential oil made from the plant's fresh or dried flower heads. Chamomile tea is often drunk before bed because it has a sedative effect that helps you sleep.
As you can see, sleep problems can have a variety of root causes and contributing factors, but considering alternative possibilities and taking the time to identify the trigger is worth the effort. Sleeping well is fundamental to good health, so you should make every effort to get as much quality sleep as possible.