Do you know that thinking about him all night without sleeping serves psychological consequences as well as cancer?
Yes, indeed! According to studies, if you have enough sleep deprivation, it enhances the possible risk of causing breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer. Not only that, sleep impairment is directly related to certain diseases like hypertension, diabetes, obesity, stroke, depression and anxiety, along with affecting your cardiovascular health.
Is that all❓
🧠 If you don’t get enough sleep, it leads to a decrease in memory retention and concentration, lower creativity, premature aging, difficulty in controlling emotions resulting in troubled relationships with your family and friends. Additionally, lack of adequate sleep can have such negative effects on both physical and mental well-being.
📌 So this week, Study Diary will be sharing with you about the importance of sleep, common disorders among today’s both adults and young, and how to handle a healthier sleep schedule. So if you are willing to improve your sleep quality, please tap each photo and continue your reading.
Special thanks to translator @Blonded
Fact checked by @Wunna
Graphics by @Glory
Why is sleep crucial for individuals❓
An average person spends one-third of their life (25 years) sleeping. Just imagine how much time we could save if we didn't need to sleep.
So, what is the purpose of sleep? Why does our brain compel us to sleep? These questions still remain without complete answers and apparently become a subject with ongoing research.
📎 The human body operates on a Circadian Rhythm, somewhat similar to a timer, that regulates the metabolic processes occur in the human body over a 24-hour period.
Circadian rhythm is being controlled by the SCN (Suprachiasmatic Nucleus) in the hypothalamus from your brain.
🔷 His principal duty is adjusting the functions of the body according to the light and darkness. When there is light outside, your eyes deliver a signal to the SCN saying, "It's light, it's daytime." Subsequently, the SCN signals the pineal gland to decrease the production of melatonin hormone, assisting you in sleep and to release stress hormones like cortisol, helping your body energized, by activating the specific parts of the brain. This is the reason why you wake up when someone turns on the light or opens the curtains.
When the SCN receives the signal "it's night-time", it performs the reverse duties as day, like making you feel sleepy by increasing the melatonin. As melatonin levels rise, it reduces the activity in the regions of the brain which keeps people awake, simultaneously activating the parts of the brain associated with rest and sleep.
What are the adverse consequences of insufficient sleep hours or irregular sleep patterns❓
A person is more likely to die from sleep deficiency than from a shortage of food supplies. In order to understand the importance of sleep, let me explain to you about the consequences of insufficient sleep.
◾️Health Effects 🤒
- Extended period of sleep loss enhances the risk of obesity, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, renal diseases, cancer, depression, and anxiety.
- Sleeping is directly connected to the immune system. Chronic sleep deprivation gets the immune system weaker and heightens the susceptibility to infections.
- Moreover, it can cause neurological problems and reduce critical thinking.
◾️Weight Gain👖
Not having enough sleep can also plump up your weight. According to a survey from 2014, people who sleep less than six hours a day are 30% more likely to be overweight than people with regular sleep patterns.
◾️Impaired Judgment 🧠
A sleep deficit can significantly impact your decision-making skills, leading to a decrease in your ability to perform effectively both at school and work. Lack of healthy sleep habits makes you take more time than others to process a question paper in an exam which focuses on critical thinking rather than memorization. It often results in a loss of instant memory, making it difficult to react quickly in certain situations.
◾️Memory Issues 🤔
Due to the fact that Memory Consolidation performs in your sleeping time, sleep insufficiency damages your short-term memory as well as your long-term memory. As a result, you may find yourself forgetting things frequently, needing to put twice as much effort as others to memorize your lessons and easily forgetting what you have learnt.
◾️Mood Changes 📉
You don't sleep, you won't be happy. When you don't get enough sleep, you may face various emotion-related problems including confusion, heightened sensitivity, and increased tiredness.
◾️Accidents 🛑
Driving while you're sleepy is worse than driving drunk. One of the causes of workplace issues and accidents is insufficient sleep among drivers.
◾️Aging Skin 🍂
Sleeping also benefits your skin. While you are in sleep, the skin performs some automatic process like repairing and rejuvenating damaged cells and tissues, replacing them with new ones. Sleep scarcity will slow down these processes. Skin cells won’t be able to get enough oxygen and nutrients because of the unarranged blood flow. Additionally, it can reduce the production of “collagen protein” which gives structure and elasticity to the skin, resulting in experiencing dry and dull skin, dark circles under your eyes and skin wrinkles before aging.
Common Sleep Disorders
🔶 Insomnia (Difficulty in getting sleep)
One in three people in the UK has symptoms of insomnia and between 10 and 30 percent of the population actually do have insomnia. Depending on the duration, insomnia can be classified as long-term and short-term OR primary insomnia (without external stimulation) and secondary insomnia (caused by external stimulation).
Some of the insomnia’s symptoms are difficulty in falling asleep, lying awake for long periods at night, rolling out several times during the night, waking up early in the morning and not being able to get back to sleep, not feeling refreshed when you get up, feeling tired and irritable during the day and have difficulty concentrating. If people with persistent insomnia have other afflictions, they feel more suffering than a normal person, and get more disturbance by noises. For example: When a toothache occurs, a person with insomnia will feel more pain than an ordinary one.
🔶 DSPD
DSPD stands for Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder. A disorder occurs when a person has irregular or delayed sleep-wake circles. People with DSPD disorder are not completely sleep-deprived, but hit the bed late and get off late compared to a normal person. Usually, DSPD starts in adolescence and not fully understand why it happens yet. 7% to 16% of teenagers may have DSPD.
🔶 Sleep Apnea
It's a disorder in which people suddenly stop breathing for a while during sleep. There are two major causes of sleep apnea.
1. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), happens when the airway is blocked due to excessive relaxation of the throat muscles while sleeping.
2. Central Sleep Apnea (CSA), when the brain cannot send the proper signals to the breath control muscles.
People with sleep apnea are characterized by symptoms like loud snoring, episodes of gasping or choking during sleep, dry mouth upon waking up, frequent awakenings throughout the night, and getting tired easily. Sleep Apnea can happen regardless of age and sex, but is more common for those with obese people, the elderly, men, and those with a genetic predisposition. Surprisingly, studies have shown that 85% of people don't realize they have sleep apnea.
How should we develop a healthy sleep routine❓
Normally, an average person should spend 7 to 9 hours a day sleeping. However, there's no correct sleep schedule to fit with everybody.
🌄 Some are morning people, feeling refreshed and energized when they wake up early in the morning, but some are night owls who prefer working during the quiet hours of the night.
No matter if you are an early riser or a midnight keeper, the key to a qualitative sleep is having a regular sleep schedule and ample amount of sleep.
If your sleep routine is 2AM to 9AM, and you are able to maintain the same routine every night, it can be said that you have a healthy sleep routine.
Are you facing trouble sleeping? Or you want to develop a healthy routine and have no idea where to start? If that's so, here are some tips that will help you;
1️⃣ Create a relaxing bedtime routine 🕰
Before you hit the bed, try taking a bath with hot water which can help you relax, read a book, practice easy yoga exercises and meditate for a while.
2️⃣ Touch the sunlight 🌞
Spend some time outside or sit near a window to catch some sunlight in the morning. Feeling sunlight on your skin is the best way to begin a productive day since it helps to start a Circadian Rhythm by letting it know the day time and boost serotonin production, assisting your mental clarity.
3️⃣ Limited Screen time 📱
Up above, I talked about Circadian Rhythm and SCN, performing their duty conforming to night and day. But the problem is SCN reads the light by looking at its wavelength and has no ability to distinguish the source. Since SCN is unable to tell the difference between blue light from electronic devices like phones, laptops and that from the sun, using your phone at night can confuse night and day to SCN, signaling that it’s still daytime. That’s why using your phone before bed is the first thing on your list of terrible mistakes. To improve your sleep quality, it is important to reduce the screen time as many hours as possible before your sleep.
4️⃣ Avoid large meals before bed 🥣❌
Consuming a heavy meal close to your sleep forces your digestive system to work hard to break down what you have eaten. When it comes down, your body requires a lot of energy to digest. And it disturbs your sleep as your inner organs are busy instead of taking a rest. Plus, you may feel uncomfortable when you lie down, making it difficult to find a comfortable sleep position. Therefore, avoid eating a meal right before your bedtime and consuming foods or drinks that contain caffeine such as coffee.
5️⃣ Foods that can help you sleep 🥛
Mike and dairy products, legumes and green vegetables, tofu, herbal tea, fruits, and fish like Salmon which contains fatty acid, will support sleep-regulated hormones in your body. But if you're about to eat those foods, don't forget to have them in the evening, separating from your bedtime.
6️⃣ Bedroom arrangements 🏡
Sometimes, the position of your bed and the structure of your room could be the main cause of the sleep disturbance. In this case, you should try swapping your bed posture, using extra pillows, and changing your bed sheets to have higher sleep quality.
7️⃣ Listen to calming sounds 🎧
When you struggle to fall asleep, try listening to sounds like rain, waves, whale sounds, leisurely melodies, and ASMR on YouTube. If you can find your taste of flowy tones, concentrating on soothing sounds indeed helps relax the mind and promote better sleep.
So, please let me finish my article right here, hoping you get profound knowledge about the sleep. Next week, Study Diary will share you a different content important to your life. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to inquire in the comment section below. Here, I wish you drift into a blissful sleep. An LPNd Stay Tuned, everyone! 💕
Comments