If, when you say this phrase, you mean that by sleeping, one will turn out to be an all-around weaker person, you couldn't be further away from the truth. In fact, sleep is most definitely not for the weak; it is for the healthy, the well-adjusted, the creative, the effective, and most of all, the balanced. Here’s some vital information on why we need sleep, how it affects our long-term health and how you can (or at least try to) fix your sleep schedule.
Why do we need sleep?
Sleep is an essential body function that allows our body and mind to recharge, relax and rest. It leaves you refreshed and alert when you wake up. Healthy sleep also greatly helps your immunity and aids your body in staying healthy.
When considering the more biological reason for a good scheduled sleep, the circadian rhythm is an essential point of discussion. It is the natural process that regulates being asleep and awake. It’s a complex to and fro between genetics, hormones, and external factors. Humans are diurnal creatures, meant to be awake during the day and to wind down at night. When we don’t get enough sleep, in addition to the harmful effects that occur to your mind and body (which is later discussed), studies show that it can even increase the likelihood of medical errors and car crashes.
Adults need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. Children, adolescents, pregnant women and senior citizens may need more hours of rest. Work schedules, day-to-day stressors, a disruptive bedroom environment, and medical conditions can all prevent us from receiving enough sleep. A healthy diet and positive lifestyle habits can help ensure an adequate amount of sleep each night – but for some, chronic lack of sleep may be the first sign of a sleep disorder.
Sleep deprivation and sleep disorders
A person’s genetic sleep traits combine to create a chronotype. An “early chronotype” is essentially a morning person, eager to wake up with the sun and head to bed early, while a “late chronotype” wants to stay up into the night and wake up later. However, there’s a limit to the role that genes can play, even for people who love to burn the midnight oil. Diane Boivin, a professor of psychiatry at McGill University says that “Even though you can find individuals who are extreme evening types and even describe themselves as night owls, we’re never night owls to the point that we become nocturnal animals.”
Sleep deprivation, also frequently known as sleep insufficiency or sleeplessness, is the condition of not having adequate duration and/or quality of sleep to support decent alertness and performance.
Without enough sleep, the brain cannot function properly. In the short term, poor sleep can impair your ability to think clearly, to focus or concentrate on a task or be empathetic and it may even result in trouble consolidating memories.
But the costs of sleep deprivation add up considerably over time resulting in early onset Alzheimer’s and dementia, difficulty in consolidating memories and even chronic stress. Studies show that working against the diurnal cycle increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancer. Sleep deprivation is now also increasingly associated with hypertension, heart attacks and strokes, obesity, diabetes, weakened immune system, and even lower fertility rates!
How far has the Pandemic affected sleep schedules?
The lifestyle of people in this day and age, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic, is seriously affecting their sleep habits, leading to further dependence on sleep medication. A study done at The Royal and the University of Ottawa showed three different profiles of sleep changes: those who sleep more; those whose sleep schedule was pushed to later bed and wake-up times; and those who are getting less sleep than they did before the pandemic. This dependence on sleep medication is known to have risks for the development of tolerance, therefore this may forecast a surge in more complex chronic insomnia cases in the long run.
But, according to one study out of the University of Colorado Boulder, students attending class remotely slept an average of 30 minutes longer during the week, and 24 minutes longer on the weekend, than they had during the regular pre-pandemic semester. So COVID may have had some positive impact on some students.
How to fix your sleep cycle
Are you sleeping later than you should every day? Here’s some simple ways on how you can cultivate better sleeping habits:
Getting up at the same time each morning (even on weekends). Even if you fall asleep very late, you should still get up at the same time each morning;
Develop relaxing pre-sleep rituals such as reading;
Avoid caffeine and alcohol and smoking within six hours of bedtime;
Exercise regularly; vigorous exercise such as jogging either in the morning or afternoon and mild exercise, such as walking, two to three hours before bedtime is proven to be most effective
Further, studies show that blue light from televisions, computer screens, phones and tablets might suppress melatonin levels and delay sleepiness. Therefore it may be a good idea to stop using light-emitting screens about an hour before your bedtime.
All this, by personal experience, is much easier said than done, but think about it: the things that keep us up late are rarely worth it. We get distracted by the internet, television, social media, or books, none of which we’ll be able to enjoy sleep deprived. The common issue here is a lack of self-control in ignoring sleep for near term pleasure. It’s why we make a lot of poor choices.
Walter Mischel, a researcher of self-control and the mastermind behind The Marshmallow Test, has some simple advice; give yourself the space to identify the pros and cons of staying up late and what’s expected of you the next day. This will result in you being a more productive and efficient individual, but more importantly a person of sound mind and body with the required capacity to face any day with your utmost potential.
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Written By: Rtr. Binuri Weerasinghe
Edited By: Rtr. Dulithi Jagoda
Design By: Rtr. Mohamed Umair Jamal
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