Good rest is part of the healthy habits that influence our well-being. That is why it is important to sleep and do it well, guaranteeing our body a restful and quality sleep. Those people who do not have a good conduct in this regard, can develop cardiovascular, metabolic, immune and mental diseases, even recently it was found that serious sleep disturbances can generate risk of early mortality, therefore as concluded by Dr. César González, psychiatrist, specialist in sleep management at the Grupo Quirónsalud Clinic “Sleep is the basic food of the nervous system, therefore, if a person sleeps well, they live well and have good health conditions.”
Therefore, for some years now, sleep medicine has taken on great importance, which can be approached from Psychiatry, Otolaryngology, Neurology or Pulmonology, according to the problems that the person presents on this fundamental aspect. . There are more than 100 pathologies identified and typified in the ‘International Classification of Sleep Disorders’, all with different causes, management and recommendations.
As stated by Dr. González, “Sleeping well is a requirement for both physical and mental health of people; It is necessary for our body to function properly and although there have been discrepancies regarding the amount of sleep required by a person, the different sleep associations that exist worldwide have agreed that an adult should sleep between 6 and 8 hours” . However, the quality of sleep is not determined by the number of hours we sleep.
One of the most frequent disorders is insomnia, this occurs when we do not fall asleep, we wake up many times during the night or very early in the morning and, curiously, the severity is not determined by the number of hours we sleep or we lack of sleep, the quality of this disorder is measured by the symptoms that the person presents during the day and which are varied: tiredness, irritability, sadness, anguish, lack of concentration, drowsiness, energy drops, poor performance in daily activities and sometimes organic manifestations occur. To establish this diagnosis, there are currently different questionnaires that the sleep specialist can apply without having to carry out highly sophisticated tests. Although this disorder has always been one of the most common, it has increased in the last year due to the extreme situations generated by Covid-19, also associated with states of depression and anxiety.
Daytime sleep is not as restful as nighttime, as Dr. González explains, our body is coupled with the hours of darkness to sleep and the hours of light to be awake “Modern life has brought changes and in the At night we have lights, technology and other stimuli that generate alterations in the circadian rhythm, this generally occurs in people who work night shifts and in adolescents who rush their night sleep hours to get up later in the day. For this reason, sleep hygiene recommendations suggest sleeping in the darkest hours (from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., in our hemisphere), which is where Melatonin is produced, a hormone that has production peaks when there is total darkness and that not only regulates sleep, but also brings multiple benefits for our health”.
When we do not rest properly, we generate sleep debts, which in the end are the ones that cause us, not only disorders, but as Dr. Gonzáles explained previously, they are enhancers for the appearance of different diseases. Our biological clock is synchronized with different functions in our body, therefore, it is important to try to maintain the schedules and conditions established for good sleep hygiene. Now that you know how important sleep is, don’t let anything steal your sleep!
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Causes. Sleep disorders are due to different factors
- genetic conditions
- environmental factors
- Characteristics of the individual’s personality (there are people with physiological hyperarousal who interrupt their sleep at the slightest stimulus)
- The occupation or trade.
- Whether you are a man or a woman (women are more prone to sleep disorders)
- Age
- The consumption of substances to be more alert, the food we consume and the time we do it.
- Physical activity, if it is practiced or not and at what time.
Recommendations to have a restful sleep. Contrary to what many believe, to sleep like babies, the best thing is not a medicine, it is to establish a rigorous discipline that allows us to acquire the appropriate habits for good sleep behavior.
- The first step will always be to respect the schedules: go to bed and get up at the same time, even on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
- Use the bed to sleep, don’t read, don’t eat in it. If you can’t fall asleep, get out of bed and lie down when it appears again.
- Avoid turning on lights, looking at the time, or using electronic devices.
- Don’t take a nap during the day, if you do, don’t exceed 15 minutes and be semi-sitting, never lying down.
- Keep the room dark at bedtime.
- Create a quiet environment without noise, with good temperature conditions where the cold or heat is not extreme.
- Avoid exercising too late at night.
- Try not to consume stimulating or energy drinks in the afternoon.
- Moderate the intake and quality of food at night.
- Take a shower 30 minutes before bed to regulate body temperature.
- Practice relaxation techniques or meditation.
- Don’t self medicate.