Dr. Farah Mufty
Adequate sleep is essential for healthy functioning and survival. Inadequate sleep and unhealthy sleep practices are common, especially among adolescents and young adults. Not sleeping enough and not sleeping well is not good. As a matter of fact, there is quite a price to pay.
What is sleep?
Sleep was previously considered a block of time when we are not awake. It is now known that sleep has distinctive stages that cycle throughout the night. The different stages of sleep are indeed for us to feel well rested and energetic the next day, or to help us learn or make memories. The brain stays active throughout sleep, and the vital tasks carried out during sleep help us maintain good health and enable to function at our best. Likewise, not getting enough sleep can be dangerous.
How much sleep is enough?
Adequate sleep means that one should wake up refreshed in the morning without the use of an alarm clock and feel energetic all day. Sleep needs vary from person to person, and they change throughout the lifecycle. Most adults need 7-8 hours of sleep each night. Newborns, on the other hand, sleep between 16 and 18 hours a day, and children in preschool sleep between 10 and 12 hours a day. School-aged children and teens need at least 9 hours of sleep a night.
How body regulates sleep
There are two main mechanisms that regulate sleep. One is the body clock and the other is the “wake-meter”. These two mechanisms are called the circadian and homeostatic regulation of sleep.
Sleep control components:
- circadian clock – circadian clock produces sleepiness in 24 hour cycles
- homeostatic control – wake-meter measures the period in which we stay awake and triggers sleepiness after we stay up for long enough
Health Benefits of a Good Night’s Sleep
Sleep Keeps Your Heart Healthy
Lack of sleep has been associated with worsening of blood pressure and cholesterol, all risk factors for heart disease and stroke. Your heart will be healthier if you get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night.
Sleep May Prevent Cancer
Light exposure reduces the level of melatonin, a hormone that both makes us sleepy and is thought to protect against cancer. Melatonin appears to suppress the growth of tumors. Be sure that your bedroom is dark to help your body produce the melatonin it needs.
Sleep Reduces Stress
When your body is sleep-deficient, it goes into a state of stress. The body’s functions are put on high alert which causes an increase in blood pressure and a production of stress hormones. The stress hormones also, unfortunately, make it harder for you to sleep
Sleep Reduces Inflammation
The increase in stress hormones raises the level of inflammation in your body, also creating more risk for heart-related conditions, as well as cancer and diabetes. Inflammation is thought to one of the causes of the deterioration of your body as you age.
Sleep Makes You More Alert
a good night’s sleep makes you feel energized and alert the next day. Being engaged and active not only feels great, it increases your chances for another good night’s sleep.
Sleep Bolsters Memory
A process called memory consolidation occurs during sleep. While your body may be resting, your brain is busy processing your day, making connections between events, sensory input, feelings and memories. Dreams and deep sleep are an important time for brain to make memories and links. Getting more quality sleep will help you remember and process things better.
Sleep May Help Lose Weight
People who sleep less than seven hours per night are more likely to be overweight or obese. The lack of sleep impacts the balance of hormones in the body that affect appetite. The hormones ghrelin and leptin, important for the regulation of appetite, have been found to be disrupted by lack of sleep. So if you are interested in controlling or losing weight, pay attention to getting a good night’s sleep.
Naps Make You Smarter
Napping during the day is not only an effective and refreshing alternative to caffeine, it also protects health and make you more productive. People who nap at work have much lower levels of stress. Napping also improves memory, cognitive function and mood.
Sleep Reduces Risk for Depression
Sleep impacts many of the chemicals in body, including serotonin. People with a deficiency in serotonin are more likely to suffer from depression. You can help to prevent depression by making sure to get between 7 and 9 hours each night.
Sleep Helps the Body Make Repairs
Sleep is a time for the body to repair damage caused by stress, ultraviolet rays and other harmful exposures. The cells produce more protein while you are sleeping. These protein molecules form the building blocks for cells, allowing them to repair damage.
Sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation is a large proportion of the problem is due to the high paced lifestyle causing the lack of time to get the sleep we need. When we do not get the amount of sleep we need we accumulate a sleep debt. This sleep debt has to be paid back or sleepiness will continue to worsen. Many people try to pay back the debt on the weekends resulting in the disruption of their circadian rhythm
Chronic Sleep Deprivation May Harm Health
It may be surprising to learn that chronic sleep deprivation, significantly affects health, performance, and safety. There are many causes of sleep deprivation. The stresses of daily life may intrude upon our ability to sleep well, or perhaps we trade sleep for more work or play. We may have medical or mental-health conditions that disrupt our sleep, and be well aware that we are sleep-deprived.
The consequences of sleep deprivation may be:
In the short term:
Decreased Performance and Alertness: Sleep deprivation induces significant reductions in performance and alertness. Reducing your nighttime sleep by as little as one and a half hours for just one night could result in a reduction of daytime alertness by as much as 32%.
Memory and Cognitive Impairment: Decreased alertness and excessive daytime sleepiness impair your memory and your cognitive ability — your ability to think and process information.
Stress Relationships: Disruption of a bed partner’s sleep due to a sleep disorder may cause significant problems for the relationship (for example, separate bedrooms, conflicts, moodiness, etc.).
Poor Quality of Life: You might, for example, be unable to participate in certain activities that require sustained attention, like going to the movies, seeing your child in a school play, or watching a favorite TV show.
Occupational Injury: Excessive sleepiness also contributes to a greater than twofold higher risk of sustaining an occupational injury.
Automobile Injury: drowsy driving is responsible for increased automobile crashes, injuries, and fatalities.
In the long term, the clinical consequences of untreated sleep disorders are large indeed. They are associated with numerous, serious medical illnesses, including:
- Hypertension
- Heart attack
- Heart failure
- Stroke
- Obesity
- Psychiatric problems, including depression and other mood disorders
- Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
- Mental impairment
- Fetal and childhood growth retardation
- Injury from accidents
- Disruption of bed partner’s sleep quality
- Poor quality of life
The good news for many of the disorders that cause sleep deprivation is that after risk assessment, education, and treatment, memory and cognitive deficits improve and the number of injuries decreases. Here are some tips that may help.
Sleep is as important as food and air. Quantity and quality are very important. If you press the snooze button on the alarm in the morning you are not getting enough sleep. This could be due to not enough time in bed, external disturbances, or a sleep disorder.
Keep regular hours. Try to go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time every day. Getting up at the same time is most important.. Try to go to bed only when you are sleepy. Bright light in the morning at a regular time should help you feel sleepy at the same time every night.
Stay away from stimulants. This will help you get deep sleep which is most refreshing. If you take any caffeine, take it in the morning. Avoid all stimulants in the evening, including chocolate, caffeinated sodas, and caffeinated teas.
Avoid bright light before bed. Using dimmer switches in living rooms and bathrooms before bed can be helpful.
Don’t stress if you feel you are not getting enough sleep. It will just make matters worse. Know you will sleep eventually.
Avoid exercise near bedtime. No exercise at least 3 hours before bed.Don’t go to bed hungry. Have a light snack, but avoid a heavy meal before bed.
Stick to a sleep schedule. Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day—even on the weekends. Keep routines on your normal schedule. A cup of herbal tea an hour before bed can begin a routine.
Avoid looking at the clock if you wake up in the middle of the night. It can cause anxiety. This is very difficult for most of us, so turn the clock away from your eyes so you would have to turn it to see the time. You may decide not to make the effort and go right back to sleep.
If you can’t get to sleep for over 30 minutes, get out of bed and do something boring in dim light till you are sleepy.
Keep your self comfortable The bedroom temperature should not be too warm and not too cold. Cooler is better than warmer.
If you have problems with noise in your environment you can use a noise generator; an old fan will work.
Avoid medicines that delay or disrupt your sleep, if possible. Some commonly prescribed heart, blood pressure, or asthma medications, as well as someover-the-counter and herbal remedies for coughs, colds, or allergies, can disrupt sleep patterns.
Don’t take naps after 3 p.m. Naps can boost your brain power, but late afternoon naps can make it harder to fall asleep at night. Also, keep naps to under an hour.
Relax before bed. Take time to unwind. A relaxing activity, such as reading or listening to music, should be part of your bedtime ritual.
Take a hot bath before bed. The drop in body temperature after the bath may help you feel sleepy, and the bath can help relax you.
However, sleep deprivation may be often due to unrecognized sleep disorders. After a typical night’s sleep, you may not feel restored and refreshed and be sleepy during the day, but be totally unaware that you are sleep-deprived or have a sleep disorder.
Could You Have a Sleep Disorder?
The most common sleep disorders are insomnia, sleep apnea (sleep-disordered breathing), restless legs syndrome, and narcolepsy. Although sleep disorders can significantly affect your health, safety, and well-being, they can be treated
Talk to your doctor if you have any of the signs of a sleep disorder:
- You consistently take more than 30 minutes each night to fall asleep.
- You consistently awaken several times each night and then have trouble falling back to sleep, or you awaken too early in the morning.
- If you are spending enough time in bed and still wake up tired or feel very sleepy during the day.
- You often feel sleepy during the day, you take frequent naps, or you fall asleep at inappropriate times during the day.
- Your bed partner says that when you sleep, you snore loudly, snort, gasp, make choking sounds, or stop breathing for short periods.
- You have creeping, tingling, or crawling feelings in your legs or arms that are relieved by moving or massaging them, especially in the evening and when trying to fall asleep.
- Your bed partner notices that your legs or arms jerk often during sleep.
- You have vivid, dreamlike experiences while falling asleep or dozing.
- You have episodes of sudden muscle weakness when you are angry or fearful, or when you laugh.
- You feel as though you cannot move when you first wake up.