Along with healthy eating and exercise, good sleep is a mainstay of health. Applying these tips will make true the dream of a pleasant daily rest.
Sleep as a must
Do you think we can train ourselves to sleep very little? Experts say that this is not possible without harming yourself since we cannot fool our bodies.
The National Sleep Foundation in the United States indicates that people aged 18 to 25 should sleep 7 to 9 hours a day without interruption. The recommendation for adults aged 26 to 64 is 7 to 9 hours and people over 65 should sleep 7 to 8 hours per day.
Mental health
It has been shown that nighttime sleep (mainly the REM phase during which we dream) allows the mind to process and assimilate daily experiences. REM minimizes stress hormones such as noradrenaline thus creating an inner environment conducive to dealing with unpleasant experiences. This allows us to handle them afterwards with balance and serenity.
Also, when we sleep little or badly our mood deteriorates so we find it hard to think clearly and concentrate, increasing the risk of accidents: car and all kinds.
Sleeping pills should be avoided or used only occasionally. Similar to the sleep caused by alcohol, sleeping pills obstruct the REM phase. A disturbing study in 2012 reported high rates of depression among frequent users who were more likely to die from different causes as well.
Better sleep, better health
Sleep is so important that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States says that people with sleep deprivation are more likely to suffer "chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, depression and obesity, also cancer, increased mortality"...
Poor sleep makes us produce more ghrelin and cortisol hormones; the first increases our appetite making it difficult to keep a healthy weight while the second makes us more resistant to insulin which can draw us closer to diabetes.
Tips to improve sleep
1) Receive natural light during the day. Our body produces the hormone melatonin, crucial to sleep and which also delivers a beneficial cascade effect in our body. To produce it, we must have an adequate contrast between daylight and nighttime darkness and avoid light, even briefly, after getting to bed. A dark room is also convenient; cover your eyes with a sleeping mask if necessary.
2) Sleeping is a routine, therefore set a goal of a minimum number of sleeping hours and keep a sleep schedule, even on weekends.
3) Exercise regularly during the week. It has been shown that exercising improves the quality of sleep.
4) Disconnect from the news and also any work at least 2 hours before bedtime. Devote your room solely to sleep and try not to use it for job-related issues. Keep television, radio and computers out.
5) Smartphones, tablets and the like are powerful threats to sleep, because they usually hook us till
late at night. On top of that, the blue light they project has been demonstrated to affect our melatonin production. Although Apple released a configuration for their devices to minimize the blue light and the same is expected from Google, it is better to turn them off for at least an hour before going to bed.
6) In deep sleep the body temperature drops. Hot rooms or thick bed linen may wake you so your sleep will not be restful. Feet should be well covered, though, if they get cold you may wake and odd as it sounds that very same cooling causes the rest of body to get hot. Instead, a warm bath about 1 hour before is advisable, because it is relaxing and it ends up lowering your temperature.
7) If you have sleep problems a "personal ritual" may help. Perhaps the use of relaxing music, a massage from your partner, dimming the lights, reading a book, etc. Lavender essential oil can also be useful: a research with college students showed that inhaled before significantly decreased insomnia and the time spent falling asleep.
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