There are many reasons for sleep deprivation: work, household chores, children, anxiety, parties or just a night television.
Whatever the cause, sleep deprivation has been shown to cause mental and physical harm. During sleep, our bodies produce hormones that affect our mood, energy, memory, and concentration. Studies have shown that with a driver's license or manual eye contact, sleep-deprived people can behave as badly as drunk people. In addition, recent studies have shown that chronic sleep apnea can cause high blood pressure and contribute to diabetes.
Common Sleep Disorders and Causes
Problem # 1: You Can't Sleep - You Can't Sleep
Most people experience temporary insomnia at one time or another. Insomnia includes having trouble sleeping, having trouble sleeping, and getting up very early in the morning. Insomnia is more common in women, people with a history of depression, and in people over 60 years of age.
Temporary insomnia can be caused by:
Hearing a noise
Depressive events such as job loss or death in the family or even catastrophic world events
Certain medications can keep you alert, especially those that treat colds and allergies, heart disease, high blood pressure, and pain.
Bad habits that damage our sleep include drinking alcohol and eating too close to bedtime
Short-term insomnia lasts only a few days and is usually not a cause for concern. For example, with jet lag or seasonal changes, your inner body clock will adjust itself within a few days. Insomnia is considered chronic when it lasts many nights for a few weeks or more. This long-term condition requires professional attention. If you are not sure if you have chronic insomnia, experts suggest looking at you as if you have a headache. If it continues every day, and nothing you do seems to help, you should see a health professional, especially if you can not find the cause.
Insomnia is sometimes the result of an underlying medical condition that needs treatment, such as:
Thyroid diseases
Anxiety
Depression
Rheumatoid arthritis
Asthma
Restless leg syndrome
Problem # 2: Sleeping During the Day
Feeling tired every day is common. But it is not uncommon for drowsiness to interfere with your normal activities. For example, you should not wear it while reading the newspaper, during business meetings, or while sitting in a red light. Slow thinking, difficulty paying attention, heavy eyelids, and irritability are other warning signs.
If you feel sleepy all day long, you may just need to make more sleep. Experts say that most adults need at least eight hours of sleep every night to get proper rest, but this varies from person to person. The important thing is to sleep the number of hours you take to feel relaxed, refreshed, and fully alert the next day. If you sleep well, you should not feel drowsy during the day.
How to get a good night's sleep
First, is it helpful to understand the stages of sleep. We usually go through five stages of sleep.
Stage 1: Easy sleep. We drift in and out and can easily be awakened. Our eyes are slow and our muscles are slow.
Stage 2: The movement of our eyes stops and our brain waves slow down by bursting fast waves called sleep spindles.
Stage 3: Deep sleep. Slow-moving brain waves called delta waves emerge, combined with small, fast waves.
Stage 4: Deep sleep. The brain produces many delta waves. No eye movement and no muscle activity.
Phase 5: REM sleep. Breathing becomes rapid, abnormal, and shallow. The eyes move quickly, the muscles of the limbs temporarily paralyzed. Dreams occur regularly at this stage, but may also occur at other stages of sleep.
Each cycle lasts about two hours. Then the cycle begins again in phase 1. As the cycles repeat, deep sleep periods become shorter and REM sleep periods become longer. Adults spend half of their sleep time in phase 2, 20 percent of REM sleep time, and 30 percent in other stages. Newborn babies begin to spend about half of their sleep during REM sleep.
It may seem obvious, but we often seem to miss the basic truth that these stages take time; so one of the first things you can do to help yourself is to get enough sleep for real. Most people calculate the time they go to bed and then get up at “eight hours.” But if you spend 20 minutes reading and another 20 minutes watching television, and then have to get another 10 to 15 minutes to fall asleep, you can simply reduce one hour of sleep.
Additional Sleep Tips
Maintain a regular sleep and wake cycle. Try to go to bed and get up at the same time every day.
Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine four to six hours before bedtime.
Do not exercise within two hours before bedtime. Exercising five or six hours before bedtime may help you to get better sleep.
Do not eat large meals within two hours before bedtime.
Do not sleep before 3 p.m.
Sleep in a dark, quiet room with a comfortable temperature.
If you can't sleep within 20 minutes, do some quiet work somewhere and go back to bed.
Exhale 30 minutes before bedtime with a relaxing bedtime routine such as a warm bath, cool music, or reading.
If frequent use of these tips does not work, see your healthcare professional and discuss your sleep problems. It is important to make sure that your sleep problems are not caused by a serious physical illness. You should also review the medication you are taking to make sure it does not cause your sleep problems. Last but not least, there are medications that can help you sleep safely if prescribed by a doctor and taken as directed.
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