What exactly happens to your body when you sleep less than 7 hours a night? Experts suggest that we should get 7-8 hours of sleep each night, but few people actually get as much sleep as they normally would. Busy schedules, family responsibilities, and social responsibilities often force us to go to bed late and wake up early. Even when we finally got our duvets in bed, many people tossed and turned for hours and couldn't sleep.
Sleep expert Sarah Kayat says sleep deprivation can not only affect your mood the next day, it can also be extremely damaging to your body and mind. Sleep helps improve brain and body function. Another thing many people don't realize is that sleep is crucial for our brains to process the information we gather throughout the day. We need enough sleep to remember and process information. More worryingly, lack of sleep also increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. But lack of sleep affects more than just our physical health. "Lack of sleep can also affect your focus and motivation the next day at work," Sara explains. "You'll also feel irritable the next day, and your endurance will drop." But over time, you may feel depressed and anxious. This makes it difficult for you to fall asleep. It's going to be a horrible vicious cycle that you can't get out of.
If you feel like you're in this vicious cycle, Sara advises you, to see a doctor, who may recommend cognitive-behavioral therapy. One of the easiest ways to do this is to write down all your worries before going to bed. Then put them aside and tell yourself to try to fix them tomorrow morning.
But what if you wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep?
We've all been there: after a busy day, we fall out of bed and go to sleep, but at 02:00 AM, it happens when you're suddenly awake, no matter how long you've been counting sheep or drinking No amount of hot milk has any effect. Many people associate insomnia with difficulty falling asleep. In fact, difficulty falling asleep in the middle of the night is also one of the symptoms of insomnia.
According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 30%-35% of adults in the United States experience "transient symptoms" of insomnia, and 10% are chronic insomniacs who experience insomnia three or more times a week for at least three months. While severe insomnia may require treatment, if the symptoms aren't obvious, here are five science-based tips that can help you get rid of insomnia.
You can choose to do different things on such occasions:
Put your Phone away: When you're trying to fall asleep in the middle of the night, one of the biggest obstacles is light, especially the blue light from your smartphone. "The light from electronic devices can keep you awake -- especially devices that you put near your face, like your cell phone," W. Christopher Winter, director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Martha Jefferson Hospital, told the Men's Health website.
Ignore the clock: While you're not going to watch the news and social media, there's one thing you need to stay away from, yes, and that's the clock on your phone. In fact, you don't need to think about the time when trying to reach for sleep, because it just adds to the stress.
Don't worry about getting up late the next morning: Still can't fall asleep after 20 minutes? Well, you may need to get up at this moment. In a Huffington Post article, James Findlay, Ph.D., medical director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at the University of Pennsylvania, recommends that people do light work when they wake up after a period of tossing and turning.
Try some breathing exercises: People who are physically tense can't fall asleep right away, so you have to make sure you're relaxed when you're in bed. One way is to take deep breaths, rhythmically passing air through your nose and out through your mouth. Erich P. Voight of New York University proposed that while you breathe, you can rhythmically repeat a word or word, such as "relax."
Focus your energy on things that relax your mind and body: Health experts Erin M. Ross and Shalini Palucy both say that one of the keys to getting back to sleep in the middle of the night is to focus on the mental imagery that relaxes you, and for those with sleep problems, this method That is, having insomniacs imagine themselves at a beach or at one of their favorite vacation spots. "I can feel the sun on my skin, I can hear the waves, I can smell the sea," Palucy said. During this type of guided imagery, you can carefully visualize every detail of your favorite memory or exercise to forget about sleeplessness, as recommended by the National Sleep Foundation.
For you, it could be an image, it could be your favorite movie, an image of being in a Yankees game, or your favorite book, or why not try to manifest your dreams by seeing them in your visualization.
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