5 scientific facts about sleep
June 21st, Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. That is the longest day and shortest night of the year. Learn how to improve your sleep quality, although this is not the ideal time to sleep.
Some people say that four to five hours of sleep is enough for them. With so much sleep, these "super people" claim to be ready for the day. Given that sleep is healthy, it does not reflect the truth. Our bodies need more rest to rest.
Why sleep?
The average person spends a third of his life sleeping. Sounds a bit of a waste of time, doesn't it? Just the opposite! Even though we don't realize it, when we're in the realm of dreams, our bodies run a feverish work.
REM sleep, known as Deep Sleep and Fast Eye Movement, repeats every 90 minutes. In deep sleep, our bodies run updates in the background just like a computer. For regeneration, it secretes growth hormone and activates the immune system. Thus, our immune cells fight against viruses and bacteria.
In REM sleep, our brain processes the events of the day and makes room for our short-term memories for the next day. This is where we dream! But in our dreams, we don't see random events that have been happening to our subconscious within the last 24 hours. Dreams can also contain images that are completely strange and distant from our own lives. When riding a unicorn or tracking someone as a private detective, our brain strives to make unused areas available for use.
Without sleep, both our body and brain are deprived of the necessary working hours.
How long do we have to sleep?
It depends entirely on our age. The US National Sleep Foundation recommends sleeping 14 to 17 hours per day for newborns. Of course, you can tell that little puppies do not sleep uninterrupted by looking at sleepless parents.
Elementary school children need nine to 11 hours of sleep per day, while adults need seven to nine hours of sleep. Of course they are only recommended, because each individual needs to sleep varies from person to person.
But adults should definitely not sleep for less than six hours. On the other side of the scales are those who can't get to sleep without sleeping for 10 hours.
Sleeping can be as bad as it is good. If we need more than 10 hours to get our sleep, there may be a serious impairment in our sleep quality. Cambridge University researchers in the UK say that more than eight hours a day sleepers are at greater risk of stroke.
What if we don't sleep?
There are tests in which volunteers participating in scientific experiments do not sleep for up to 10 days. However, there is a reason why deprivation of sleep is also used as a method of torture.
As our body's need for sleep increases, we face more problems: our body temperature drops, we get distracted, we become insensitive, our mental and motor skills are gradually decreasing. If we don't sleep two nights in a row, our body control and reaction time are equal to that of someone who's had a bottle of beer.
Researchers are divided over whether serious insomnia can cause death. It depends on how you define the cause of death. For example, patients with fatal insomnia (insomnia) died between six and 30 months. However, the cause of death in these cases is recorded as multiple organ failure
What's keeping us awake?
Many people know what prevents them from falling asleep, but the number of those who consider these elements is very small: Cell phones should be switched off early in the night and electronic devices should be brought close to the bed.
Blue light emitted from electronic devices is the enemy of the sleep command. Our exposed eyes send our brains to stay awake. Therefore, melatonin hormone, which regulates our 24-hour body rhythm to a great extent and enables us to have a good quality sleep, is not secreted.
In addition, when we write an email or spend time on social media, our brain does a lot of work. The brain that makes the process becomes difficult to fall asleep.
Other things we shouldn't do before we go to sleep are drinking coffee or drinking alcohol. The general rule of drinking coffee for the last time before going to sleep is at least six hours before entering the bed. The noise and light in our bedroom are other elements that may prevent us from falling asleep.
How does it sleep well?
We already told you there shouldn't be a phone at the bedside. In addition, if we have enough space in our house, we should use different areas for different activities. For example, we should work in the office, watch TV in the living room and use our bedroom only for sleeping and resting.
It is known that people who go to bed at the same time every day, including weekends, do not have difficulty falling asleep. Pillows and the bed is suitable for our body to pay attention to.
A dark and quiet bedroom around 15 to 18 degrees Celsius provides ideal conditions for a nice deep sleep. Good night and sweet dreams!
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