Spring sleepiness, autumn fatigue, summer snooze, sleepless winter March. Take the recent “winter March” for it, around the young people feel sleep is not enough every day, get up early becomes more and more difficult; but the elderly often continue to suffer from insomnia, not to mention some patients suffering from insomnia, depression.
However, the reporter recently saw in the circle of friends, a health expert said, in the winter do not like to sleep and shame, because the winter should be bedridden, “early to bed and late to rise”, 9 hours a day to meet the standard. On the contrary, if it is summer as long as 7 hours of sleep a day is enough to be refreshed. This is called “heaven and man corresponding”, in line with the way of health. Is this the case or not?
A. How long should I sleep? First look at the age
How long should we sleep? The traditional view is generally “at least 8 hours of sleep”. But in the eyes of doctors, this standard is actually not so accurate. Children definitely need more sleep, which is necessary for their physical growth and especially for the neurological development of the brain. For adults, it is usually considered to be around 8 hours. For older people, it’s usually good to get 5-6 hours a day, because they have objective physiological factors in place, and sleep time cannot be compared to younger people, nor can it seem to be forced.
Just a short time ago, the Daily Mail also published such a professional report, which once again mentioned the relationship between sleep duration and age, with each age group having its own recommended sleep duration.
1. Newborn babies (0-3 months): 14-17 hours.
2.Infants and toddlers (4-11 months): 12-15 hours.
3.Toddler (1-2 years old): 11-14 hours.
4.Preschool children (3-5 years old): 10-13 hours.
5.School-age children (6-13 years old): 9-11 hours.
6.Adolescents (14-17 years old): 8-10 hours.
Young people (18-25 years old): 7-9 hours Adults (26-64 years old): 7-9 hours Older people (65 years old and above): 7-8 hours” If we can meet this standard, of course, it is good, but really according to this standard, many people’s sleep time is not up to standard. Taking into account the individual differences, each person should still be judged according to his or her own situation, while trying to ensure that his or her sleep time can meet the above-mentioned standard. “To judge how good the sleep is, time is only one aspect, what we should pay more attention to is the effect of sleep. If you wake up refreshed, fatigue disappeared, happy and energetic, then such sleep should be qualified. On the contrary, if you wake up and still feel tired, lack of energy and bad mood, then even if the sleep time is enough, the sleep condition is still problematic.”
Second, what time to get up? It depends more on the season
In the eyes of Chinese medicine experts, how long to sleep not only depends on age and people, but also should look at the “time of day”.
In the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, it is mentioned that the work and rest of health should be synchronized with the rhythms of nature. As the saying goes, “the sun rises and the sun goes down,” the time of sleep is closely related to the time of darkness. In spring and summer, it gets dark late and light early, which is suitable for late sleep and early rise, and healthy people don’t feel tired even if they sleep for six or seven hours a day, as long as they don’t stay up late on purpose in accordance with the weather. But in winter, it gets dark early and light late, the most suitable for “early to bed and late to rise”, so many people do not sleep eight or nine hours to feel enough.
We all know that the winter morning dawn late, coupled with the low temperature. From all aspects of health considerations, it is not recommended that people get up too early, and do not go out too early, which is also a kind of compliance with the time of day. In winter, it is most suitable to go to bed at 11 pm and get up at 7-8 am, which is not only sufficient time, but also in line with the natural rest and relaxation pattern, and it is beneficial to sleep before the zipper to nourish yin, when it is seven or eight o’clock at dawn before getting up, just when the outside temperature rises, yang energy is born, and the activities are better at this time. For the elderly, this can even reduce the risk of sudden attacks of some cardiovascular disease, not to exaggerate, it is possible to “save lives”.
Although from a health perspective in favor of “appropriate bedtime more sleep” and “sleep” or different. “Many people will find that even if the same 8 hours of sleep, go to bed at 0:00 am and get up at 10:00 am, and sleep at 10:00 pm and get up at 6:00 am, the quality of sleep is very different. There are even studies that say such a difference may be as much as 1.5 times.” She told reporters, both from the perspective of Chinese and Western medicine, the quality of sleep is the upper half of the night, especially the “golden sleep time” between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. the next day.
Chinese medicine advocates ‘ziwu sleep’, because the ziwu is the heaviest yin time of the day, at this time to sleep is conducive to nourishing yin; Western medicine believes that rest at this time, not only helps metabolism, but also and some important hormone secretion. So what we advocate is that we don’t have to get up too early when conditions allow; but we definitely don’t want to sleep late on purpose and then stay in bed in the morning.
In fact, our body has some natural rhythms, for example, the secretion of hormones will follow the time, and sleep will not only affect it, it will also affect sleep in turn. For example, many people may be quite tired at night after ten o’clock, at this time sleep also sleep, which is not only conducive to the secretion of hormones such as melatonin, in turn, the secretion of these hormones will also bring a better sleep experience. But if you miss this time period, to the early morning hours, the body of another number of people excited hormone levels rise, this miss will have to toss a good while to sleep again. This is what people like to call “sleepy”, which in modern medical terms is a “sleep rhythm”, and the importance of maintaining a good sleep rhythm is no less important than maintaining adequate sleep time.
Recently there is a popular saying, called “bedwetting ruins the morning, get up early silly day”. In fact, a moderate amount of “a little” in the winter is not harmful, but if you get up early on the “silly” day, then it means that the person’s sleep must be a problem. “A good night’s sleep means that you should be energetic and in a good mood during the day, no matter what time you get up, you should not be affected. If you get up early and become unresponsive and ‘stupid’, then the problem is not in getting up early, but in the overall quality of sleep. In this case, you must promptly adjust your sleep time, habits, and, if necessary, seek medical help.
You must use a pillow when you sleep, so as to protect the cervical spine, so that the neck relaxation. But how to choose a good pillow, is still a discipline. In general, when sleeping, that is, when the head pillow on the pillow, the height of the pillow is about my fist high, so that whether supine or side lying, the pillow height can maintain the normal physiological state of the cervical spine, is the most comfortable height of the party. This height can make the cervical skin, muscles, ligaments, intervertebral joints and through the neck trachea, esophagus and nerves and other tissues with the whole body to relax and rest.
On the contrary, if the pillow is too high, it will make some local muscles in the neck overly tense. Over time, the neck muscles will strain, contracture, prompting small changes in the position of the cervical spine, causing nerve roots and blood vessels in the neck stimulation or compression, reflex spasm, and bring a series of problems. The pillow is too low, also changed the physiological state of the cervical spine, intracerebral venous reflux slows, arterial blood supply relatively increased, resulting in head distension, irritability, insomnia and other discomfort, especially for hypertension and atherosclerosis patients have adverse effects. In addition, the comfort and breathability of the pillow is also to be noted.
Pillow is too soft, will let the head into, affect breathing; too hard pillow so that the head and pillow contact surface too little, too much local pressure, so that people feel uncomfortable, and this is likely to be too much pressure on the local nerve, in the next morning to produce the head, neck, back, arms, hands, such as numbness or pain and other symptoms.
Pillow breathability to be good, which is mainly for the pillow material, sponge and plastic pillow breathability is poor, breathing and local circulation has an impact, should avoid the choice, you can choose latex pillow, cotton pillow. Can also be mixed with a variety of materials, such as cassia, buckwheat, tea, etc. do pillow core, it is best to set a layer of pillow core outside to prevent it from sliding deformation. Sleeping pillow position should be able to effectively rely on the head and neck, maintaining the physiological curve of the neck, regardless of supine, side lying, the side of the pillow should be close to the shoulder.
Third, excessive bedwetting may be a disease
Although from the point of view of protecting cardiovascular health, appropriate bedtime is not a bad thing, and even have a protective effect. But if excessive bedwetting, that may bring not only the problem of commuting to punch the clock, but more alert to what other factors, and may even be signs of certain diseases.
But if you don’t want to get up no matter what, or even feel seriously depressed and resistant to going to school or work, then consider if something is wrong with your mood. After all, autumn and winter is also a period of high incidence of depression, and the end of the year is a time when mental illnesses tend to concentrate on various “exams”.
Therefore, if increased sleep does not allow you to raise your spirits, late commute can not urge you to get up, it is necessary to reflect on whether you are experiencing any problems, so that you are overly resistant to get up after life, the heart of the escape, if necessary, you need to find professional help.
Several acupuncture points to help sleep.
1, press the pericardium meridian: follow the medial line of the upper arms bilaterally, press from the top down, and then focus on the painful points, 1-2 times a day.
2, point rub Shen Men point: Shen Men point is located at the ulnar end of the transverse wrist muscle, the radial recess of the ulnar flexor tendon, before going to bed every day with a thumb end of the threaded surface, point rub the Shen Men point of the other hand, the thumb of the other hand, the same point rub the Shen Men point of the former hand, to feel soreness and swelling is appropriate, each repeated 30 times.
3, before going to bed to rub the Yongquan point: in a supine position before going to bed every day, slightly flexed calf, with the two feet pressed against the bed, do up and down friction action, 30 times a day.
4.Rubbing earlobes: hands thumb and index finger pinch bilateral earlobes respectively, gently twist and knead, so that the soreness and pain sensation, rubbing about 2 minutes.
5, combing method: with the finger tapping method, bend both hands, in addition to the thumb, the other four fingers tap the scalp vertically in the direction of the front hairline, the top of the head, the back of the head, the neck. 3-5 times a day, at least 5 minutes each time, also available comb.
6, foot bath method: foot warmth helps sleep, before bed with warm water (can be added to mugwort, saffron herbal solution) soak feet, hands and feet afraid of cold people can wear thick socks to sleep.