Every year, March 21 is World Sleep Day. The relationship between sleep and health is very close, and sleep is of great significance to human health.
Sleep, like food and water, is a basic human physiological need. No matter how prosperous or poor a person is, he or she needs sleep equally. A healthy person can endure hunger for up to three weeks, but as long as the lack of sleep for three days and nights, a person will be restless, mood swings, memory loss, reduced judgment, and even delusions and hallucinations, and even the basic activities of daily life are difficult to carry out. Severe insomnia can induce a number of psychosomatic diseases such as wasting, tachycardia, diarrhea, constipation, elevated blood pressure, peptic ulcer disease, depression, anxiety, impotence, decreased libido, etc., and can even cause suicidal behavior.
Long-term insomnia can also lead to decreased immunity and susceptibility to a variety of physical diseases.
Sleep disorders have become a common public health problem affecting people’s mental and physical health. It can be said that there is no healthy sleep and there is no physical and mental health. There are about 40 million people suffering from sleep apnea syndrome in China. Snoring is the main clinical manifestation of sleep apnea syndrome, and people who snore sometimes have frequent apnea, which is likened to a “night killer” because it can cause damage to the function of multiple systems throughout the body. It is a disease that affects about 1 in 5 sleep snorers. And there are more people with insomnia than sleep apnea syndrome, surely several times more than 40 million people. According to the World Health Organization survey, 27% of people have sleep problems. China’s 2006 survey of the general population in six cities, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Tianjin and Hangzhou, showed that the incidence of sleep disorders among adults in the past 12 months was as high as 50%. Currently, lack of sleep is also a more common problem among primary and secondary school students.
Unfortunately, 80% of the insomnia population does not consider insomnia as a disease and has never been treated. We urge everyone in society to start sleeping well to promote mental and physical health.
What are some factors that may cause insomnia or lack of sleep? Factors that can trigger insomnia include mental factors, organic diseases, age, living habits and work environment.
(1) Mental factors: excessive mental stress is the most common cause. With the accelerated pace of modern life, competition between people, increasing conflicts and family instability, people’s spirit is in a state of high tension. The symptoms of insomnia arise with it, so insomnia can also be said to be a modern disease.
(2) Psychosomatic diseases: Insomnia is a common symptom of anxiety disorders, depression and various psychiatric diseases, and about 50% of insomnia is accompanied by various psychiatric diseases.
(3) Physical diseases: Many diseases can be accompanied by insomnia, such as neurosis, hypertension, tumor, cerebrovascular disease, tuberculosis, coronary heart disease, liver disease, hyperthyroidism and so on. Insomnia symptoms can appear at some stage of these diseases, or the disease aggravates and affects sleep, and after the disease improves, insomnia symptoms can be reduced or disappear.
(4) Age factor: insomnia is closely related to age, and the older the age, the higher the incidence of insomnia. The sleeping time of the elderly is prolonged. Young people usually fall asleep in a few minutes, while the elderly can fall asleep in 40 minutes on average; in addition, the elderly become shallow sleepers, urinate more at night and wake up more often, so the symptoms of insomnia are intensified.
(5) Insomnia: Insomnia without a cause, also called primary insomnia.
(6) Time deprivation: Sleep deprivation in primary and secondary school students is caused by deprivation of sleep time by schools or parents.
From this, we can see that insomnia is a common symptom and insomnia is a common disease. Insomnia has many harmful effects on human health!
Affects children’s growth and development: Children need adequate sleep time for their neurological development, mental development and physical growth.
Accelerates adult aging, reduces immunity, and leads to a decline in physical fitness, etc.
Aggravate or induce various mental disorders: such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and other mental disorders.
Aggravate various physical disorders: such as hypertension, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, sudden death at night, endocrine metabolic disorders, etc.
Decrease social function: work efficiency, work ability and social adaptability, quality of life, etc.
Damage to brain function: daytime sleepiness, cognitive dysfunction such as attention and memory.
Sleep deprivation in children hinders both their physical development and growth as well as their learning efficiency. In order for children to grow up healthy and learn effectively, parents and schools should change their mindset and should let primary and secondary school students get enough sleep. Modern science has proven that trying to improve learning efficiency or academic performance at the expense of sleep time can only result in futility.
How can I get a good night’s sleep?
A. Develop good sleep habits
1, regular rest and rest, on time to bed, on time to get up. No matter when you go to sleep the night before, you should get up on time the next day.
2, do not read in bed, watch TV or listen to the radio.
3, regular exercise every day to help sleep, but do not do strenuous exercise after the evening, especially not in the 2 hours before bedtime.
4.Don’t eat or drink a lot before going to bed.
5.If you still can’t sleep after 20 minutes in bed, you can get up and do something monotonous and tasteless, and then go to bed when you feel like sleeping.
6, do not often look at the clock when you can not sleep, and do not chagrin or frustration, should be relaxed and sure that they can finally fall asleep.
7, try not to use sleeping pills every day, if necessary, should be taken intermittently, in principle, no more than four times a week.
Second, the right lateral position is the best sleeping position
Side lying position when the spine is bent like a bow, the limbs can be placed in a more comfortable position, which is conducive to the relaxation of the muscles of the whole body, chest pressure is minimal, but also not easy to cause snoring or choking. Generally speaking, the right side sleeps best.
Third, take a hot bath before going to bed
Sleep is generated from the relaxation of various parts of the body, including muscle relaxation, brain relaxation, cardiovascular relaxation, etc.. If you consciously relax yourself before sleep, it is certainly good for sleep, and a hot bath is one of the ways to relax yourself.
Fourth, choose the right bedding
Bed: The bed should be soft and hard. The way to determine the softness of Simmons bed is that when a person is lying on his side, the spine can maintain a straight posture.
Bed sheet: cotton is the best; chemical fiber products if mixed with cotton, both absorbent and do not need to iron the advantages, but also more practical.
Pillow: the pillow should be the right height, soft and hard. Pillow more than a fist of their own vertical height is appropriate, the adult pillow height is usually in 6 to 10 cm.
Five, timely access to medical care
Insomnia, whether caused by psychological disorders or induced by physical diseases, should see a doctor as soon as possible to remove the causes of insomnia in order to get a satisfactory sleep.