“Healthy sleep is that which adapts to the needs of the person and their environment, is satisfactory, It has an adequate duration and scheduleis efficient without periods of waking up during the night and allows sustained alert during waking hours.” This statement from Dr. Ana Fernández Arcos, from the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN) puts us on the track of what should be.
However, in Spain, sleep disorders affect 48 percent of the population, and 4 million suffer from it at home. chronic and severe version.
“Poor rest (such as sleep less than 6 hours daily) can have serious consequences, and is associated with mental, emotional and physical health problems. Additionally, people with chronic illnesses, members of minorities, and people in precarious situations can have great difficulty maintaining optimal sleep habits.”
What is sleep hygiene?
When we rest fewer hours than necessary, the melatonin secretion (hormone that our brain produces and that intervenes in the natural sleep cycle) is altered, resulting in an imbalance in our sleep-wake cycle. The inability to sleep well generates stress in the bodywhich can affect any activity.
Although in recent years there has been an increase in awareness about the importance of sleep and the disorders it can cause, it is necessary that we all be aware of the need to improve sleep hygiene. Whether you suffer from a sleep disorder or not, the Spanish population does not rest properly.
Proof of how poorly and little we sleep is that a third of the population wakes up with the feeling of not having had a restful sleep. “Having good sleeping habits means trying to sleep enough hours according to our age, maintaining a regular sleep schedule and avoid interfering factors such as heavy dinners, drinking alcohol, smoking, suffering from stress, and using electronic devices in the moments before going to bed.
In general, experts recommend that adults have between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per day, although after age 65 it may occur that the quality of sleep is reduced due to multiple factors that can affect circadian cycles. The minimum, in any case, should always be 7 hours of deep, restful sleep.
Why is it so important to sleep well?
Sleep is essential for health. Especially for brain health, because sleeping poorly influences memory and learningand increases the risk of developing neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s or cerebrovascular disease. But not getting enough rest has also been linked to an increased risk of metabolic disordersinfections or premature mortality.
Furthermore, from the SEN they talk about the implication of lack of sleep in work accidents or while driving. Patients with neurological diseases are more susceptible to sleep disorders and require more attention to detect and treat them correctly. A good rest will impact your quality of life and the prognosis of the disease.”
In many cases, getting adequate rest does not only depend on better education and awareness about sleep hygiene. “There are impediments, in a large part of the population, mainly due to the work, social and lifestyle needs that subtract hours from the night’s rest, being inadequate below 7 hours in adults,” says Dr. Arcos.
What happens if I sleep less than 6 hours a day?
Sleeping less than 6 hours a day for a long period of time is considered sleep deprivation. If it occurs continuously, it has been associated with different health problems.
“On the one hand, there are consequences in daily life, because fatigue, daytime sleepiness in unwanted situations and attention problems may appear, with worse academic and work performance. Lack of rest implies a worse mood with increased irritability and impulsivitywhich produces difficulties in coping with the small setbacks of everyday life.
Furthermore, the doctor continues, “sleeping for a few hours makes us more prone to making mistakes that can have important implications, such as the risk of having traffic accidents. In the long term, it is associated with a greater propensity for metabolic diseases such as Mellitus diabetes and a greater tendency towards obesity, cardiovascular problems and mental disorders such as depression or anxiety.”
If you don’t get enough sleep, your defenses go down.
For its part, from this newspaper we have also interviewed the Dr. Jacinto Valverdeinternist and collaborator of Marnys, who insists on the seriousness of maintaining this lack of sleep over time.
“If you sleep less than 6 hours, we can even find cases of alterations in the basic functions of the body, such as the defenses being impaired. When sleeping, the immune system release some proteins called cytokineswhich help promote sleep and increase in states of stress or infections to protect the body.
And the specialist concludes: “When you do not rest adequately, these antibodies and protective cells decrease and our defenses go down. “We see our ability to combat infectious diseases reduced.”
