Issue 62 October 2017 Village Eye

According to the National
Sleep Foundation, the
recommended number of
sleeping hours depends
on the age factor. The
quality of your sleep
determines the energy you
have throughout the day,
and affects your health
condition.
How much is enough?
It is common sense that our bodies
need to unwind and rest each night
and that insufficient sleep can
leads to severe health problems, so
trying to get enough rest throughout
the night is paramount. Recently,
Charles Czeisler, a professor at
Harvard University, gathered a team
of experts, to research. They went
through numerous studies conducted
in the period between 2004 and
2014. The goal of their research was
determining the proper number of
sleeping hours for every age group.
They also studied the effects of
sleeping on overall health.
What stops us?
If you are having trouble nodding
off when the lights go out, it could
be down to a number of factors.
Stress and modern technology are
the most common. Stress stimulates
the secretion of cortisol. Excessive
secretion of the stress hormone
causes sleep disorder, sickness, and
discomfort.
The light released by
technological devices blocks
the production of melatonin.
To help combat this, most
modern smartphones
have a nightime mode
which turns the screen
to a yellowish tinge - but
experts recommend that we ditch the
tv and tech at least an hour before
retiring. If you are, like many of us so
often are these day - scrolling your
messages or faffing on Facebook
late in the evening, now might be time
to get back into old fashioned habits
and read a good paperback?
Our challenge to you is to try this
for one week and see if your sleep
improves.
Unhealthy sleeping patterns often
lead to fatigue, and make you unable
to make decisions, concentrate, think
clearly and even eat. Scientists have
now confirmed the link between
sleep disorders and health problems.
If you sleep less than five hours
a night, your heart will suffer a
lot. Sleeping less than 7 hours
creates perfect conditions for
the development of severe health
problems like uncontrolled weight
gain and diabetes. Try to sleep well,
and your body will thank you.
So, how can
you achieve
sleep nirvana?
Apparently,
it’s all about
keeping in
sync with
your body’s natural sleep-wake cycle.
Getting in sync with your body’s
natural sleep-wake cycle, or circadian
rhythm, is one of the most important
strategies for sleeping better. If you
keep a regular sleep-wake schedule
you’ll feel much more refreshed and
energized than if you sleep the same
number of hours at different times,
even if you only alter your sleep
schedule by an hour or two.
Experts also advise that we should
try to go to sleep and get up at the
same time every day. This helps set
our body’s internal clock and optimize
the quality of the sleep we get..
Choose a bed time when you normally
feel tired, so that you don’t toss and
turn. If you’re getting enough sleep,
you should wake up naturally without
an alarm. If you
need an alarm
clock, you may
need an earlier
bedtime.
Avoid sleeping in—
even on weekends.
The more your
weekend/weekday
sleep schedules
differ, the worse the
jetlag-like symptoms
you’ll experience. If you need to
make up for a late night, opt for a
daytime nap rather than sleeping in.
This allows you to pay off your sleep
debt without disturbing your natural
sleep-wake rhythm.
Be smart about napping. While
napping is a good way to make up for
lost sleep, if you have trouble falling
asleep or staying asleep at night,
napping can make things worse. Limit
naps to 15 to 20 minutes in the early
afternoon. Apparently - 18 minutes
is the optimum we need for a pownap
reset - who knew!
Fighting after-dinner drowsiness.
If you get sleepy way before your
bedtime - we’ve all done it... midway
through the evening and we find
ourseves dozing in front of the TV...
Even if you don’t feel like it, get off
the couch and do something mildly
stimulating, such as washing the
dishes, calling a friend, or getting
clothes ready for the next day. If you
give in to the drowsiness, you may
wake up later in the night and have
trouble getting back to sleep.
Here’s what is needed and what is not
throughout our lives.
Newborn (0-3 months) -- 14-17 hours.
Babies (4-11 months) -- 12-15 hours.
Children (1-2 years) -- 11-14 hours.
Preschool (3-5 years) -- 10-13 hours.
School Age (6-13 years) -- 9-11 hours.
Teens (14-17 years) -- 8-10 hours.
Youth (18-25 years) -- 7-9 hours.
Adults (26-64 years) -- 7-9 hours.
Seniors (over 65 years) -- 7-8 hours.
eye
Heah &
Wlb
Are you getting enough?
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Issue 62 October D 2017(Paul).indd 13 19/09/2017 17:30