According to sleep statistics for 2024, the average person gets less than 7 hours of sleep per night. Many individuals suffer from sleep disorders.
Adequate sleep is crucial for our health, and different age groups have varying sleep time requirements. However, many people today, especially those working for a living, are severely lacking in sleep, and the proportion of adults experiencing difficulty falling asleep is steadily increasing.
Dr. Marishka Brown, a sleep expert at the National Institutes of Health, states that healthy sleep encompasses three main aspects: first, the amount of sleep; second, sleep quality—ensuring that sleep is uninterrupted and that one feels refreshed; and third, a regular sleep schedule.
Irregular routines and high levels of stress can disrupt our sleep, but we can learn various methods to improve our sleep quality.
The importance of good sleep
1. Maintaining health
Long-term sleep deprivation or poor sleep quality can easily lead to various diseases, such as coronary heart disease, stroke, and hypertension. Poor sleep can weaken our immune system and reduce our resistance to illness.
2. Thinking and memory
Insufficient sleep or poor sleep quality can result in decreased memory, difficulty concentrating, and unclear thinking. This affects our ability to receive and process external information.
3. Mental health
Lack of sleep or poor sleep quality can make us more irritable and anxious. It can also diminish our ability to control our emotions.
4. Promoting growth
For teenagers and infants, sleep is crucial for their growth and development.
5. Restoring energy
Sleep is the best remedy for fatigue. If you are extremely tired, nothing can restore your energy better than a good sleep.
6. Accidents
Insufficient sleep or poor sleep quality increases the risk of accidents. For example, drowsiness while driving (not related to alcohol) is a cause of serious injuries and death in car accidents. For older people, lack of sleep may be associated with an increased risk of falls and fractures.
Why do we lack sleep
1. Sleep disorder
According to the ICSD, sleep disorders can be classified into the following categories:
- Insomnia: You have difficulty falling and staying asleep.
- Sleep-related breathing disorders: Your breathing changes while you sleep.
- Central disorders of hypersomnolence: You have trouble feeling alert during the day.
- Circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders: Your internal clock makes it difficult to fall asleep and wake up on time.
- Parasomnias: Physical actions or verbal expressions happen during sleep like walking, talking or eating.
- Sleep-related movement disorders: Physical movements or the urge to move makes it difficult to fall asleep and/or stay asleep.
2. Diet
What we eat can also affect our sleep. For example, eating something too spicy at night will make our stomach feel constantly burning, which will make it difficult for us to fall asleep.
Excessive intake of caffeine or other things that refresh the mind will make us very energetic and unable to sleep.
3. Mental illness
Mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety can cause us to suffer from insomnia and sleep poorly.
4. Stress
If the pressure is too high, our brain will not be able to relax. Even if we lie in bed, we cannot relax, but toss and turn, and have no sleepiness.
5. Bad sleeping habits
Irregular sleeping hours will disrupt our sleep, and we will not be able to fall asleep when we should sleep, and we will not be able to wake up when we should wake up.
Sometimes even if we can go to bed early, we still choose to stay up late. Even if we are very sleepy, we have to force ourselves to play with our mobile phones until we can't hold on any longer.
Tips for better sleep
1. Turn off electronic devices early
You can set a timer on your phone to shut it down automatically. Tell yourself that when the phone is forcibly turned off, it's time for you to rest. It may be tough at first, but as long as you stick to it for a while, it will become a habit.
2. Avoid stimulating food at night
When dining in the evening, steer clear of highly stimulating foods or those that keep your brain alert.
3. Exercise
Exercise not only keeps you healthy but also enhances the effectiveness of natural sleep hormones like melatonin, thereby improving your sleep quality. However, try to avoid exercising close to bedtime.
4. Reduce stress
Don’t put yourself in a state of high stress for a long time. This not only affects our sleep but also every aspect of our lives. Learn necessary stress-management techniques to relieve your pressure.
5. Consult a doctor
If your sleep is really bad and has seriously affected your life, seek medical attention immediately and get professional help.
6. Create a Suitable Sleep Environment
Control the room temperature and keep it within a comfortable range.
Close the curtains to prevent outside lights from shining in, maintaining a dim atmosphere in the room.
Invest in better bedding to ensure a more comfortable sleep.
7. Relax
We can try some activities that can relax us before going to bed, such as taking a hot bath, listening to relaxing music, reading books that make us sleepy, or making a list of tomorrow's to-do list so that we don't have to worry about tomorrow.
Sleep plays a vital role in a person's health and happiness throughout one’s life. So no matter how busy you are at work, you should try to get a good night's sleep.
Take care and sleep well.
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