Promoting Healthy Sleep and Combating Insomnia: Fundamental Recommendations
Almost half of a person's life is spent sleeping.
Sleep is an extremely important stage of life activity, when a person gets an opportunity to restore their resources. During cell regeneration and restoration, important hormonal and metabolic processes are actively taking place.
If sufficient sleep is absent in a person's life, the negative effects of stress, oxidative stress increase, aging processes accelerate, cells don't regenerate, and over time, this leads to negative health consequences (chronic fatigue, blood pressure and cardiovascular problems, apathy and depression, inattention and poor concentration at work, more active aging, etc.).
Sleep disturbance is manifested by insomnia. It's short, poor-quality sleep, problems falling asleep, and regular awakenings in the middle of the night. As a result, in the morning, a person doesn't feel sleepy and rested. The optimal duration of healthy sleep is 7-8 hours a day.
Factors that have a negative impact on the quality of sleep
- Late bedtime.
- Lack of a daily regimen.
- Abundance of information every day.
- High levels of stress, anxiety, and strain.
- Lack of balance between rest and work.
- Lack of walks and time outdoors.
- Lack of access to fresh air in the room for sleeping.
- Sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise.
- Much time spent on gadgets.
Symptoms of insomnia can manifest themselves in the following ways:
- Problems falling asleep. Normally, a person falls asleep in 10-20 minutes. If one cannot fall asleep for longer than half an hour and places the live bet or scrolls their Instagram feed instead, there is a problem with falling asleep. It can occur due to discomfort, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, or for no apparent reason when falling asleep just doesn't work.
- Frequent awakenings. Often associated with pain, urges to pee, and nightmares. There may be no reason for the night walking's. Sometimes the person sleeps uneasily, shallowly, more like a doze.
- Early awakening. The person wakes up too early and then cannot go back to sleep. Sometimes this makes the person feel sleepy and tired by the time they have to get up.
Sleep disturbances can occur due to the following causes:
- Certain medical conditions. Sometimes you can't fall asleep because of a medical condition, such as pain, a cough, or an upset stomach.
- Restless legs syndrome and apnea.
- The time zone changes.
- Work schedules that interfere with normal routines.
- Pregnancy.
- Side effects of medications.
- Older age, associated health changes.
- Abrupt changes in the daily regimen, activity level, or emotional state.
How to cope with insomnia yourself
If sleep problems are a non-permanent phenomenon, it's possible to cope on your own:
- Refuse active loads, sports, gadgets, and watching TV (everything that can over excite the nervous system). Before going to bed, don't use gadgets an hour before bedtime.
- Refuse drinking coffee and alcohol before bedtime.
- Try not to smoke at night.
- Go to bed before midnight to stick to a regimen.
- Buy dark curtains.
- Air the room well before going to bed, as well as go for an evening walk.
- Take a warm bath before going to bed: water promotes muscle and nerve relaxation.
- Introduce a uniform daily routine for each day: go to bed at the same time.
Often, we try to self-prescribe treatment on the advice of friends, advertising posters, pharmacists in pharmacy chains, and the Internet, which don't take into account the individual causes and peculiarities of the course of the disease in each patient.
Especially since the causes of insomnia are not always obvious. If it's unclear what causes it and it becomes regular, it's already a reason to consult a doctor, and it's especially important to check the state of your health.
What doctors can be consulted for sleep problems?
- Family physician.
- Neurologist.
- Cardiologist.
Most likely, after examination, the doctor will consider it necessary, besides adjusting your lifestyle, to prescribe laboratory and instrumental examinations to identify the causes of your ailment. And only after a full range of examinations, will the doctor decide on the treatment tactics suitable for you.
It should be noted that the treatment of insomnia is a complex of medication and psychological effects.
What helps you stay awake and energetic?
- A contrast shower in the morning.
- Light exercise after waking up.
- A clear and identical work and rest schedule for each day. Make it a habit to go to bed and get up at the same time.
- Go to bed before midnight. After 11pm the body actively produces the epiphysis hormone melatonin, which regulates metabolic processes in the body and also plays an antioxidant role. Therefore, it's also called "sleep hormone." It's produced during night rest, in complete darkness.
- Exclude active loads, heavy meals, and the use of gadgets right before bedtime, to avoid overexcitement of the nervous system and heaviness in the stomach. It's better to take a quiet walk in the fresh air.
- Take care of the right place to sleep. Buy a mattress that is comfortable for your body level of hardness and is better orthopedic.
