Healthy Sleeping For Better Living

“Early to bed and early to rise is no more the game of wise and for our generation it is not the way of life.” Today’s fast, glamorous and hectic lifestyle has made us none better than androids. Sleeplessness is the new trend and insomnia is the latest lifestyle of the youth. All these confusing disorders are none other than sleep deprivation, Insomnia, fatigue and many more. In order to rank the importance of sleep we need to know what exactly sleep is and how much of importance is this subject is to all of us.

In simple English, sleep is a state of a partial inactivity i.e. rest, which happens in animals as well as human beings. During sound sleep the actions become inactive. Sleep is very important for a person’s well being as it contributes to a good health. Sleep freshens every part of an individual enhancing his intellectual, mental as well as physical capacity.

What makes sleep an important part of life?

A good sleep becomes essential for humans and animals and birds for proper functioning of the brain. Yawning is an indication that our body needs sleep.

Getting enough quality sleep helps to protect the mental health, quality of life, physical health as well as safety.

·        Mental health-Our brain remains active during sleep. It on the whole starts forming new pathways for a learning process and remembering information. We automatically start learning more after quality sleep. For instance, whether it is learning math, driving a car or playing instruments, sleep enhances our learning capabilities.

·        Physical well being- When a person sleeps, a brain still works and it helps maintaining physical fitness, whereas in children and toddlers the sleep helps in the growth and development of the body. Sleep plays an important role in physical and emotional well being. Sleep essentially makes a person fit and is indulged in repairing of our heart and blood vessels.

·        Quality of life- A good sleep helps in maintaining, healthy balance of the body hormones. Sleep shows how a body reacts to insulin (hormone controlling blood sugar level). A proper sleep will never make a person patient of diabetes. Sleep also supports development of the body.

We know that sleep differs according to an individual. It is a fact that different age groups need different amounts of sleep, there are individual needs. Someone needs nine hours sleep, likewise other one would need seven hours. A 2005 study confirmed the fact that the needs of people vary in terms of sleep. Teenagers require minimum of nine to ten hours sleep because they do a lot of physical work. Adults require minimum of 6hours a day.

Age	Average amount of sleep needed in a day
New born baby	16-18 hours
School going children	8-10 hours
Teenager	9-10 hours
Adult	6-8 hours

Incase a person  does not adhere to the amount of sleep needed according to his age. He would struggle every time to get a sound sleep. Are you one of those?

If yes, then you are a victim of Insomnia. Now the question arises what is insomnia? Insomnia or we can say sleeplessness is a sleep disorder in which even after relentless exhaustion, everlasting fatigue and immense dizziness a person is unable to sleep. Insomnia can be a dreadful nightmare. The problem of insomnia can spoil energy, mood and health of a person. If a person starts changing his lifestyle and habits of sleeping,  then he can easily put an end to sleepless nights. Insomnia is a sleep disorder when a person wakes up in the middle of the night and could not sleep for hours. Insomnia is a disorder when a body requires quality sleep, it does not depend on the number of hours one sleep or how early or quickly one sleep. If one feels, out of energy or drowsy during daytime, after sleeping for nine hours during night, there might be a possibility of his experiencing insomnia.  Insomnia affects the  health of a person in several ways.  The signs of insomnia could be anything, so ask yourself.

·        Are you stressed?

·        Are you depressed or sad?

·        Do you feel nervous?

·        Do you wake up in the middle of the night?

·        Do you wish to sleep peacefully, but cannot?

In case you face any of the problems above, you might be suffering from insomnia. In fact, anxiety, stress, tension, depressions are commonly faced by people in today’s time, leading to half of insomnia cases.

Mental and physical causes of insomnia

·        Depression, anxiety, stress and tensions.

·        Medication like cold and flu containing alcohol or pain relievers containing caffeine or hypertension medicines.

·        Medical problems like asthma, allergies, cancer or any kind of chronic pain also causes insomnia.

Sometimes insomnia only lasts for a shorter duration and gets away. Late night's sleep makes a person lethargic, less productive and damages health. Sound sleep makes a person ready for the day’s learning again, whereas lack of sleep leaves both mental and physical effects on us.

 Some short term and long term effects of Insomnia are as tabulated below:

SHORT TERM EFFECTS	LONG TERM EFFECTS
Getting anxious	Heart attack
Drowsiness	High blood pressure
Forgetfulness	Diabetes
Decrease in performance output	Depression
Memory loss	Mood disorder
Fatigue	Mental weakness

Tips to avoid sleeplessness

Avoid late night TV- Use bedroom only for sleeping, late night tv or use of laptops and mobile phones or  any work puts strain and affects health.

Get out of bedroom if you cannot sleep-One should never force himself to sleep because that only leads to anxiety and uneasiness. Leave the room and indulge in reading, relaxing or drinking.

Avoid Intake of coffee during daytime- It has been found out that people who drinks more coffee during day time, are unable to sleep properly at night.

Avoid naps- One must avoid naps during day time, and if it is so necessary, then limit it to 20-30 minutes.

If all these tips will be followed properly then an insomniac patient would not be felt sleep deprived because the condition of a person suffering from this disorder seems to be quite miserable and more pitiable like hell. Concentration becomes much weaker affecting the performance at work, school or college. Possible consequences are reflected like his poor temperament, lack of motivation, judgment and attention. But one can get rid of this problem by consulting physician or taking pills on time and avoiding unnecessary stress and tensions for a better living.

Live well, sleep well!

Waking up late night has a great impact on the mental and overall well being of an individual. Poor sleep affects individual working capacity and he may feel lethargic and out of energy as well. Health is of utmost important for an individual and so he should keep in mind the side effects of improper sleep. One must sleep by 10:00pm and get up early at 7:00AM making it an agenda for life time. Sleeping late at night helps in weight gain as confirmed by the research from the University of Chicago. Also dark circles and wrinkles right below the eye lessens the beauty of an individual. So “ SLEEP WELL AND LIVE WELL.”