World Sleep Day: Healthy sleep, Healthy aging
World Sleep Day, or ‘Day of Sleep’, this year is Friday, March 15. World Sleep Day is held every year on Friday before the week of Spring (or Vernal) Equinox: day and night are the same all over the world. World Sleep Day is intended as a celebration of sleep and a call to action for important issues related to sleep, including medicine use, education, social aspects and car driving.
Basic Need
Research shows that we sleep about a third of our lives.Sleep is a basic human need, just like eating and drinking, and is crucial to our overall health and well-being.It is actually so normal that we rarely think about meeting the optimum conditions for a refreshing night’s sleep.In addition, nowadays we are all too often flooded with artificial light (such as from lampposts), screens (even) in the bedroom and, if you are unlucky,noise from modern city life.
Rinsing and Maintenance
However, obtaining good qualitative and quantitative sleep is one of the most important factors for healthy aging and improving physical, cognitive and emotional health.During sleep, the brain washes away potentially harmful substances that have been accumulating during the day.Good and quality sleep also maintains the brain’s ‘wiring’ through which memories from the previous day are better stored and the learning experiences gained can settle more efficiently.In other words, there is much to say for giving good night’s sleep a high priority in our daily lives!
Research shows that we sleep a third of our lives. Sleep is a basic human need, just like eating and drinking, and is crucial to our overall health and well-being.
Three pillars
In general, good ‘sleep hygiene’ is based on three pillars: Duration, Continuity and Depth.With duration we mean the literal length of sleep.For adults, that means 7 to 8 hours of sleep.Children need more.Continuity: This means that sleep should not be disturbed and continuous.So don’t go to the toilet twice, go to the fridge once and have a quick look at your phone.Depth: Your sleep must be deep enough to recover.Breathing and heart rate drop to the lowest rate during this phase.If you are awakened from the ‘deep’ phase of sleep you are disoriented and you need time to realize where you are.This phase ensures physical recovery.
Sleeping problems are a global epidemic that affects around 45% of the world’s population. It affects on their overall health and quality of life.
TEN COMMANDMENTS for proper sleep
- Set a fixed time to go to bed and a fixed time to get up;
- A daytime siesta?No longer than 45 minutes;
- No excessive alcohol consumption 4 hours before sleeping;do not smoke;
- Avoid caffeine in the 6-hour space before bedtime(also applies to chocolate!)
- No heavy, spicy, or sugar-rich foods 4 hours before bedtime.A light snack is acceptable;
- No excessive exertion immediately prior to sleeping;
- Use comfortable bedding;
- Find a comfortable room temperature for sleeping and ventilate well;
- Block all disturbing noise and ensure that the light is as low as possible;
- Reserve the bed only for sleep and amorous activities.Do not use the bed as an office, or recreation room.
Blue light
We have talked about it before: Blue light, especially from screens, that disturbs our sleep.Blue light mimics daylight, which can disrupt the human biological clock.A relatively new jammer in human evolution, but a formidable opponent!
The biorhythm is driven by a small cluster of neurons (nucleus suprachiasmaticus) located in the hypothalamus.These neurons activate the epiphysis to produce the sleep hormone melatonin.Blue light prevents the production of this sleep hormone; looking into blue light makes it harder to fall asleep.The Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment has recently established that daily long-term use of monitors can indeed affect sleep.
TIPS ‘N TRICKS
BOOK: “Why we sleep” by Matthew Walker. Highly recommended in the field of sleeping and for a good reason a ‘must reading’ for everyone at our company.
ACTION: Mouth taping. Certainly sounds strange, but look for the terms: ‘mouth taping sleep’. A world will open for you.
GADGET: Orange glasses. These glasses filter the blue light from the light source. Certainly in the evenings (TV computer, telephone) recommended for a more clearly defined day and night rhythm.
SUPPLEMENT: Take a good look around in our ‘Sleeping’ category. We do not specially advocate melatonin (only under special circumstances) and we only share products in which melatonin is dosed very low. Consider melatonin; call at least for more information!
Just one more thing to say:
NIGHTY NIGHT AND SLEEP TIGHT!!
