Sleeping is a vital function of living beings. All animals need sleep to regenerate our cognitive functions, our tissues... People who are deprived of a deep and restful sleep on a continuous basis can develop many serious diseases and increase their risk of cardiovascular disease or myocardial infarction. Diabetes or obesity are also associated with unhealthy sleep patterns, this means that to lose weight or control our blood sugar levels we also need to sleep well.
How many hours should we sleep?
When we are children we must sleep a lot, babies spend more than half a day sleeping and younger children may need up to 10 hours to get a restful sleep. These are moments in life when we "spend" a lot of energy growing, learning, evolving... and our body needs a long and restful sleep. As we become adults, it is not usual to sleep less, many adults affirm that they sleep between 4 and 6 hours a day and that this is enough.
We have to disagree a bit on that. We believe in the studies that state that a minimum of 7 to 8 hours are necessary for our tissues to regenerate and our body and mind to rest completely. While it is true that not only the hours we have slept count, the quality of sleep we have is also important. It is useless to spend 10 hours in bed if we do not rest well or do not have a restful sleep, if we get up many times during the night or if we cannot sleep a wink in the middle of the night.
Sleep related problems: insomnia and difficulty sleeping
We have all gone through a night where we find it impossible to fall asleep. Our mind does not stop thinking, we go around a lot and do not sleep a wink. This can occur while trying to fall asleep or during the night, we may wake up and then be unable to go back to sleep. If this happens sporadically, it is not a problem, but when it happens on numerous occasions, we are facing a problem.
Insomnia affects many people at different stages of their lives. The University of Navarra did a very interesting study in Spain and determined that it is a very frequent pathology, so much so that between 10 and 15% of the adult population suffer from chronic insomnia and between 25 and 30% suffer from it occasionally.
General recommendations to sleep better
The most common thing, when we have these sleeping problems, is to resort to specific medication to sleep better. Although in general we must try other paths first, because many times if we prepare ourselves correctly for the dream it can come sooner than expected. Routines are important in this regard and always going to bed and getting up at the same time is one of the first steps to getting a good night's sleep every day of the week.. In fact, people who work shifts tend to have more insomnia and health problems derived from very changeable and unhealthy habits. We know that not everyone can afford the luxury of a fixed schedule, but if you are one of the lucky ones, you have no excuses for putting this first piece of advice into practice: get up early and go to bed early every day.
In addition to the importance of the routine, there are also other tips that you can follow to control the quality and quantity of sleep each day:
- Maintaining an adequate temperature in the bedroom, this means keeping the room between 18 and 22ºC. Air conditioning is not a good tool to sleep through the night, it is better to generate a good temperature before going to bed and then turn it off.
- Shower with warm water before bed, this helps to relax the muscles.
- Try to keep noise levels under control.
- Get away from light sources at least an hour before going to sleep, this includes mobile phone screens.
- Wait at least two hours between dinner and bedtime. It is important to do the digestion well beforehand.
- Focus on breathing and not on the mind, not listening to our problems. Ruminating pansies always appear at night and are great enemies.
- Mindfulness to improve sleep quality
