Care For Your Sleep

It is a known fact that having a good and peaceful sleep is sometimes priceless. And if you are the one who is regularly having good and sufficient amount of sleep – you are a lucky one! According to the findings of a recent research, carried out by a group of British specialists, it turned out that the majority of modern British people value an hour of a good sleep more than an hour of good sex. Amazing??!! Unbelievable!

The scientists interviewed about 8,500 British men and women, and it became clear that most of them have regular problems with sleep, and many suffer from serious sleep disorders, like sleep apnea or insomnia. Only 8% of the participants said that they sleep about 8 hours a day, and 40% of the participants are convinced that they can not do they work and daily activities effectively if the had ha less than 7 hours of sleep.

It became apparent that every 7 of 10 men and women have serious sleep disorders, and every one of 4 people have to fight against regular insomnia. Finally, about 79% of the participants of this research expressed their opinion that they would rather have an hour of a good and peaceful sleep than have an hour of good sexual pleasure.

Specialists go on warning us that chronic lack of sleep is closely linked to very serious problems and diseases, like hypertension, cardio-vascular diseases and other illnesses. Also, many modern people need extra concentration and focusing at work, but constant lack of good sleep causes ineffectiveness, failures and lack of professional success. The experts underline that an average person needs not less than 7.5 hours of sleep a day for normal function and maximum effectiveness at work.

• Increased sleepiness in the daytime.
• Regular loud snoring at night, especially accompanied with high blood pressure, problems with lungs and diabetes.
• Frequent short periods of breathing cessation during sleep.
• Dissatisfaction with the quality of sleep:

«I need more than 30 minutes to fall asleep»

«I frequently wake up at night»

«I wake up very early in the morning and can not sleep anymore».

• Using sleeping pills for long time.
• Problems with sleep caused by traveling and time zone change.
• Unpleasant feelings in legs or arms, causing irresistible urge to move the legs or arms during sleep.
• Episodes of sudden body muscle weakness when experiencing strong emotions (joy, anger, hate, etc.), frequently accompanied by fainting.
• Regular nightmares and scary dreams.
• Attacks, paroxysm, unusual behavior during sleep (sleepwalking, urge to eat, grinding of the teeth, etc.)

We spend about one third of our life sleeping, and having good regular sleeps is absolutely essential for everyone. Sleeping helps us to refresh our mind, have some rest after hard working days and maintain good health. However, nowadays not many of us can have regular healthy sleep. There are certain physiological conditions which bring to problems for people to breathe freely and easily during sleep. There is a great deal of sleep disturbances which do not allow people to recover and regain their mental and physical strength. Day by day such people are getting weaker and more depressed. Sooner or later, they have to forget about such natural things as a good spirit, excellent work capacity and mental abilities, ideal memory and appearance, which can only be stimulated by regular good sleep.

Sleep disturbances and disorders are very frequent in our times and almost everyone knows their signs and reasons. One of the prevailing reasons of problems with sleep is usual neglect of our biorhythms. Very often we extend our waking ours with the help of various stimulants or willpower, and certainly, it can be done only at the expense of our time for sleeping. Another leading reason is chronic pains or psychological disturbances, such as stresses or depression. Sleep disorders cause tiredness, weakness, impaired motor skills, inability to focus or concentrate, weaker immune system and slowed down metabolism, as well as other unwanted consequences.

There are periodic, temporary and chronic sleep disorders. Serious ones, like narcolepsy, parasomnias, sleep apnea and others, usually require medical treatment and immediate changes in daily behavior. If you are suffering from chronic insomnia or other disturbance, see a specialist in order to diagnose your problem correctly. Only doctor can recognize the type of disorder and recommend the most effective treatment. For example, sleeping pills and tranquilizers are the most effective medications for insomniacs, and effective antidepressants and stimulants must be prescribed to the people who have hypersomnia (extreme sleepiness).

Nevertheless, in the majority of the situations your relief from problems with sleep is in your own hands. If you started having regular periods of insomnia, difficulties when falling asleep or waking up, as well as seeing scary or disturbing dreams, you can begin with making slight changes in your daytime behavior and sleep habits. Every day go to sleep at the same time, sleep in comfortable bed and in comfortable environment. Spend your time before going to bed in doing something calm and monotonous, or take a shower. Do not start using sleeping pills until your doctor did not recommend you to do so. And one more rule: set your mind for good sleep, and stay wrapped in slumber deep and sweet all night long.

Now, we are living in the epoch when good and comfortable sleep became one of the main pleasures in our life. At the same time, overwhelming majority of people who live and work in modern metropolises can not benefit from this pleasure anymore. Our fast life easily turns “larks” into “owls”. Every evening we stay awake till deep night, trying to finish some urgent work, chatting with friends online or watching Conan O’Brien and other late night TV shows. Every morning we try to convince our mind to wake up and make the body move, but there is no feeling that our organism have had some rest and got some refreshment. We go to work or to school, and it usually takes hours to pull ourselves together and collect some energy to go on with our daily routine.

For many of desperate office workers and college students, an opportunity to have some normal sleep in the week-ends is the last hope in their search for physical and mental relief. However, the results of recent researches, publicized by British specialists from National Academy of Science, demonstrated that it is impossible to compensate lack of normal sleep in the week-ends. First of all, as our natural biorhythms are being constantly neglected, it is hard for a real night person to fall asleep early on Fridays or Saturdays. Second, even when we finally reach our beds after a hard working week, long-awaited sleep does not help us to have good rest and renew our dried out energy resources. And, after all, on Monday everything starts all over again.

Besides, it is a mistake to think that such problem as sleep disorders concerns only businessmen and hardworking students. In our times, many people who are not bound by office schedules and regular psychological pressures of hard studies, who lead a slow and ordered life – they frequently suffer from insomnia, sleep apnea and other sleep disorders. By various reasons, many of us sometimes can not have good sleep at night, toss and turn to the left and to the right in the bed and look at the clock waiting for morning to come. Many people regularly see nightmares which, certainly, do not make their sleep more pleasant and effective. The result of all these problems is the same: we can not have proper rest at night and in the morning we feel like zombies.

Scientists do not stop raising the alarm: just several decades ago people used to sleep minimum eight hours a day, but nowadays, daily sleep of an average person lasts no longer than six hours. We all have to remember that sleep deprivation, sleep disturbances and disorders result in increased risks of cardiovascular disease, premature ageing and overweight. Besides, regular lack of normal sleep brings to degradation of memory, depression and other psychological problems. It is not worth mentioning that lack of sleep makes us weaker, less creative and efficient at work, less successful in our professional and private life, as well as makes us feel less comfortable and less happy. So – let’s take care about our sleep, for our own good!