Since the opening of the Winter Olympics, the talented ski girl Gu Ailing can be described as a leap of popularity.
I believe that you must have recently read a lot of "Gu Ailing said that the secret of success is to sleep 10 hours a day" tweets, Xiaobian to guess your mental journey: If only I could sleep for 10 hours, everyone could sleep for 10 hours? What time to sleep? What position do you sleep in? How can I sleep well? Finish, think about it, I don't seem to be sleeping anymore...
Today, we will take a look at how Academician Lu Lin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences answered these questions.
01 How long should I sleep each day?
Sleep is the basis for the growth and development of children and adolescents, and it is also an important part of adults to eliminate physical and mental fatigue, maintain emotional stability, and stabilize blood sugar and blood lipid metabolism.
People of different ages need different sleep hours: Theoretically, kindergarten children need to sleep enough for 10 hours, elementary school students need to sleep more than 9 hours, high school students need to sleep more than 8 hours, and adults need to sleep 6-8 hours.
And Gu Ailing, as an athlete, usually consumes a lot of physical strength, and has just turned 18 years old, she said that sleeping enough for 10 hours is not necessarily suitable for everyone, no need to blindly follow.
Moreover, the sleep time is not as long as possible, and studies have shown that adults sleep about 7 hours a day and have the longest life span, sleep more than 10 hours, and less than 6 hours, and their life expectancy has been shortened.
Specific to each adult, whether to sleep for 6 hours, 7 hours or 8 hours is also affected by its own sleep rhythm structure.
Our sleep every night is not gradually deepened, but from light sleep, deep sleep, rapid eye movement sleep, close to waking, and then into the next cycle of light sleep, cycle back and forth, each cycle of about 1-1.5 hours.
Due to congenital genetics and acquired exercise, some people have a long period of deep sleep, the quality of sleep is good, and the total sleep time required is shorter, and they can only sleep for 5 or 6 hours a day but are still energetic. But this kind of person is a minority after all, and most people still need to sleep enough for 7-8 hours.
Modern people are generally stressed, sleep irregular, some people may sleep more than 10 hours to feel that they do not sleep enough, which may be because of the quality of sleep problems, we will talk more about it later.
02 What time should I go to bed every day?
Academician Lu Lin mentioned that the best time to start falling asleep every night is around 11:30, and you can add or subtract 1 hour before and after, that is, to fall asleep between 10:30 and 12:30, which is OK, and the elderly are still applicable.
Several points of falling asleep are actually related to the hormones that go to sleep in the body, that is, melatonin, which has a variety of effects such as sedation, hypnosis, analgesia, and antidepressant.
The synthesis and secretion of melatonin is related to light, so it often shows a rhythm change of less day and more night, starting to secrete at about 11 o'clock in the evening, reaching the highest peak at 2 o'clock in the morning, which is why people are the most sleepy at one or two o'clock in the morning, and there are many sources of early awakening in the elderly.
If you sleep too early, melatonin secretion is not strong, or sleep too late, miss the peak of melatonin secretion, sleep quality will decline, and even early awakening, insomnia.
If you have to get up at 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning due to the needs of work and study, you can go to bed at about 10:30. After the habit of sleep is formed, do not change easily, when to sleep, when to get up, it is best to fix it every day, so that our body is in a good sleep rhythm.
03 What is good sleep quality?
This seemingly simple problem, in fact, many people do not have a specific concept, and 2 "sleep" can help us analyze.
First of all, "sleep at home" and judge from intuitive feelings.
No matter how long you have slept, as long as you eliminate fatigue the next day, have energy and do not get sleepy, have a stable mood, and have a good memory, it means that the quality of sleep is good.
Second, "sleep in the hospital" and do sleep EEG monitoring. Detect brain waves through electrodes, observe the duration and distribution of deep sleep, light sleep, etc., understand the changes in sleep rhythm, and observe whether there is breath holding and apnea.
But many people may not deliberately go to the hospital for testing, but through some smart bracelets, mobile phone software to measure.
Academician Lu Lin mentioned that in fact, the accuracy rate of these products is mostly less than 50%, and they often rely on whether limb movement occurs to indirectly judge the sleep state.
Limb inactivity counts as deep sleep, and limb movement counts as light sleep, so even if you are not asleep, you can confuse the public as long as you do not move.
Therefore, for healthy people, these sleep monitoring products can be used as aids for reference only, and if there are sleep disorders such as sleeping less, sleeping badly, and not sleeping, it is more reliable to go to the hospital for examination.
04 Tips for sleeping aids
Choose the right sleeping position
Especially for people with heart disease and obesity, the best sleeping position is the right lying position, which can avoid compressing the heart and avoid increasing airway obstruction due to gravity when lying flat.
The nap duration is controlled at 0.5-1 hour, and napping is not recommended for insomniacs
Whether to nap varies from person to person, if you sleep less the first night, you can take a proper nap at noon to relieve fatigue, the time is as far as possible to control at 0.5-1 hours, but if you have insomnia at night, napping will only make you more sleepy at night.
Drinking alcohol to help you sleep is not advisable
Alcohol first inhibits and then excites the human body, so that although you sleep fast, you wake up more and wake up early.
Appropriate exercise during the day, mild sweating is appropriate
Exercise can help us increase the duration of deep sleep, but pay attention to time and intensity, take mild sweating as the standard, try to exercise during the day, and do not exercise vigorously within 2 hours before going to bed.
Turn off the lights, draw the curtains, and sleep with an eye mask on
Even if a person is asleep, the optic nerve can feel the light, which affects sleep.
References: Medical Microvision official website - Academician Lu Lin "Sleep and Health"