How long have you not slept well?
According to the "2021 White Paper on Exercise and Sleep Disorders", more than 300 million people in mainland China have sleep disorders. More and more people are suffering from sleep disorders.
In fact, each of us wakes up about every 90 minutes with a sleep cycle. At this point, we change our posture and sometimes even open our eyes to scan the room. This phenomenon is very short-lived, generally lasting less than a minute, and in most cases we don't even remember doing it.
Not only do we wake up every 90 minutes, but we wake up briefly every hour for about 3 seconds. In all of these cases, your brain is just doing what it's supposed to do. This is related to the living environment of our ancestors, if we have not woken up and slept for seven or eight hours in a row, then lions and tigers have long since wiped out human beings!
Waking up at night is normal, but not being able to fall asleep again is not normal. But no matter how bad your insomnia is, be sure to remember this sentence: you will always fall asleep, which is a natural function of human physiology.
01
Seriously, can I sleep less?
An average of 7 to 8 hours of sleep can make most people feel refreshed when they wake up, but the optimal sleep duration varies from person to person, provided that the sleep quality is normal and the sleep time is more regular. At the end of the day, there's nothing special about how much sleep you need each night. Simply put, you need enough sleep to wake up refreshed and stay awake throughout the day. Short sleepers appear to be genetically responsible, and they need less sleep by nature than the average person, while long sleepers tend to need more sleep. But if your sleep needs suddenly change significantly, you'll need to see a doctor.
If someone can come up with a way to restore our energy through just 4 hours of sleep and get the effect of 8 hours of sleep, then he will definitely make a fortune.
You may be able to make ends meet with less sleep than your body needs, but you can only make ends meet at best. Our brains are born with the ability to postpone sleep, and we can do that to some extent. We can also skip meals because physiological evolution has allowed us to temporarily get rid of basic necessities of life. But in these cases, we can't be at our best. If you want to keep your body and mind healthy, don't think of sleep as a nuisance, but make it a priority in your life.
02
What happens if I don't sleep?
Sleep consumes 1/3 of the time in our lives, and poor sleep can seriously damage another 2/3. Sleep is essential to our health, let's see what happens if a person doesn't sleep. After 24 hours of no sleep, a person's reaction time and the reaction time of a drunken driver are similar.
When we're struggling to stay awake, there may be brief sleep, known as microsleeping, at which point we may not even realize we're asleep. If we are driving or operating a machine at this time, it is quite dangerous.
If a person does not sleep for a longer time, also known as sleep deprivation, he will become more irritable, emotional, and inattentive, and the reaction time will be further prolonged. If a person does not sleep for 3 or more consecutive days, he may begin to hallucinate and eventually become delirious.
Long-term poor sleep quality and sleep deprivation have the same effects, putting themselves and others at risk during unconscious microsleep. In contrast, poor long-term sleep quality can be more dangerous because people with chronic sleep deprivation may not realize the effects this has on them.
Prolonged poor sleep can cause many serious physical, mental and emotional problems. Sleep deprivation is a stressor for the body, increasing not only the risk of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, but also the risk of cancer and serious neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, and can lead to serious cognitive deficits, including decreased thinking speed and loss of verbal memory, and even false memories. Your emotions may be affected, you may overreact to stress, and you are more likely to engage in risky and impulsive behaviors.
In short, to be in good health, you have to sleep well.
03
How to sleep better
1. Avoid anxiety traps
Worrying about sleep quality can be a trap. If you go to bed thinking that success tomorrow depends on the quality of your sleep tonight, you're preparing for tonight's insomnia. Worry sends alarm signals to the brain, and the brain responds to it by staying alert and sleeping as little as possible.
The brain is just doing what it's supposed to do, because sleeping is one of the most dangerous activities—when we're most vulnerable. Your brain interprets danger and stress as the same thing, and light sleep or no sleep is its physiological response to danger warnings.
Sleep, meanwhile, is a self-balancing activity of the brain, and homeostasis is the mechanism used by biological systems to maintain balance. This means that our brains struggle to repair themselves during sleep.
This is simple and important. If you wake up in the night, don't blame yourself. Remember that waking up frequently is a normal manifestation of the sleep cycle. Trying to stop this process will only trigger an endless vicious cycle that allows yourself to wake up repeatedly during sleep. Be sure to comfort yourself and tell yourself that you will still be asleep. The brain's instinct for self-balancing can guarantee this.
2. Fix the time of getting up every day
Insomniacs are usually concerned about the difficulty with falling asleep and are able to remember a lot of details, such as bedtime, how long it takes to fall asleep, how often they wake up, and how long they wake up at night. But when asked what time they wake up, the answer becomes blurry, and they say, "It depends on when I fall asleep." "The first step in solving sleep problems in terms of behavioral patterns is to fix the time to get up.
Insomniacs often say they are willing to do anything to sleep better, but when I ask them to get up at the same time every day, their first reaction is "I can't do it." In fact, it's much easier to force yourself to get up at a particular time than to force yourself to fall asleep. If you wake up at the same time every day, a powerful biological clock will eventually also make you fall asleep more regularly.
3. Gradually increase sleep time
Increasing your total sleep time overnight is hard to do, and it's due to the conflict between sleep's self-balancing instinct and the circadian fluctuations of the sleep-wake schedule, as the two physiological systems are opposed to each other. Your homeostasis system may want you to sleep longer, while the circadian rhythm system (which expects the next day's dawn to arrive at about the same time as the day before) wakes you up before you get the extra sleep you crave.
If you want to increase your average sleep time by 1 hour per day, you need to gradually develop a new habit: go to bed 15 minutes earlier than usual and wake up 15 minutes later than usual for one to two weeks. If you find it easy to fall asleep and wake up on time, repeat this process—go to bed 15 minutes early, get up 15 minutes late, extend your sleep time by 30 minutes, adjust to this new habit, and add another 30 minutes—it's an easier way to achieve your goal of extending your total sleep time by one hour.
4. Tips for falling asleep again
Many insomniacs spend more time awake in bed than they sleep, and they no longer associate bed with sleep. The more the bed is used for activities other than sleep, the weaker the connection between the bed and sleep. Please turn the following sentence into your mantra: The bed is used for sleeping.
If you have trouble falling asleep again after waking up at night, you can use these methods.
Don't look at the time. If necessary, turn your alarm clock around and don't let it face you. If you want to know what time it is, tell yourself it's night – it's time now!
Lie calmly and concentrate on breathing. Comfort yourself that you will always fall asleep, that's for sure.
If after a few minutes you find yourself restless, get up and leave the bedroom. Don't do any productive tasks, such as chores or work (which will make it harder for you to fall asleep). Read something of no value, like a home appliance warranty.
Do not turn on the computer or TV. Reading or watching something interesting will only make things worse, because it is tantamount to rewarding insomnia and can easily lead to a vicious circle.
Do not snack. Eating can also be a bonus that can exacerbate your insomnia. (Not to mention that eating late at night can lead to weight gain.) ）
Keep reminding yourself that your drowsiness will eventually come back. When you think like this, go back to bed and don't stay on the couch or chair.
Modern sleep science has made great strides in a very short period of time. The real role of sleep is that if we sleep well, we can live healthier, longer, and more enjoyable lives. This is the ultimate form of self-care, and the first step is to prioritize quality sleep. I hope everyone can sleep well and have a good night's sleep.
The above content is excerpted from "High-Quality Sleep Law", by Rafael Pelayo, published by CITIC Publishing Group in February 2022, the copyright belongs to the book and the author, and the reprint has been authorized.