World Sleep Day, facts you should know about good sleep

World Sleep Day is celebrated this Friday, March 18, being a great opportunity to remember the importance of having good sleep habits and its benefits for overall health.

Although daily obligations such as work, study, as well as other issues such as personal problems, anxiety, depression and other factors such as smoking, excessive consumption of caffeine, alcohol and other stimulants, can be antagonistic when going to bed to rest, it is important to recognize all this in order to be able to take action on it.

Having good hygiene and being aware of what it means to not get enough rest should be a good start to improving sleep. As recommended by some experts in the field, the advice that is most often given are:

-Exercise to release tensions of the day

-Avoid the use of technological devices several minutes before sleep since melatonin, the hormone responsible for regulating the daily sleep cycle, is altered making it difficult to fall asleep.

-Adjust dinner times, because too much food intake puts the body on alert that can translate into tension or stress in it.

-Having morning hours to go to bed will make it easier to fall asleep.

-Eat foods rich in tryptophan, (essential amino acid for the production of melatonin), such as fish, pineapple, banana or avocado.

The Benefits of Sleeping 8 Hours

In itself, there are several benefits that give you to be able to rest healthily for 8 hours. However, among the most important are the prevention of heart disease, low levels of stress that cause other health problems, regulates the immune system which prevents everyday illnesses and the lucidity it allows when performing some concentration activity, among others.

According to data released in 2020, the Colombian Association of Sleep Medicine, “Colombians sleep on average 6.75 hours,” which is less than they should.

It should be borne in mind that the pandemic left other types of data regarding the ability to fall asleep, not only because they have been infected with the virus, but also because of the concern that it may eventually become ill.

Finally, lack of sleep has been linked to the increased risk of adopting unhealthy habits such as smoking, increased consumption of sugary foods and high carbohydrate loads. It is also expected that brain activity will be impaired, according to experts:

“Recent research shows that while we are quietly sleeping, our brain is extremely busy processing the information obtained throughout the day.”

So the invitation made by the Colombian Association of Sleep Medicine and its peers worldwide is to take care of mental health through good sleep, under the slogan “Quality Sleep, Healthy Mind, Happy World”, especially to young people who are usually the population that most often cuts their sleep hours for leisure activities such as rumba , video games or procrastination.

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