How much sleep do we need for a good health
How much sleep do we need for a good health. The amount of sleep each night benefit and its quality determines your being able to enjoy good health.
Number of hours of sleep and they differ depending on age, stage of development of the body and sex. These criteria are important in measuring the need of each individual recreation.
The impact of sleep on a health body
Not many people carefully assess their individual needs for rest , although sleep is key to physical health and emotional vitality . In fact , sleep is extremely important for mental functions such as alertness , memory consolidation , mood regulation , willingness to acquire information and stress resistance .
Deprivation of sleep or poor quality or insufficient sleep can lead to many emotional and physiological problems , from anxiety and depression to diabetes and obesity . Specialized studies show that with sleep deprivation, changes occur in how the body manages blood glucose levels to the point that triggers insulin resistance ( pre- diabetic condition ) .
Also, too little sleep alters regulation of appetite, which can lead to overeating or excessive consumption of foods that contribute to overweight and obesity.
Irritability , moodiness and disinhibition are the first signs of sleep deprivation . If the need for rest is not satisfied at this point , the person deprived of sleep leads to apathy, slowed speech and unnatural emotional responses , memory and inability to return without doing more things at once .
When the feeling of sleepiness , the person will experience micro -sleep phase (lasting 5-10 seconds ), which causes impaired attention, lack of focus on current activities and, finally , hypnagogic hallucinations ( in REM phase of sleep) .
The amount of sleep needed by age
Individual sleep needs vary from one person to another. In general, most healthy adults works perfectly for 16 hours in the waking state and need an average of 8 hours of sleep per night. Even so, there are people who fail to benefit from the mental and physiological functions satisfactory and only 6 hours of sleep every night , while others fail the same performance than 10 hours of rest .
Studies have found that more than 6 hours of sleep at night and over 9 hours of sleep per night in adulthood may be associated with poor cardiometabolic health status . A general scheme of the need for sleep by age shows that the rest of the body needs to function perfect look different in different stages of life
- Less than 11 months babies 14 to 15 hours of sleep / night ;
- Children between 1-5 years 12-14 hours of sleep / night ;
- Preschoolers 11-13 hours of sleep / night ;
- Schoolchildren and adolescents 10 to 11 hours of sleep / night ;
- Adults 7-8 hours of sleep / night ;
- Elderly 7-9 hours of sleep / night ;
The amount of sleep required by gender
Even if sleep interval recommended for people of both sexes is 7-9 hours per night, sleep stages are different from one sex to the other . Women need more hours of rest than men and sleep more easily , which can be discontinued soon . In fact , there are a significant number of global female population with undiagnosed sleep disorders .
Problems that can cause sleep problems among women are depression , major life events (with a very strong emotional impact ) , pregnancy, hormonal changes related to menopause , various disorders ( sleep apnea , restless leg syndrome , arthritis, back pain , fibromyalgia , etc. . ) .
Men are so often diagnosed with sleep , but those who have this problem are usually affected by stress at work , according to research in the field. All representatives are more likely hard sex Sleeping late hours .
Other stressors that disrupt the quality of men rest are everyday problems related to marriage / divorce , children, career and money and health problems ( heart disease , epilepsy, sleep disorders , substance abuse drugs or depression).
Usually, sleep problems resolve themselves once they produce factor disappears. Even so, temporary sleep disorders such as insomnia , which are not handled correctly from the beginning, may persist after the disappearance of stress that caused them initially .
Solving sleep problems
When sleep problems are caused by certain disorders ( sleep apnea , for example ) or unfavorable external factors , entails solving the case and getting a quality sleep . If factors are psychological disturb rest , then there modern solutions that bring satisfactory results .
An example is cognitive behavioral therapy , which teaches patients how to recognize their own ritual to rest , how to change its negative elements and how to solve the problems that cause sleep disorders . This therapy has proven to be very effective for people who have difficulty falling asleep and who struggle with insomnia .
Other measures useful in solving sleep problems highlighted by researchers, are
- Maintain a regular bedtime and awakening;
- Avoid consumption of caffeine 4-6 hours before bedtime ;
- Avoid smoking near evening or at night ;
- Avoid alcohol and hearty evening meals ;
- Adherence to a regular exercise schedule ;
- Proper fit- rest ( darkness, fresh air, tranquility ) ;
- Respect bedtime and wake-up daily , even on weekends ;
- Programming the clock at the same time in the morning, to form a favorable schedule the proper functioning of the brain.