We spend a third of our lives sleeping. For centuries, neurologists and psychologists have been studying the problem of sleep, its impact on our well-being and brain productivity. We are very familiar with the expression “I’ll get some sleep in the next world.” If we realized how much healthy sleep affects our life and success, we would never neglect it. Let's consider the important aspects. You will be surprised.
Dream is a natural physiological process in which reactions to external world decrease, the body relaxes and nourishes energy, and brain activity intensifies.
Sleep phases
There are two phases of sleep, each of which has its own characteristics.
NREM sleep phase
Has four stages. On average lasts 90 minutes. In this phase, the body relaxes, blood pressure decreases, breathing becomes smooth and the body restores physical strength. Eye movement stops at the end of the phase. During the slow phase of sleep we do not dream.
Phase REM sleep
Follows the slow-wave sleep phase. Its duration is up to 20 minutes. In this phase they change physical processes body:
- body temperature rises
- heart rate increases
- the body does not move (only the muscles that provide heartbeat and breathing)
- eyes make rapid movements
- the brain is actively working
During REM sleep we dream. Have you ever wondered why we often dream that we fall and then wake up? There's something for everything scientific explanation. Since in this phase the body is motionless, the brain sends a signal to check if we are alive. The whole body twitches, the muscles contract - the reaction to the brain signal has worked. During REM sleep, the brain is more active than during waking hours. By comparison, when we are awake, the brain functions like a computer processing many operations. When the body has passed the slow-wave sleep phase, REM sleep is equated to productive operation of the system after a reboot. The phases of slow and fast sleep alternate with each other and usually amount to five cycles.
Meaning of sleep
Healthy sleep is the key to success. Undoubtedly, physical state depends on the quality of our sleep. At this time, tissues are regenerated, important hormones are produced, and we regain strength. With regular full sleep, our professional and personal lives improve. Surprisingly, during sleep the brain finds answers to complex questions. It is no coincidence that Mendeleev dreamed Periodic table chemical elements.
Lack of sleep greatly affects brain function. Due to the inhibition of neural processes, the body's reaction speed is greatly deteriorated. Unfortunately, many car accidents are caused by the driver not reacting in a timely manner. And when the prefrontal cortex slows down, it is difficult for a person to formulate thoughts, and vision is lost.
Consequences of lack of sleep:
- decreased productivity
- immune vulnerability
- binge eating
- bad habits
- bad appearance
- Bad mood
How much sleep do you need to get enough sleep?
The duration of sleep is an individual thing. More active people six hours of sleep is enough. Some people need at least ten hours to get enough sleep. Many researchers have studied this topic and came to a consensus that the norm for sleep duration is eight hours.
It is important to remember that when you are training intensely and doing a lot of mental work on top of that, your sleep time should continue to nine o'clock.
Rules for healthy sleep
It is not the duration, but the quality of sleep that helps the body renew itself. We have prepared rules that will help you achieve perfect sleep:
1. Don't eat three hours before bed.
Research proves that we see horrors precisely when we overeat or eat at night. Food absorption processes slow down at night. Our late dinner can remain in the stomach until the morning, which is very unhealthy.
2. Be active.
If you spend a lot of energy during the day, your sleep will be sound. Walk more, play sports. This will help you always be in good shape and certainly guarantees good vacation. Don't exercise three hours before going to bed. After physical activity we need time for the nervous system to calm down.
3. Ventilate the room before going to bed.
Fresh cool air has a positive effect on our well-being. At a temperature of 18 degrees, the body is comfortable, and we see good dreams.
4. Stick to a routine.
In the modern rhythm, this is difficult, of course, but if you stick to your sleep schedule, this habit will bring useful results: you will get more done and feel better.
5. Eliminate external irritants.
If possible, eliminate noise pollution and dim the lights. Silence will help you relax and come into peace of mind. Try not to sit on your smartphone (laptop, TV) at least an hour before bedtime. Read a book.
6. Keep an eye on the resting place.
Your crib is where you sleep and nothing more. Don't eat or work in bed. Always keep your laundry clean. Don't just sit on the bed. This will develop a reflex.
7. Sleep naked.
The less clothing we wear, the better the quality of our sleep. True. Your skin needs to breathe. No synthetics.
8. Get out of bed as soon as you hear the alarm clock.
It not only organizes, but also becomes a habit. After waking up, the brain begins active activity. If you stay late in bed, it relaxes you for the day and makes it difficult to get ready.
9. Dream before bed.
No matter how hard the day is, allow yourself to dream before going to bed. Think positively, remember the positive moments of the past day, make wishes for tomorrow, order yourself dreams.
10. Be careful what you dream about.
Believe it or not, many answers can actually come in a dream. However, the ability to understand your own dreams is an art. Only you can explain and analyze dreams. Learn to hear your subconscious.
Let's sum it up!
Healthy sleep is the key to success. Make sure of this by following the rules. How easy and productive you will feel when you get regular and adequate sleep. Be healthy!
How to deal with insomnia, why does a person snore, why is sleep apnea dangerous? In particular, a general practitioner, somnologist, head of the somnology laboratory of the City clinical hospital Ekateriburg No. 40 Elena Alekseeva.
Let's run to the doctor!
Rada Bozhenko: Elena Vilenovna, how widespread is the problem that is usually called in general terms- insomnia?
Elena Alekseva: - According to statistics, a third of the population suffers from sleep problems, half of this third do not go to the doctor at all, and if they do go to the doctor for some reason, they do not talk about this problem. The average doctor asks questions about sleep only in 10% of cases (we’re not talking about somnologists, of course). These are approximate figures, but they reflect the picture.
Meanwhile, the international classification of sleep disorders includes 88 nosological forms of such disorders.”
- Are these independent problems or accompanying some diseases?
It depends on what we're talking about. If it is a problem of sleep apnea, snoring and breathing, then this is the primary problem. A person experiences respiratory arrest at night, which then leads to severe somatic pathology: hypertension, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, cognitive dysfunction and so on. That is, the primary thing is breathing problems at night, and the secondary thing is, for example, impotence. He goes to treat her, but it turns out that her snoring needed to be treated. Or he has heartburn, he is being treated by a gastroenterologist, but again snoring and apnea must be treated.
Insomnia, with which people often come to us, is never primary. There is no such disease. But the patient’s usual postulate is: “I sleep so poorly, and because of this everything in my life is bad. Now, if I had slept, everything would have been fine with me.” It doesn't happen like that! On the contrary, “everything is bad” for you and this makes you sleep poorly. Insomnia is a “payback” for something happening to you.
- Which sleep disorders can be corrected on your own, and which ones can you correct by running to the doctor?
We don’t have the opportunity to discuss all 88 nosologies, do we? Therefore, let's focus on the main points. Insomnia. Which one to run with and which one to deal with on your own? First, you need to pay attention to timing. There is acute insomnia: you fall in love and cannot sleep, or there is an important meeting tomorrow - you worry and, again, do not sleep. Here the situation passes and sleep is restored. It is believed that if insomnia lasts more than two to three weeks, you should consult a doctor. Moreover, if it is chronic and associated with anxiety, depressive disorders, and pain syndromes.
Very important point. If a person falls asleep well, then wakes up in the middle of the night, in the early morning hours and cannot sleep, “chasing” all sorts of thoughts, often not worth a damn - this is a direct symptom depressive disorder. And neither sleeping pills, nor persuasion, nor chamomile tea will help here. Depressive disorder needs to be treated.
An adult should sleep.
- What is insomnia?
Yes, by the way, people do not always understand it correctly. For example, it seems to a person that he sleeps poorly, but during the day he feels great and functions perfectly. In fact, there are certain criteria for making this diagnosis. So what is insomnia? This is a violation of the quantity and quality of sleep, which necessarily leads to post-somnia disorders. That is, there must be daytime problems associated with a violation of the quantity and quality of sleep. If a person seems to be getting little sleep but feels great, we cannot diagnose him with insomnia. There are people who sleep little, and there are those who think they sleep little. Almost 25% of all insomnia is a subjective inadequate perception, when a person thinks that he is not sleeping, but in fact he is sleeping and physically recovering well.
- That is, the required amount of sleep is individual?Not really. Of course, there are average numbers that depend, for example, on his age. It is believed that an adult normally sleeps on average 7 hours. As we age, the need for sleep becomes less and less, but it can be very difficult to explain this to older people. They, having a lot of free time, want to go to bed at 21.00 and get up at noon. And when they cannot sleep, they call their condition insomnia. You try to explain that this is just a violation of the regime, that it is impossible to sleep 10-12 hours, that you need to limit the time you spend in bed to 6-7 hours - they don’t understand, they are offended. It turns out that you have to go to bed at midnight, get up at 6 am and “run and jump.” They don’t want to “run and jump,” so they start taking self-prescribed sleeping pills. Or a local doctor, who has no time to understand the true causes of “insomnia,” prescribes them.
Generally speaking, going to a sleep specialist with insomnia is wrong and not necessary. We deal with cases where the doctor cannot connect sleep disturbances with anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, or any other problems. Let's say a patient has cardiac asthma, he suffocates at night from heart failure and cannot sleep, does he need to see a somnologist? Obviously not.
Somnologists all over the world deal with the problems of breathing disorders at night. This is snoring and apnea.
"Pearl Fishers"
- Most people certainly don’t take snoring seriously. It’s not for nothing that people “treat” him with whistling.
On the one hand, this is, so to speak, a cosmetic and social defect. The person falls asleep, his muscles relax, the clearance decreases respiratory tract and this “musical instrument” gives birth to these sounds. Several factors can provoke snoring. Congenital narrow airways, excessive muscle relaxation (this is age), body fat, narrowing the airways (fat is deposited even at the root of the tongue)…
But, on the other hand, over time the disease progresses, which leads to the closure of the airways, and the patient “stops breathing.” I had a patient who did not breathe for 20 seconds every two minutes during her sleep. She's just a pearl fisher! These are the pauses. In fact, anything over 10 seconds is very bad for the body. And the longer and harder these pauses, the higher the health risk. Generally speaking, this is the risk of death. During a pause, cardiac arrest, terminal arrhythmia may occur... In the pre-dawn hours, muscles relax most strongly, and at the same time heart attacks, strokes, and sudden deaths most often occur.
In a word, when we treat snoring, we first of all solve a person’s social and aesthetic problem. And when a “pearl fisherman” comes to us, we must save his life.
- Does a person experience respiratory arrest during sleep?
No. They treat different symptoms. Or relatives hear that the person is not breathing or snoring. Either patients present various complaints, for example, pathological daytime sleepiness. They can't watch a movie, don't read, don't go to the theater, can't drive a car. Or rather, they drive it, but... This is a terrible risk! In no civilized country in the world will a person with this disease ever be given a driver's license. And we have? The Russian Somnology Society, of course, tried to promote the bill to the State Duma, but in the current conditions it is unrealistic to examine all patients. Who will do it? Our specialty as a somnologist is not certified, it turns out that these diseases do not seem to exist. And people are dying! Only the risk of stroke is 10 times higher in patients with sleep apnea.
Chinese torture
Let's talk about healthy people. There is an opinion that artificially depriving oneself of sleep at night stimulates brain function and leads to emotional uplift. What do you think about it?
I can't agree with this. The dream has different stages, each of which carries a specific function and load. We need deep and slow sleep to recover physically. REM sleep (sleep with dreams) is an active mental recovery. During REM sleep, all information received during the day is “sorted out” and moves from short-term memory to long-term memory. So the version that Mendeleev came up with his table in a dream has a reasonable physiological explanation.
If we deprive a person of REM sleep, it will be Chinese torture. A person deprived of REM sleep for five to seven days goes crazy.
- How many phases does our sleep have?
Nap, medium slow-wave sleep, deep slow-wave sleep, REM sleep. And so on for 4-6 cycles. Each phase, each cycle plays its role, so there should be no sleep deprivation.
I am often asked a strange question: “Is it possible to get enough sleep?” This is impossible! But you can compensate for the lack of sleep by “getting enough sleep.” Which is what we often do on weekends. But there is nothing good in this either.
- Do they affect the quality of sleep? external factors? Rituals?
They definitely have an impact. There are rules of sleep hygiene, they are very simple: a ventilated room, darkening, minimum noise, orthopedic position of the head and body. And everything related to ritual things - favorite pajamas, a teddy bear, a foot bath, chamomile tea, and so on, relaxes and promotes sleep.
But we remove all kinds of gadgets, glowing screens. In general, it is believed that you cannot eat, drink, read, or watch TV in bed. The bed is for sleep and sex.
Sometimes it is enough just to follow the rules of sleep hygiene to eliminate any sleep disturbances. But what percentage of the population should they follow?
- Are naps welcome?
It's impossible to say for sure. If you sleep normally at night, why should you nap? There is an opinion that if you sleep during the day, you will shift your circadian rhythm, and you will not fall asleep normally in the evening. In fact, an adult does not need naps during the day. And if there is a need for rest and relaxation, then you should limit yourself to 15-20 minutes of sleep. It’s still inherent in our physiology. Let's remember the cycles and phases of sleep. Drowsiness, medium-depth sleep, and then comes deep slow sleep, which, in general, is comparable in brain activity to coma. And awakening in this phase will be wrong and not good for a person. Therefore, there is no need to bring your daytime sleep to a deep sleep; you can only take a short nap.
If we talk about episodic insomnia, is it worth forcing yourself to fall asleep? Or is it better to get up and do things?
- There is even a method of behavioral therapy. If you can't sleep, then you need to interrupt your stay in bed and do something. You get up and don't go to bed until the next hour. That is, for example, if you get up at 10 p.m., then the next attempt to fall asleep is at 11 p.m., and so on until you fall asleep. But you get up in the morning usual time so as not to ruin your next night.During these periods, it is better to engage in routine activities so as not to become overstimulated.
- Does classic sheep counting help you fall asleep?
In my opinion, this is the same bedtime ritual. If it's relaxing, go for it. The main thing is not to get caught by some stubborn sheep.
Dream — important function, a condition of great general biological significance. A person spends a third of his life sleeping and cannot live without sleep. During sleep, a person's activity decreases metabolic processes And muscle tone, anabolism processes are more active and inhibited nerve structures. All this helps to restore strength after a day of mental and physical labor. But, as noted by I.P. Pavlov, sleep is not just rest, but an active state of the body, which is characterized special shape brain activity. In particular, during sleep, information accumulated by a person over the previous time is analyzed and processed. If such sorting was successful, then the brain is freed from excessive information accumulated the day before and is again ready to work. Thanks to this, a person’s nervous system is normalized. mental condition, performance is restored. Sleep facilitates programming processes in the brain and performs a variety of other functions.
Sleep is a structurally complex phenomenon. It consists of at least two large stages, which naturally and cyclically replace each other: 1) slow sleep lasting 60 - 90 minutes; it, in turn, consists of several phases and 2) fast sleep(paradoxical) - 10 20 minutes.
Deeper structures of the brain are responsible for REM sleep, and in young children it dominates. With age, the proportion of slow-wave sleep associated with younger evolutionary brain structures increases; it is more complexly organized.
For a long time it was believed that depriving a person of REM sleep is worse for his health than slow sleep. But this is not so - the main meaning is normal structure sleep, i.e. certain ratios of slow and fast phases. If this ratio is violated (which happens, for example, when taking sleeping pills), then sleep, even a long one, does not bring the feeling of desired rest. If sleep is shortened and a person fails to get enough sleep, then performance decreases and some neurotic disorders arise; If there is a regular lack of sleep, these changes gradually accumulate, and due to the deepening of neurosis, severe functional diseases can occur.
Characteristic features of REM sleep are dreams. Although it is now known that both REM and slow-wave sleep can be accompanied by dreams, vivid, emotionally charged, sometimes with fantastic or detective plots dreams are most often from REM sleep, when the brain works very hard, reminiscent in its activity of the period of wakefulness.
Dreams are common to everyone, but not all people and not every one of them remember.
Sigmund Freud viewed dreams as special and very important language consciousness of people, as a breakthrough into the consciousness of the unconscious, often in a symbolic, veiled form. It is this feature that sometimes allows one to solve complex problems in a dream, make a breakthrough into a new area of knowledge, and even give birth to brilliant ideas. 3. Freud believed that dreams often reflect the struggle of a person’s psychobiological “I” with various social restrictions, which he is forced to obey while awake, which is why his psyche is in a state of constant tension. Thanks to dreams, when the barriers of restrictions are removed, neuropsychic tension decreases (it’s not for nothing that the Russian proverb speaks of this: “Woe to sleep is no grief to be seen”). 3. Freud developed a special system of psychoanalysis, the basis of which is the deciphering of dream symbols characteristic of a particular person, which allows one to find that chronic cause, which causes him neuropsychiatric disorder. Symbols and motivation of dreams depend on the psychophysiological characteristics of a person, the level of his culture, environmental conditions that determine his needs, habits, and interests. That is why numerous dream books that do not take into account all these features have no practical meaning.
The specific duration of sleep is purely individual and depends on the nature of previous activity, general condition person, age, season, characteristics of a person’s GNI and other factors. In particular, after intense mental or physical work, longer sleep is required.
As practice shows, the main condition for the usefulness of sleep is its continuity - this is what creates in the brain optimal conditions for processing information, for comparing information accumulated over the previous day with already established or genetically determined information. It is thanks to this that memory reserves are released during sleep, unnecessary information is erased and unnecessary reactions formed during wakefulness are eliminated.
Has a beneficial effect on the organization and structure of sleep habit of going to bed and getting up at the same hours. Thanks to this, a stereotype is formed, which is automatically included in specified time, and falling asleep occurs quickly and without difficulty. This is of particular importance for knowledge workers who, as often happens, due to various reasons shift mental work to a later time, but such a regime can take hold and gradually lead to sleep disturbances, and then to pathology. It is also necessary to take into account the biorhythmic characteristics of a person. Thus, a typical “early person” goes to bed on average 1.5 hours earlier than a “night owl” and gets up 2 hours earlier.
In case of sleep disorders, it is advisable to make the evening hours a time for rest and relaxation, since significant physical and mental stress during the day impairs subsequent sleep. For the same purposes, evening time You should avoid highly emotional activities (arguments, watching emotional TV shows, etc.), heavy and rich food, drinks containing caffeine (coffee, tea, Coca-Cola) - in general, everything that excites nervous system, disrupts sleep. Sleep should be preceded by a calm environment. A busy, interesting work day, a reasonable combination of mental and physical activity, active and varied recreation, and physical education are good prerequisites for normal sleep. An evening walk is also useful.
If a person does not sleep well at night, there is no need to sleep during the day, but some people benefit from short (up to half an hour) naps during the day in between intense mental activities, which helps them relieve unnecessary stress and increase productivity.
It is better to sleep in a warm, dry, quiet, darkened room, on a not too soft, elastic mattress. Before going to bed, it’s a good idea to do simple calming procedures, for example, take a warm shower, read a enjoyable book. But the final choice of preparation for sleep is made by the person himself based on his own experience, conditions, analysis of sensations and well-being.
It is not possible to include naps in the life of the average adult. It seems that this dream is useless and unrealizable. But many psychologists say the opposite. This not only helps the body to be overloaded during the day and reduces stress levels, but also develops our creative abilities as well as all kinds of courses.
Harvard University researcher Bill Anthony has been studying the phenomenon of napping for several decades. He came to the conclusion that this taking a break from work actually overloads the brain, restoring its cells. A siesta, or nap, helps improve memory and prepares the body for more effective absorption of information. Moreover, it increases significantly, which allows you to improve the quality of work and improve academic performance. It is probably for this reason that many great minds of mankind, from Archimedes to Hugo, practiced naps. Who knows: maybe this innovation will make you the most successful person in the world?
Typically, a person wants to sleep six hours after waking up. Historically, we begin to nod off and our eyelids begin to droop around lunchtime. And it’s not surprising, because after a hearty lunch you should get a good night’s sleep. By the way, when we try in every way to cheer ourselves up, we harm our body. Eastern philosophy confirms this: you need to listen to your body and give it everything it requires. Daytime naps are no exception. Listening to yourself is the secret to longevity and good health.
Wanting to sleep in the middle of the workday is not a sign of weakness and... When you realize that sleep is important for the mind and body, and do it when necessary, then you can call yourself a mature person. After all, you understand that you shouldn’t joke with your health. No one will take care of him like you. Not getting enough sleep can ultimately lead to depressive state or insomnia.
It is strange to see a person sleeping during the working day. Moreover, you can get a pretty serious reprimand for taking a nap during the day. However, for example, in China and Japan this is considered a necessary measure. In every office in the Middle East you can find a break room, which will definitely have sleeping places. They understand that in this way the staff will be higher than usual. You can benefit from everything, including an afternoon siesta.
If, however, conditions do not allow you to take a break for a nap, then there is a practice specifically for such workaholics. It will be enough to devote a few minutes to this within your workplace. Clear the space around you of any kind of technology, close your eyes and focus on some pleasant moment in your life. Feel your breath and how relaxed your body is. This is not exactly a dream, but it also has a positive effect on your body: this practice can also keep you calm.
