The FINANCIAL — More and more people are suffering by insomnia in the urbanized world including Georgia. Insomnia destroys people’s health and causes lots of diseases.
Insomnia influences on people’s mood and productivity at work. Such people are always irritated and unable to concentrate on something.
Sleepless nights can be caused by several reasons including stress, lack of physical activities, irrational eating habits and etc. Insomnia was one of the methods of torture in the middle ages.
“First, sleepless nights cause mental disorder, neurosis and depression,” Giorgi Giorgobiani, Director of Aversi Clinic in Tbilisi told the FINANCIAL. “Later starts disorder of blood-vessels system, somatic disorder.
As a result, human’s organism has immune depression and lacks resistance to various diseases. People, suffering by insomnia, catch cold easier than others. Other harder diseases are common for people suffering by insomnia as well. When a person has good sleeping regime, he/she recovers from any disease easier. Recovering process is faster during sleep.”
To get the sleep you need for a happier, healthier and more productive life, Better Sleep Council, United States recommends the following:
1.) Pay your sleep debt. Getting even 30 minutes less sleep than your body needs can lead to accumulated sleep debt, which has both short- and long-term consequences for health, mood and performance, both on and off the job. It’s important to schedule 8 hours of sleep each night (7.5 to 8.5 is optimal) and maintain a regular sleep and wake schedule, even on the weekend.
2.) Performance evaluation. Though your mattress may not show physical signs of wear, it loses comfort and support over the years. It’s important to evaluate your mattress every five to seven years to ensure it still provides optimal comfort and support. Research shows that the age of a mattress directly impacts the quality of sleep.
3.) Bedroom business. Use your bedroom for sleep and sex only. The bedroom should be an uncluttered environment that is relaxing, comfortable and conducive to sleep and relaxation. Keep work, computers and televisions out of the bedroom!
4.) Kick the caffeine habit. Research shows that caffeine interferes with getting a restful night’s sleep and waking refreshed in the morning. Avoid tea, coffee and soft drinks close to bedtime.
5.) Make the investment. You spend one-third of your life in bed. Be sure to invest in the best quality and most comfortable mattress you can afford to ensure a great night’s rest for a healthier, happier and more productive you.
Marriage Problems Linked to Poor Sleep in Toddlers
A new study of more than 350 families in United States found that marital instability when infants are 9 months predicted difficulties falling asleep and staying asleep when they were 18 months old. This finding held true even after considering factors like children's temperaments, parents' anxiety levels, and birth order. However, the researchers found that the inverse wasn't true—children's sleep problems did not predict marital instability.
According to The National Sleep Foundation, U.S. researchers studied adoptive families contemplating divorce, thus ruling out genetic factors and focusing only on how family stress may affect a child’s development.
"Our findings suggest that the effects of marital instability on children's sleep problems emerge earlier in development than has been demonstrated previously," according to Anne M. Mannering, who was a research associate at the Oregon Social Learning Center when she worked on the study; she is currently with Oregon State University. "Parents should be aware that marital stress may affect the well-being of their children even in the first year or two of life”.
People Who Eat and Sleep Late May Gain Weight
Staying up late, sleeping in every day and eating after 8:00 pm may be risk factors in weight gain. A recent study from Northwestern Medicine found that late sleepers consumed 248 more calories a day, mainly at dinner and later in the evening. They ate half as many fruits and vegetables, twice the fast food and drank more full-calorie sodas than those with earlier sleep times.
"The extra daily calories can mean a significant amount of weight gain – two pounds per month – if they are not balanced by more physical activity," said co-lead author Kelly Glazer Baron, a health psychologist and a neurology instructor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
The study followed 51 participants, 23 late sleepers and 28 normal sleepers, with an average age of 30 for a week. The participants wore a wrist actigraph to calculate their sleep and activity levels and completed food consumption diaries.
Late sleepers went to sleep at an average time of 3:45 am and woke up by 10:45 am, ate breakfast at noon, lunch at 2:30 pm, dinner at 8:15 pm and a final meal at 10:00 pm. Normal sleepers on average were up by 8:00 am, ate breakfast by 9:00 am, lunch at 1:00 pm, dinner at 7:00 pm, a last snack at 8:30 pm and were asleep by 12:30 am.
The study showed that in addition to the number of calories consumed each day, the timing was important. Those who ate after 8:00 pm were more likely to have a higher BMI, even after controlling for sleep timing and duration.
“The research findings could be relevant to people who are not very successful in losing weight,” said Phyllis Zee, M.D., the study’s lead author. "The study suggests regulating the timing of eating and sleep could improve the effectiveness of weight management programs."
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