8-year-old Mr. Chen used to work overtime often and had severe lack of sleep. One day, he suddenly fell on his post. After the emergency doctor arrived, he was diagnosed with sudden cardiac death. Fortunately, he rescued in time and saved his life. Since then, Mr. Chen quit his previous job and changed into a much easier new job, and his requirements for his sleep have become very high.
In order to meet the standard of sleep duration, after Mr. Chen came home from work every day, he started to prepare for bed at 17:30, and slept until 6 am the next morning before getting up . Once the sleep time is less than 8 hours due to insomnia, he will feel tired, inattentive, and his emotions will become irritable and prone to anger.
In order to solve this problem, Mr. Chen specially went to the hospital to register, hoping to seek the assistance of professional doctors. After a series of examinations and doctors' consultations, Mr. Chen was diagnosed with "perfect sleep disorder", which means excessive attention and attempts to improve sleep data, which aggravated the sleep problems.
In the eyes of many people, "going to bed early and getting up early" means a healthy lifestyle. Some people may even go to bed early at eight or nine o'clock, get up at six or seven o'clock the next day, and must have enough sleep for 8 hours every day. So is this regular routine really healthy?
1. The earlier you sleep, the earlier you die?
"Getting to bed early and getting up early and getting up well" is a daily routine that many people have always followed, but in recent years, research results have found that sleeping early will increase the risk of death .
In April 2021, an epidemiological prospective study in the journal Sleep Medicine involving 110,000 people in 21 countries found that early bedtime (before 10 pm) or late bedtime (after 12 pm or later) increased the risk of major cardiovascular events and all-cause death.
Among them, the relevant risks of those who go to bed early will increase by 29%, while those who go to bed late will increase by 11%.
However, this study has certain limitations. First, the study results only found that bedtime was associated with major cardiovascular events and mortality, but did not mean that early or late sleep could trigger cardiovascular events or death.
Secondly, the risk of cardiovascular disease and death risk will be affected by a variety of factors, including the patient's disease history (such as whether there is a chronic disease), lifestyle behavior, etc. After adjusting the impact of relevant factors, the study found that the added value of the comprehensive risk brought by to bed early dropped from 29% to 9% .
Coincidentally, another research team from the University of Oxford in the UK found that sleeps early and goes to bed late and has health risks. The study was published in the European Heart Journal, Digital Health.
This study recruited 88,026 participants from the UK Biobank between 2006 and 2010, with an average age of 61 years (43-79 years old), with a proportion of women accounting for 58%.
They wore wrist-style devices to collect data on the time of sleep and wake up within 7 days, and completed assessments of physical health status, lifestyle, etc., and also diagnosed cardiovascular diseases (including heart attacks, chronic ischemic heart disease, heart failure, stroke and transient ischemic attacks).
In the average follow-up period of 5.7 years, a total of 3172 people suffered from cardiovascular disease. Among them, the incidence rate of people who fall asleep at midnight or later is the highest, and the incidence rate of people who fall asleep at 10-11 pm is the lowest.
After adjusting for influencing factors such as age, gender, weight, and blood pressure, the researchers found that compared with those who fell asleep from 10 to 11 pm,
- The risk of cardiovascular disease increased by 25% in people who fell asleep at midnight or later;
- The risk of cardiovascular disease increased by 12% in people who fell asleep from 11 to 12 pm;
- The risk of cardiovascular disease increased by 24% in people who fell asleep before 10 pm.
That is to say, the healthiest sleep time is between 10-11 pm.
By far, this study is the most extensive study on the evaluation of the relationship between sleep time and cardiovascular disease, clearly showing that there is a correlation between sleep time and cardiovascular disease, and it is stronger in women. Sleeping time has become an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease risk.
2. Sleep late vs. not enough sleep. Which one is more harmful?
Some people may need to work night shifts at work, and may sleep late, but can make up for sleep during the day; some people stay up late and have to get up early to go to work or school the next day, which leads to insufficient sleep... Which one is more harmful, late or insufficient sleep?
Every life on Earth has a physiological mechanism called the "biological clock", and humans are no exception. The biological clock is an invisible clock that is basically consistent with the 24-hour light and dark cycle on Earth.
The human body's biological clock is dominated by the supramolecular nucleus of the hypothalamus of the brain. It controls many aspects of life, including eating and sleeping time, the ability to run quickly, the concentration of attention, etc. and even the immune system are also that runs under the guidance of the biological clock.
When sleeping time violates the rules of biological clocks, people will feel tired and uncomfortable. Over time, it will bring serious harm to physical and mental health. Therefore, sleeping late or not sleeping enough is harmful to the body.
If you sleep too late for a long time and lack sleep, you may face the following consequences:
Long-term staying up late or lack of sleep will cause people to experience symptoms such as fatigue, mental loss, inattention and memory loss, causing problems such as dreams, easy to wake up, poor sleep quality and neurasthenia, and in severe cases, it will also lead to mental health problems such as depression and anxiety.
. Induce hypertension
When staying up late or lacking sleep, people will be in a state of tension, and their blood pressure will be higher than normal levels, which can easily induce hypertension problems.
In recent years, the incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases has shown a trend of increasing year by year and becoming younger. One of the important reasons is that modern young people like to stay up late.
. Becoming fat and becoming ugly
Staying up late for a long time or lack of sleep will affect the body's secretion of "leptic voxel", which will lead to fat accumulation in the body, and people will gradually become fat.
In addition, staying up late or lack of sleep can also cause skin cells to fail to obtain sufficient nutritional supplies, which will accelerate the aging of the skin and make the skin pale and dull.
Staying up late for a long time or lack of sleep will not only damage the surface of the eyes, but also cause symptoms such as dark circles and eye bags. Long-term overloaded use of the eyes can also lead to functional loss of vision. In severe cases, can also cause cataracts and even blindness .
It should be noted that if often stay up late, even if you make up for sleep during the day, you may not be able to make up for .
Because staying up late for a long time will disrupt the normal biological clock of the human body and the repair of the cerebral cortex, which will also affect the functions of various organs and tissues of the body. Even if you have a sensation, you cannot fundamentally solve these problems.
3. Always wake up in the middle of the night, what does it imply?
Have you ever tried sleeping until three or four o'clock in the middle of the night and then it's difficult to fall asleep again? The reason for waking up in the middle of the night may be related to incorrect sleeping methods, such as sleeping too early, taking a nap for too long, the room is too hot, looking at your phone before going to bed, and drinking alcohol before going to bed.
However, if you frequently wake up in the middle of the night, you should be alert to the possibility of disease, especially mild depression, respiratory problems (such as colds, seasonal allergies, tonsil hypertrophy, etc.), sleep apnea, gastroesophageal reflux and thyroid problems (hyperactive thyroid or hypothyroidism), etc.
How should we improve the quality of sleep in our daily lives? Xiaojiu shares 4 suggestions for everyone:
- Before going to bed, you should turn off your phone, tablet and other electronic products to prevent blue light in the bedroom. When sleeping, choose a comfortable, moderate height and hardness pillow;
- Don’t eat too much during dinner, and don’t eat 1 hour before going to bed. Drink less water before going to bed and don’t drink alcohol. You can drink some hot milk in moderation to help you fall asleep;
- be careful to exercise properly before going to bed, do not do vigorous exercise within 4 hours before going to bed , you can do some low-intensity activities, such as Tai Chi, yoga, etc.;
- avoid smoking within 4 hours before going to bed, because the nicotine in cigarettes will make people excited. In addition, sleeping pills should be used with caution and never rely on taking medicine to help you sleep.
Adequate sleep and regular schedules according to the biological clock are crucial to maintaining normal physical and mental operation. Sleeping too early, sleeping too late, or lack of sleep will damage our physical and mental health over the long term.
Therefore, it is recommended that you try to stay up late as little as possible and go to bed from 10 to 11 o'clock every night to ensure 7-8 hours of sleep time every night.
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