During sleep affects. How to get yourself a good night's sleep. Causes of excessive sleepiness

Greetings, many-respect-m-e-my sides of a healthy lifestyle! This year we are talking about how sleep affects health. And also obligatory-for-tel-but ras-write on points how to sleep. It goes without saying that everything is with links to . Although about the benefits of sleep, we, in general, are already pi-sa-li. And our post-yan-nye chi-ta-te-li could, with the right-wi-la-mi sleep, oz-on-to-mi-sya. But on the topic of how sleep affects health, re-gu-lyar-but go on-scientific research-follow-before-va-tion, with someone it can be useful to -on-to-mite-sya. Moreover, repetition is the mother of learning! Therefore, let's take a look at what has become of the news about dreams-we-de-no-yah for the last time.

But before he talks about how sleep affects health, let's talk about how you need to sleep. Since, from a practical point of view, this is the most important thing! In view of this, be sure to observe the following simple pra-vi-la: (1) sleep every day at the same time, (2) sleep in the poppy -si-small-noy tem-no-te, (3) pre-va-ri-tel-but pro-vet-ri-wai-te room and (4) you-equal-ni-vai-te tem-pe -ra-tu-ru in the room up to 20–24 ° C. But if for some reason you don’t manage to fall asleep normally, then pop-ro-buy-te: (1) do not look at blue light before bed and (2) me-di-ti-ro-vat before going to bed, (3) as well as taking a hot bath before going to bed, or at least dis-pa-ri-vat no-gi.

What should not be done?

In case you don’t have a-lu-cha-et-sya every day, but you-half-take the norm for the duration of sleep, you don’t have to -walking. This is so-so-s-t-vu-et on-ru-she-the sleep mode-invigorating-with-t-in-va-niya and only mustache-lip-la-et -tion. Just stare-rai-tes more or less keep the norm, and go to sleep max-si-mum at the lo-women-no-th time. What for children is 12-15 hours a day, for teenagers 10-12 hours, for adults 7-9 hours, and for elderly people no less 6 hours a day. At the same time, try to avoid sleepless nights. Since-ku-ku, as-ka-zy-va-yut research-after-before-va-tion, even 1 sleepless night can turn out to be a serious non-ga-tiv-noe influence on health.

How to sleep right?

How does sleep affect health?

In the most positive way! Since sleep is full of you, there are a lot of vital but important functions. What can you do with in our article about the benefits of sleep . But not-dos-ta-current sleep can have the most serious impact on health. For example, non-dos-ta-sleep cor-re-li-ru-et with the development of anxiety disorders and dep-res-si . In addition, he pro-in-qi-ru-et on-ru-she-nie pi-sche-in-go in-ve-de-niya copy-le-niu superfluous weight . And also not-dos-ta-current sleep is not-ga-tiv-but affects sos-i-ne brain-ha , pro-in-qi-ruya raz-vi-tie bo-les-ni Alz-gay-me-ra. Well, it goes without saying that the ra-bo-so-possibility is not vy-pav-she-go-sya man-lo-ve-ka-time-to-lower than that of man-lo-ve- ka, from-death-nu-she-go-lo-women-noe-whether-honest-in time-me-no.

Conclusion: you need to sleep dos-ta-precise-but and right-vil-but, pos-kol-ku no-dos-ta-current sleep na-but-sit serious damage to health-ro-view and ra-bo- then-spo-own-nos-ti. As a result, if a person is not you-sy-pa-et-sya because of ra-bo-you, in the long-term pers-pek-ti-ve he will be able to you-sex -thread her less-neck, and not more-neck count-whether-in. It’s just that it won’t work, but not for long. So, show-your-lay-those co-consciousness and sleep as much as you-to-lo-same-but sleep with-ro-do!

Article content

There is an opinion that good deep sleep good for health. But there is also back side medals: an excessively long stay in the arms of Morpheus is not only harmful, but very harmful. Mental impairment, bouquet chronic diseases, cardiovascular pathologies- all this is at risk of getting people who love to soak up in bed more than 9-10 hours a day. So, long sleep is extremely harmful to the mind and body. What to do for those who simply cannot wake up on time, even setting several alarm clocks at night, and what does this condition indicate? The answer to this question will be discussed in this material.

What research has been done in this direction

According to data from studies conducted by Spanish scientists on 3,300 people, respondents who liked to sleep for a very long time in their youth and even take a nap at lunchtime are 2 times more likely to suffer from dementia in the senile period in old age. Exact reason this phenomenon is not completely clear. In addition, not so long ago, a relationship was discovered between prolonged sleep and the formation of heart and vascular diseases, diabetes, and hypertension. Similar effects are given by smoking and abuse. alcoholic drinks. Therefore, those who like to set a record on their sleep run the risk of falling ill with these serious ailments.

Idiopathic hypersomnia

In another way, this phenomenon is called idiopathic hypersomnia. It is a disorder that is accompanied by the formation increased sleepiness. People who suffer from this disease experience fatigue, weakness, apathy, which prevents them from leading a normal life. It persists, even despite the fact that sleep lasts a very long time. Such patients can sleep significantly more than the prescribed eight hours. Sometimes they set a record and sleep from 12 to 14 hours. Even after this time, they have difficulty waking up.

If you wake up a patient suffering from such a disorder, he still will not be rested. In appearance, his inhibition will be noticeable. In another way, this phenomenon is called "drunk sleep." It turns out that no matter how much an individual sleeps, he still experiences drowsiness. Often, because of this problem, typos are superimposed on careers, studies, and social life. After all, a long sleep in order disrupts performance: the patient can look at one point for several hours and ignore reality. It can be seen from the side that a person has forgotten the rules for performing ordinary household things. Those who sleep a lot can suffer from migraines in 30% of cases. About 15% of all patients have signs of impending depression.

You can suddenly fall asleep right at work

Despite how much time the sick person slept, his condition does not improve. In this case, there is a possibility of paralysis and hallucinations. But patients suffering from the symptoms of hypersomnia do not have attacks of weakness, as in other similar diseases. The situation with this disease is exacerbated by the fact that early diagnosis accompanied by certain difficulties, late stage it's getting harder to find adequate treatment. It is also influenced by the fact that the level of people's awareness of this pathology remains minimal, which leads to the process of stigmatization of patients.

Who is affected by this disease

Over time the signs given state begin to appear in people over the age of 30. They are pronounced and interfere normal process life without changing over time. Although in isolated cases there is an independent disappearance of some symptoms. long sleep is less common than narcolepsy, and in children it occurs only in rare cases. With regard to prevalence depending on gender, the disease occurs equally in men and women. In practice, a familial origin of the disease has been observed, but specific genes responsible for this pathology have not been identified.

Prolonged sleep - a disease or a norm

If a person notices such phenomena behind himself and finds that he sleeps too long, this is definitely pathological process and it is not the norm. Currently, there are several reasons long sleep why a person constantly wants to sleep.

One of the reasons is intense physical activity.

• pathologies of a chronic nature;
• endocrine dysfunction;
• prolonged infectious processes;
• stressful and depressive conditions;
• emotional upheavals;
• excessive physical activity;
• hunger or, conversely, gluttony;
• high mental stress;
• weakness of the protective option of the body;
• brain damage and mental problems;
• diseases of a neurological nature;
• lifestyle changes;
• group of somatic diseases.

So, we looked at why this happens, and what are the factors that affect this condition.

Symptoms of hypersomnia

This disease is characterized by many symptoms. It is their presence that makes it possible to judge that this disease is taking place. Among the main symptoms of this pathology, the following can be distinguished:

• state of drowsiness;
• pronounced snoring;
• sudden falling asleep;
• broken sleep time record;
• cessation of breathing during sleep;
• inability to sleep;
• migraine and dizziness;
• feeling of weakness;
• loss of vision;
• muscle paralysis;
• convulsions;
• change in pressure in the arteries;
• decrease in heart rate.

Signs appear depending on the cause of hypersomnia. They may appear at any time. For example, it is possible to fall asleep while driving or being at the workplace, as well as while performing other responsible tasks.

It is worth noting that people who suffer from this condition are never in a cheerful state. As a result, they often have to lose social contacts and refuse to perform work duties. In this case, dreams may be present, which the patient most often does not remember after waking up.

Is it necessary to get rid of long sleep

If sleep is too long a process and a favorite activity for you, you should consult a doctor. He will prescribe a set of examinations, including the following:

1. Donating blood to determine traces of drugs and drugs, this factor will allow you to establish or exclude certain causes of this condition.
2. Detailed exploration lasting overnight and into the next day. It includes carrying out instrumental research at night - polysomnography, which provides for the registration of electrical brain, cardiac, muscle activity and respiratory function. There is also a registration of movements carried out by the limbs. Through this procedure, it is possible to establish the presence or absence of other sleep disorders that cause problems or exacerbate them.
3. The continuation of the last survey is carried out the next day and involves the study of episodes of daytime sleep. It bears the name Multiple test sleep latency (MTLS). This study involves a series of sleep attempts in daytime. A similar study is being conducted in the diagnostic practice of narcolepsy.

You need to tell the doctor the sleep record ( maximum time carried out in a dream), as well as follow the basic rules indicated by a specialist.

Features of treatment for sleep disorders

Why this disease occurs is still unknown. However, supportive care in this case not prevent. Traditionally, it is aimed at eliminating the main symptom of the condition - excessive sleepiness. For the implementation of the treatment process, the same medications as in narcolepsy. But the difficulty lies in the less pronounced effect of treatment compared with narcolepsy. If you see it all the time increased weakness, you need to follow certain tips that will help improve the condition:

1. Support for a regular sleep schedule in adults. It is necessary to plan the use of medications at a time when it is especially important to maintain a cheerful state and activity. If there is such a state as before going to bed, you should not drive Vehicle and complex controlled mechanisms.
2. Do not take medications that affect the quality of sleep and general level drowsiness. It is strictly not recommended to abuse alcohol, which has negative impact to the general condition.
3. It is worth treating sleep disorders longer, if you have them, and also do it effectively. If available mental disorders, it is also important to carry out their therapy without delays and difficulties.
4. If prolonged sleep appears, the entire healing process should be carried out under the supervision of a treating specialist who is always ready to advise and provide answers to all common questions.

Disease prognosis

It is a lifelong disorder and may be followed by remissions in rare situations. The first bells about the present disease can appear in adolescence age period. Sometimes a signal that something is wrong in the body manifests itself in puberty. The consequences of this condition seriously affect the professional and social life. Cognitive is the fact that this condition, compared with narcolepsy, incapacitates a person much more often. That is, even if he slept for several hours and set a record, it is more difficult for him to recover and return to normal life.

In general, subject to the rules given in the article, the prognosis is good. If you take maintenance drugs (and their list is prescribed by a strictly treating specialist) and use other methods of therapy, you can start to wake up and lead a more active life.

Thus, if in terms of sleep duration you set record after record, there is no reason to be proud. Usually people sleep 8 hours a day, and this time is considered the norm, that is, it is enough for a good sleep, a set of new forces and a comfortable rest. If an individual falls asleep for 10 or more hours, up to 14, this is not normal and requires medical intervention. We wish you good health and wellness any age!

Dream — important function, a state of great general biological significance. A person spends a third of his life in a dream and cannot do without sleep. During sleep, a person's activity decreases metabolic processes and muscle tone, anabolism processes are more active, nerve structures are inhibited. All this contributes to the restoration of strength after a day of mental and physical labor. But, as noted by I.P. Pavlov, sleep is not just rest, but active state organism, which is characterized special form brain activity. In particular, during sleep, the analysis and processing of information accumulated by a person over the previous time takes place. 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 neuropsychic state is normalized, working capacity is restored. Sleep provides programming processes in the brain and performs a number of other functions.

Sleep is a structurally complex phenomenon. It consists, at least, of two large stages, which naturally and cyclically replace each other: 1) sleep slow duration 60 - 90 minutes; it, in turn, consists of several phases and 2) fast sleep(paradoxical) - 10 20 minutes.

Responsible for REM sleep deep structures brain, and in young children it dominates. The proportion increases with age slow sleep associated with younger evolutionary structures of the brain; it is more complex.

For a long time it was believed that the deprivation of a person REM sleep harder on his health than a slow one. But this is not so - the main thing 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 a dream, even a long one, does not bring a sense of desired rest. If sleep is shortened, and a person fails to get enough sleep, then efficiency decreases and some neurotic disorders occur; if lack of sleep is regular, these changes gradually accumulate, and due to the deepening of neurosis, severe functional diseases can occur.

A characteristic feature of REM sleep is dreams. Although it is now known that both REM and non-REM sleep can be accompanied by dreams, but vivid, emotionally colored, sometimes with fantastic or detective plots, dreams are most often from REM sleep, when the brain is working very hard, resembling the waking period with its activity.

Dreams are characteristic of everyone, but not all people and not every one of them remember.

Sigmund Freud considered dreams as a special and very important language of people's consciousness, as a breakthrough into the consciousness of the unconscious, often in a symbolic, veiled form. It is this feature that sometimes makes it possible to solve some complex problems in a dream, to make a breakthrough in new area knowledge and even generate brilliant ideas. 3. Freud believed that in a dream the struggle of the psychobiological "I" of a person with various social restrictions is often reflected, which he is forced to obey in the waking state, because of which his psyche is in a state of constant tension. Thanks to dreams, when the barriers of restrictions are removed, neuropsychic stress decreases (it is not in vain that the Russian proverb says: “Woe to sleep - grief not to be seen”). 3. Freud developed a special system of psychoanalysis, the basis of which is the decoding of dream symbols characteristic of a particular person, which allows you to find that chronic cause, which causes him a neuropsychiatric disorder. Symbols, the motivation of dreams depend on the psychophysiological characteristics of a person, the level of his culture, environmental conditions that determine requests, habits, 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 the previous activity, general condition person, age, time of year, characteristics of human GNI and other factors. In particular, after intense mental or physical labor, longer sleep is required.

As practice shows, the main condition for the usefulness of sleep is its continuity - it is this that creates in the brain optimal conditions for processing information, for comparing information accumulated over the previous day with already established or genetically determined. It is thanks to this that memory reserves are released in a dream, the necessary information is erased and unnecessary reactions that have formed during wakefulness are eliminated.

It has a beneficial effect on the organization and structure of sleep the habit of going to bed and getting up at the same hours. Thanks to this, a stereotype is formed, which automatically turns on at a predetermined time, and falling asleep occurs quickly and without difficulty. Special meaning it has for workers mental labor, which, as is often the case, due to various reasons they shift mental work to a later time, but such a regimen can be fixed and gradually lead to sleep disturbances, and then to pathology. It is necessary to take into account the biorhythmological features of a person. So, a typical "lark" goes to bed an average of 1.5, and gets up 2 hours earlier than the "night owl".

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 worsens subsequent sleep. For the same purposes, evening time activities that are highly emotional (disputes, watching emotional TV shows, etc.), heavy and rich food, drinks containing caffeine (coffee, tea, Coca-Cola) - in general, all that, exciting nervous system disturbs sleep. Sleep should be preceded by a calm environment. A rich and interesting working day, a reasonable combination of mental and physical activity, active and varied recreation, physical education are good prerequisites normal sleep. Useful and evening walk.

If a person does not sleep well at night, there is no need to sleep during the day, but some people are helped by a short (up to half an hour) daytime sleep in between stressful mental activity 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 is good to do simple soothing procedures, for example, take a warm shower, read an enjoyable book. But the final choice of the mode of preparation for sleep is made by the person himself on the basis of his own experience, conditions, analysis of sensations and well-being.

Undoubtedly, our brain can be considered the most powerful and mysterious tool in the world, although it consists mainly of fat and water. This organ, modest in appearance and weight, does not stop its work for a second, consumes 20% of the oxygen we inhale, for which it has a blood supply system more than 160,000 km long. But why do we sleep and spend about a third of our lives in a dream? Let's figure it out.

In the light, we see colors well, can focus both eyes on the same object and quickly identify it as a potential threat or prey. Thanks to the color binocular vision More than half of the information a person learns visually.

Unfortunately, at night we see quite poorly, and other senses do not help us much. A sober assessment of their merits and demerits inclined our ancestors to a daytime lifestyle. Night for us is a time to save energy and restore spent energy.

Our brains have adapted accordingly. It even appeared peculiar sundial, launching, as scheduled, certain processes. The main regulator in this case is the hormone melatonin, produced by the pineal gland - the pineal gland.

Light has an inhibitory effect on the activity of the pineal gland, and darkness has a stimulating effect. Melatonin suppresses our activity, changes the level of secretion; other hormones and biologically active substances. Its effect on the body is almost universal.

Do not assume that in a dream our brain is somehow miraculously turned off. Under the action of melatonin, the body relaxes, all senses are dulled, except for hearing, communication with the outside world is periodically interrupted. At this time, the brain redistributes its activity and continues to work according to a given program.

"Sleep is a natural, regular physiological process that has a strictly organized cyclic structure"

Conditionally good sleep a person can be divided into fast and slow phases. The phase of slow sleep, in turn, is divided into 4 stages.

Sleep stages

When you lie down in bed, close your eyes, and begin to fall asleep, you enter stage 1 of slow wave sleep. This stage can be called "drowsiness", and it usually lasts about 10 minutes. It is characterized by involuntary muscle contractions, slight twitches.

Stage 2 sleep lasts 15-20 minutes. For her, dream-thoughts are typical, in which there are no vivid images and dreams are more like reflections. By the way, many people think that they sleepless night in thought, when in fact they slept for several hours. At this time, their brains simply switched between the first two "shallow" stages of sleep.

Melatonin regulates the activity of the endocrine and digestive systems, blood pressure, is a powerful antioxidant and slows down the aging process, helps the immune system. The production of melatonin in humans occurs at night. However, an increase in melatonin levels is not a necessary signal for the onset of sleep.

The 3rd stage of a healthy sleep is even deeper and finally takes us away from reality. In it, dreams acquire imagery, but after a sudden awakening they are not remembered.

The 4th stage of non-REM sleep is the deepest and most mysterious. Someone believes that at this stage there are no dreams at all, and someone claims that they do exist, it’s just that a person does not have the opportunity to remember them. However, it has been established that the phenomenon of sleepwalking, as well as night terrors, appear precisely at this stage.

After all stages of non-REM sleep have passed, the REM phase begins. In this phase, the most interesting and colorful dreams come to us. Awakening at this stage usually results in increased irritability.

REM sleep lasts about 20 minutes. After that, the whole cycle repeats. Both phases - slow and fast - last about two and a half hours at the beginning of the night and one and a half hours towards morning.

Sleep gives us rest and recovery, helps us process and store the information received during the day. slow phase sleep facilitates the consolidation of the studied material, REM sleep implements subconscious models of expected events.

Without regular sleep, a person loses strength and health

More recently, one of the most terrible torture torture was considered insomnia. Already on the fifth day, hearing and vision deteriorate, weight decreases, coordination of movements is disturbed, concentration of attention is lost and hallucinations appear.

Dreams and dreams

Sleep is a universal phenomenon; all living beings need it. Although animals sleep much more varied than us. For example, bottlenose dolphins manage to stay completely awake for the first year of their lives, and whales sleep in turn with each hemisphere of the brain. Cold-blooded - lizards, turtles and fish also sleep, although it was previously believed that they simply freeze with the onset of night.

Migrating birds have developed interesting mechanism, which allows them to sleep during long flights: every 10-15 minutes the bird flies to the center of the flock and only slightly flaps its wings. She floats on air currents that the whole flock creates. Then the birds change places.

Dreams are figurative Representations that arise in a dream and are perceived as a reality. Their theme and character are greatly influenced by the activities that precede sleep. It is not surprising that Mendeleev completed his table chemical elements just in a dream.

Poor health and a full stomach often cause nightmares. But whether we remember what we saw depends on the phase of sleep, after which awakening came.

It is much easier for us to recall content during REM sleep or immediately after it ends.

When waking up from slow-wave sleep, a person often does not remember anything at all.

How many hours do you need to sleep

A person's sleep needs depend mainly on age and change with each stage of life. A newborn sleeps about 20 hours a day, at the age of 6 months. - 15 hours. By the end of the first year of life, sleep duration is reduced to 13 hours.

The normal duration of sleep in children of the 2nd year is 12 hours, 9 years old - 10 hours, 13-15 years old - 9 hours, 16 and older - 8 hours per day. The nature of children's sleep is reusable. Newborns sleep 9 times, the change of sleep and wakefulness is little dependent on time.

However, the predominance of night sleep due to the reduction of daytime sleep occurs already at the end of the first month of life and after that it stabilizes. At the age of 1 year, children usually sleep 3 times, with the longest sleep at night. In the nursery and preschool periods, sleep becomes two times a day, and with the onset of school time - one time, like in adults.

But these days, insomnia and poor-quality sleep are ubiquitous phenomena. We ourselves are to blame for something, the environment around us is to blame for something. Residents of big cities and apartment buildings often only dream of being able to sleep.

How to get yourself a good night's sleep

You probably remember that the production of melatonin is associated with light, and auditory center the brain is always active. With the help of electricity, we stretched the day almost to infinity: the sun had not yet had time to set, and we had long been pouring light from the walls and ceiling.

Light at work, light in transport, light at home, when is melatonin produced here, if the night has disappeared? Who sleeps well, works well! Depriving yourself of the regimen and normal sleep, you provoke the development of many chronic diseases.

“With age, the activity of the pineal gland decreases, the amount of melatonin produced decreases, so sleep in the elderly is superficial and restless, insomnia appears”

It is naive to think that by turning off the light at 11 p.m., you can immediately fall asleep and get a good night's sleep. It is necessary to gradually reduce the illumination, prepare yourself for bed and, if possible, not in the evening. sit in front of bright objects - TV, monitor, table lamp.

Also, every self-respecting person is simply obliged to have two-layer curtains on the windows - tulle and the most dense - "dog-proof" curtains. AT emergency cases suitable for special eye patches. A hearty dinner, an abundance of salt and alcohol do not benefit sleep. Tea and coffee, which we have loved so much over the past 3 centuries, is better not to drink at all after 18 hours.

Lying down in bed, you need to take care of "acoustic safety". In an apartment building, if you don't want to know what shows your neighbor likes at night or what size stilettos are best for going down stairs, you need to use earplugs.

These simple devices, inserted into the ear canals, can reduce noise by 20-40 dB, depending on the quality of the material. They are made of PVC, polyurethane, polypropylene, cotton wool, silicone, wax. The simplest are cotton, the most comfortable are wax, but you should try and find the right ones anyway.

No less important is the place of sleep itself - a comfortable bed and bedding. Perhaps if, instead of buying a new TV, you suddenly want to change your mattress and pillow, sleep will come to your doorstep.

It can be stated with regret that the pharmaceutical industry has practically no available funds to fight insomnia. Most over-the-counter drugs purchased at the pharmacy will be completely useless without a lifestyle change.

“In order to fall asleep normally, you need to be tired both physically and mentally, while avoiding overlight and stressful situations”

Now you know how important a complete healthy sleep adult person. Get comfortable and sleep well. Be healthy!