|
Sleep is the most complete form of rest, both for the body and the mind. Frequently, people have difficulties to sleep, which alters their lives. |
 Zoom
Sleep is the most complete form of rest, both for the body and the mind. Frequently, people have difficulties to sleep, which alters their lives. However, sleep disorders aren’t serious, except for exceptional cases, and they can be easily solved.
The diary routine causes physical and mental fatigue and it’s necessary to sleep a certain number of hours per day to recover the energy used.
Each person requires a different amount of sleep hours. Most adult people sleep a little bit less than eight hours while old people need less hours to rest. During the first year of life, children sleep about 16 hours a day. After the year and a half their sleep patterns change. When they are about three years old, they stop sleeping after meals and wake up earlier in the morning.
Dreams
The exact cause of dreams is unknown. Some studies point out that if a person is not allowed to dream for several nights, he will be irritated, restless and won’t be able to concentrate or carry out everyday choirs. Once the person is allowed to sleep quietly, he will dream more, as if in need to recover the lost dreams.
Thanks to dreaming it has been proved that mental activity continues while sleeping, although probably the person won’t remember that he has been dreaming or the dream.
Each sleep period has different stages. During the rapid eye movement stage (REM), also called paradoxical, brain electric waves are more rapid than in orthodox sleep periods.
During paradoxical sleep the heart beat frequency, breathing and blood pressure experience quick variations while most of the muscles are completely relaxed and reflexes are absent. Meanwhile, blood flows more rapidly into the brain and more slowly into the muscles. That is the moment in which dreams occur. During the orthodox phase of sleep brain waves are ample and slow. The blood flux towards the muscles increases and allows physical recovery.
Sleep Rhythm
Through a biological clock that indicates the daily need to sleep, the human organism regulates the alternation between sleep and wakefulness. It’s not easy to modify the biological rhythm of sleep, as most of us have experienced when travelling to places in the planet where there is a big time difference with our country.
When sleeping, a person’s brain can be stimulated by physical sensations, such as temperature changes, the sensations caused by dreams, sounds and the light. Monotonous or rhythmical sounds induce relaxation and sleep; while the sudden appearance of light can interrupt sleep.
The use of amphetamines makes sleeping more difficult, while sleeping pills or alcohol cause drowsiness.
Insomnia
Adults frequently suffer from insomnia. Insomnia can show up in different ways, as a difficulty to fall asleep or as several interruptions during sleep.
In many cases, insomnia is caused by worries, tension, depression, pain, an uncomfortable or unknown environment, the need to urinate frequently and by several diseases and disorders, such as asthma and indigestion. Obviously, the consequences of a bad night will be suffered the next day, since a person who hasn’t slept well will be drowsy, irritable and absent-minded.
Luckily, insomnia can be fought. An efficient way is to get physically tired before going to bed so as to make relaxation easier, also setting the adequate environmental conditions to achieve a relaxing sleep.
If difficulties to fall asleep continue for more than two weeks, it’s better to consult a doctor, so as to find the causes of the disorder and try to solve it.
A last resource to solve this problem would be the use of sleeping pills and sedatives, since they cause addiction and if they are not used in the prescribed doses, they could cause drowsiness during wakefulness.
Children's Sleep
Generally, children sleep when they are drowsy and for as long as they need to. When they are very little, they are not capable of inhibiting sleep or waking up deliberately, since the concept of day and night doesn’t exist for them.
If a baby wakes up in the middle of the night, it’s not advisable to immediately go by their side, since probably he will fall asleep again immediately. In case the crying continues, it may mean that the baby is uncomfortable or doesn’t feel well. During the second year of life, children frequently have nightmares and wake up screaming or crying. When this happens, it’s necessary to calm them before they fall asleep again. |
|
