In today’s age so many people suffer from sleep related problems at
some point of time or another. Sleep schedules are disturbed, sleep
is often compressed & health problems (directly or indirectly related
to sleep) are on a rise. On most occasions, these sleep disruptions
are created by the sufferer himself due to excess mobile use, poor
routine and a disregard for sleep timings.
Why is it important to talk about sleep? Sleep is not just a 7 hour
break for the brain. It serves several complex & vital functions that
are essential for our day to day performance & long term physical &
mental health sleep has its own architecture & is not uniform
through the night perhaps the most important function of sleep is
processing & sharpening our memory. This is especially crucial for
students sleep before learning refreshes our ability to make new
memories. Sleep after learning helps in retention through a process
called ‘consolidation ‘. This is more specially for fact-based, textbook
learning. Sleep also helps by targeted memory reactivation. At the
same time, it helps get rid of ‘parasitic memory’ i.e. during. sleep our
brain discards overlapping or irrelevant information apart from its
role in memory. Sleep has several other functions. It texture
creativity & routine problem solving. Sleeps helps in trauma
resolution. It is essential for enhancing motor skills in athletes. Sound
setup reduces stress & improves immunity & endocrine functions.
Sleep also strengthens ‘muscle memory’ which helps to improve
skills like playing an instrument. Sleep deprivation can be fatal while
driving as it can increase reaction time & slow a person refers. It cans
lead to poor concentration, poor regulation of emotions, irritability.
Pulling ‘all-nighters’ can be detrimental to students’ performance in
exams.
So how do we ensure that such a vital process of the body
remains sound or how to optimise it? Just like use has hygiene
practices for our body, we need to practice sleep hygiene as well.
Some key points for the same are:
1) Having a sleep schedule. This is one piece of advice that
everyone parents & grandparents have given them since
childhood and is scientifically extremely sound. Our body
operates on rhythms & having regular sleep wake timing aids in
lulling your brain into sleep & awakening it on time. One pro
hip- more than sleeping at a regular time, walking up at a
regular time is more important.
2) No screen use 1 hour before bed time. This includes cell
phones, valinesions and laptops. Screens stimulate our brain in
multiple ways & delay onset of sleep.
3) Avoid brain stimulates like coffee, tea or energy drinks after 4
pm if you struggle with falling asleep on time.
4) Avoid alcohol before bedtime
5) Keep 1-2 hour window between your last meal & bedtime.
Drinking large amount of water just before sleeping also leads
to sleep disruption.
6) Avoid afternoon naps. This prevents build-up of sleep deficit
that is essential for being able fall asleep at night.
Remember, good sleep is just as important for good
health as nutrition & exercise.
