New Delhi (NVI): World Sleep Day is observed across the world every year on the Friday before Spring Vernal Equinox of each year. This time, it is being celebrated on March 13, i.e., today.
The annual event, organised by the World Sleep Day Committee, is being observed since 2008, to promote the prevention and management of sleep disorders.
The goal of the day is to raise awareness of sleep disorders and their better understanding and prevention and aims to reduce the burden of sleep problems on society, which threaten the health or quality of life of as much as 45 per cent of the world’s population.
The theme for this year’s World Sleep Day is ‘better sleep, better lives, better planet’.
According to the 2019 Philips Global Sleep Survey, roughly 62 per cent of adults worldwide feel that they don’t sleep well when they go to bed.
Losing just one or two hours of sleep per night can have the same impact on motor and cognitive functions as going without sleep for a full day or two, as per the survey.
Experts have long emphasized that developing good sleeping habits can help to maintain our physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
Ongoing sleep deprivation can also cause severe, long-term health conditions like heart disease and heart failure, weak immune system, high blood pressure, kidney disease, depression, diabetes and obesity.
Drowsiness has been a significant factor in roughly 1,00,000 car accident every year, causing an estimated 1,500 deaths, the survey said.
Sleep deficiency has also been linked to a number of disasters, such as airplane and boat accidents, and even nuclear reactor meltdowns.
The survey said that the human body follows the circadian rhythm─a 24-hour repeating rhythm that operates as an internal clock.
This clock is controlled by two things: external cues such as light and darkness, and internal compounds that trigger and maintain our sleep.
These chemicals work together to keep our sleep and wake cycles in harmony.
While Adenosine slowly builds the desire for sleep throughout the day, Melatonin produces drowsy feelings that signal your body is now ready for sleep, and Cortisol naturally triggers your body to wake up.
While sleep duration can vary greatly around the world, most adults are still not getting enough shut-eye. An average person gets 6.8 hours of sleep on a weeknight, which is significantly lower than the recommended 8 hours.
Here are six factors which affect our sleep:
1. Worry and Stress: Job, family, health, financial, and a myriad of other concerns plague people from all walks of life. Adults living in Canada and Singapore tend to be the most worried.
2. Environment: The physical space where you sleep plays a large role in the quality and duration of your sleep. Nearly 35 per cent of adults fall asleep somewhere other than their bed. Interestingly, Chinese adults are the least comfortable when sleeping, while Japanese adults are the most comfortable, as per the study.
3. Work and School Schedules: Hectic careers and heavy school workloads have a direct and lasting impact on sleeping habits. Many forego sleep in favor of completing work, social, and household responsibilities.
4. Entertainment: In the age of technology, natural rhythms of daytime and nighttime perception have been skewed, especially from the effects of blue light emitted from our device screens.
5. Disruptors: Eating food, or drinking alcohol or caffeine within the last few hours before bedtime can prevent our brains from knowing it’s time to wind down and get ready for sleep. Adults living in the fast-paced developed nations of China, Canada, the United States, and Singapore are the most caffeinated.
6. Health Conditions: Over three-quarters of adults experience at least one health condition that impacts sleep. These include insomnia, sleep apnea─which affects roughly 22 million people in the US alone─snoring, restless leg syndrome (RLS), narcolepsy, and chronic pain.
Here are a few ways in which one can develop good sleeping habits
1. Routine: Wake up and go to bed at the same time each day─even on weekends─to establish a more ingrained rhythm for your body clock and help your brain better prepare for sleep.
2. Exercise: Pick a time of day that suits your schedule and energy levels, and be sure to stick with it. Exercise helps to balance melatonin and cortisol levels throughout the day.
3. Light: Get outside often during the day and reduce the time spent outside at night. Limit screen time at least 30-60 minutes before sleep.
4. Food and Drink: Avoid eating large meals or drinking alcohol or caffeine in the last couple of hours before you go to sleep. Caffeine effects can linger for up to 8 hours, which breaks natural sleep rhythms.
5. Meditation: Recent studies have shown that mind-body treatments for insomnia such as yoga, tai chi, and meditation had positive impacts on improving sleep quality.
6. Comfort: Set the bed for success—keep your room cool and dark, buy a high-quality mattress and comfortable bed linens and use a white-noise machine to help you fall asleep.
