By Dr Udaya Sureshkumar
Mangaluru, Mar 13: “As the clock strikes 10 need to get to bed!”
Something, which was told to us as children, has come to life now. The importance of a good night's sleep is deliberated by health influencers, dieticians and life coaches more than once, and might be one of the few health tips that Pulmonologists agree about in this world of misinformation.
While sleep has become scarce in today's times with the long commute hours and greater work commitments and deadlines - not to forget the Netflix binge to blame. The newer generation probably has a new spin towards it, with GenZ adopting a healthy lifestyle including non-alcoholic drinks, and priority-to-bed timings and exercise being an inseparable part of their life, the older generation still needs to take a leaf or two out of this lesson.
Like any other machine, which recharges, sleep is the time when our body recharges. A good night’s sleep is said to be around 8 hours per night. While it might look as simple as going to bed and waking up in the morning, our sleep has 2 types of stages - NREM and REM cycles, each one having a specific role.
The first stage of NREM is when our body prepares for the sleep and slows down, heart rate reduces. This is when we sometimes experience “hypnotic jerks” - the feeling of free falling which is due to the body letting down the guards, which the brain interprets as potential danger. This is why looking at screens is told to be avoided and the blue light delays the initiation and confuses our brain and it fights to stay alert. Instead, use of a calming white noise (loads of Spotify tracks available) or reading might help those who struggle to fall asleep initially.
The second stage is the bridge to deep sleep, the muscle restoration and repair, and conversion of short term to long-term memory consolidation happens here. The third and the longest stage of deep restorative sleep where the body genuinely restores, repairs and heals, and the immune function grows along with growth hormones release. It is very important to go to bed early/on time, otherwise this stage is compromised and when we wake up, we feel groggy.
The last stage - known as Rapid Eye Movement (REM) - lasts for 90 minutes and is compromised when the total duration of sleep reduces. This is where vivid dreams occur, helping in cognitive functions and emotional well-being.
Having discussed the different functions of sleep, then what are the problems arising with inadequate good quality sleep.
While most of the complications are a part of obstructive sleep apnea, which is a condition causing snoring, choking at night and gasping for air and associated excessive daytime sleepiness. It indirectly may cause:
- Accelerated Hypertension & early heart failure: There is an alarming rise of hypertension with no other treatable cause amongst young adults, defying the usual age criteria most of which has been directed to obstructive sleep apnea as a cause.
- Metabolic Syndrome: This consists of deranged cholesterols, uncontrolled diabetes, hypothyroidism, central obesity all can be a cause or effect of sleep disturbances.
- Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative disorders are known to be aggravated due to chronic sleep deprivation.
- Chronic allergies, recurrent cold, cough: Many patients come with non-specific recurrent upper respiratory tract infections and allergic symptoms, which might be one of the early presenting symptoms of OSA.
- Quality of Life: Inability to concentrate and poor quality of night sleep might affect work the motivation to exercise; binge-eating junk food might even lead to depression and anxiety as patients have non-specific vague symptoms, which are undiagnosed for a long time.
So early to bed, Early to rise, Keeps everyone healthy, wealthy and wise!
Dr Udaya Sureshkumar, consultant pulmonologist, KMC Hospital, Mangaluru.