Sleep is the Best Medication

Are you sleeping during work hours?

Are you having a hard time getting out of bed in the morning?

Do you need to totally rely on an alarm clock to wake up on time?

Do you feel lethargic in the afternoon?

Someday or the other, we all have experienced such situations in our lives. Many of us have even scrambled a lot to meet the never-ending demands at work and at times preferred to cut back on sleep. To cope with the basic needs of the fast-paced society, we often forget to give importance to sleep, which is the foremost requirement of our body.

Failure to catch up on the regular sleep hours and pattern can show many adverse effects on our overall health. Lack of proper sleep can directly affect our mood, energy, and ability to cope up with stress. Our performance during the day is solely dependent on the amount of sleep we get the night before. Sleep deprivation can lead to number of chronic diseases and conditions such asdiabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD), obesity, high cholesterol, and depression.

People who suffer depression lose interest in things they otherwise used to enjoy. know more about the symptoms of depression.

We all live in this illusion that exercise and healthy diet are the only essential lifestyle habits for optimal health. However, that is not completely true. Sleep is mandatory to maintain our productivity, emotional balance, creativity, and even Body Mass Index (BMI). High-quality sleep not only boosts the memory but also keeps the stress hormone levels in check, and even prevents the onset of depression by producing enough serotonin. BMI is a fair and reliable indicator of body fatness. To calculate your BMI click here.

While sleep requirements vary slightly from person to person, most healthy adults need between seven and a half to nine hours of sleep per night. The children and teens need even more hours of sleep. Since older adults, face trouble getting a sound sleep due to night awakenings, daytime naps can help fill in the gap.

According to the National Institutes of Health, the average adult sleeps less than seven hours per night. However, in the fast-paced life, six or seven hours of sleep is quiet sufficient. The following table gives the average sleep hours needed according to the age.

Despite being aware of all the health benefits of sleep, we fail to get enough sleep. However, by .adopting some simpler rules in our lives, we can tackle our sleep problems.

Eight Tips for Better Sleep:

• Every night try to sleep for at least for seven and a half hours 
• Maintain a sleep diary: Record when you go to bed, when you get up, and your total hours of sleep
• No blue light: Blue light  suppresses melatonin, the sleep-regulating hormone  therefore, switch off the television, computer, or any electronic gadgets before bedtime
• Relax yourself: Before you dose off, relax yourself by taking a warm bath, listening to soft music, or by reading a book
• Set your schedule: The way you schedule your time for work and other important things, you should also schedule enough time for sleep
• Say ‘No’ to caffeine: Caffeine interferes with sleep so avoid any such products three to four hours before bedtime
• Take a sleep vacation: Whenever you have a flexible schedule, go to the bed at the same time every night and make sure you sleep until you wake up naturally

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