bad sleep terrible job for health and well-beingr. Lack of sleep is associated with immunological, metabolic, cardiovascular, emotional and cognitive problems; with disorders such as diabetes or obesity. It makes us more tired and irritable, raises our stress levels, and causes us to take more risks and make more mistakes.

But the worst (really terrible) is nothing like that. The biggest problem with all this is that we don’t take it seriously. Insomnia and poor quality sleep currently affect more than 58% of the Hispanic population, and despite the enormous amount of evidence that has accumulated, we tend to think it’s a minor issue in the end. And no, it isn’t.

What is the appropriate amount of sleep?

According to the same study by the Spanish Sleep Association, Hispanics sleep an average of 6.8 hours per week. Although they try to use the weekend to catch up on lost sleep, that’s where the problems begin. All sleep medicine associations recommend sleep seven to eight hours sleep every night.

It’s not a whim, because while these sleep amounts vary from person to person, evidence tells us we tend to think we’re sleeping better than we actually are: people tend to rate it very high, regardless of the actual quality. In other words, the idea that “five hours is more than enough for me” is often wrong and tends to hide other underlying issues.

In addition to this general lack of sleep, we should add that “about 75% of Spaniards wake up at least once a night, and 3 out of 10 people directly report that they suffer from insomnia”. It is not uncommon for the siesta to have had a certain ‘revival’ in recent years. It makes sense, there are many benefits (Rosekind, 1995): Sleeping for an average of 25 minutes improves our cognitive functions by 16% to 34% (Mednick et al., 2008; Naska, 2007; Saunders and Chaput, 2012). However, when misused (and our social context doesn’t help) they can further contribute to making nighttime sleep more difficult (Dhand & Sohal, 2006).

best time to sleep

Our best study on this subject was done by the European Society of Cardiology in 2021. Using UK Biobank’s records, which collects medical and lifestyle information from more than 500,000 volunteers aged 37 to 73, the researchers selected 88,926 adults (average age 61) who wore some type of wrist device for at least seven days. recording a person’s physical activity.

After analyzing a 5.7-year period, they found that: Go to bed between 22:00 and 23:00. associated with a lower risk of developing heart disease (and other related problems). By comparison, sleeping between 11:00 pm and midnight has a 12% greater risk of contracting these diseases. The risk increases to 25% for those who go to bed after midnight, to 24% for those who go to bed before 10 PM.

“The body has an internal 24-hour clock, which we call the circadian rhythm, which helps regulate our physical and mental functioning. While we cannot conclude the causality of our study, the results suggest that an early or late bedtime is more likely to alter body clock, with adverse consequences for cardiovascular health,” explained David Plans, a neuroscientist at the University of Exeter and lead author of the study.

However, it would be naive to think that these fringes have nothing to do with the socio-cultural life in which they develop. Therefore, we must take into account that they are defined groups for a culture such as the English with abundant and early meals. It’s unclear if they’ll be the same as Spanish food, which is light and late dinners (and sometimes very different times). More research is needed; but it is a good indicator to reflect our sleep patterns.

How to improve sleep?

Because after all, the main goal is to maximize the hours of deep sleep we get each night, and the key to doing this is to maintain good sleep hygiene. So, look for strategies that free us from anger, stress, or other barriers that allow us to rest.

This entails identifying habits that affect our sleep, avoiding the bad ones, and controlling the good ones. For example, make it clear that tobacco and alcohol negatively (and very aggressively) affect our ability to sleep, or that light-emitting devices (like cell phones or tablets) can cause some sleep disturbances and affect circadian rhythm. It’s a good idea to avoid stressful situations, bright light, or loud noises; finish the exercise a few hours before going to bed or (if possible) check the room temperature.

Image: Shane

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