Just right after i finished college. The first job i got was in a call center, An outbound agent. And i was on a grave yard shift. That was (9pm until 6am) It was ok at first but after just 2 months i felt that i was lacking of sleep.
Even though i knew that i was sleeping around 7 hours a day, it wasn't easy sleeping in the morning. I tried to closed the door of my bed room and pulled down my curtain, but the broad day light was just peeking at my windows.
Of all the health complains i had while i was on that job. There was one thing i learned while working in that kind of environment that up to this moment, I still apply in my daily life. That is to complete your 8 hours of sleep. Why? Because there might be dangers waiting for you especially if you are working.
So what happens when you never complete your 8-hour sleep very often.
Poor vision. this is so true to me. I got blurry vision at work, or just when I'm walking to the elevator. It sucks so much. Short term memory, People tend to lose some parts of their memories due to lack of enough sleep.
Your reaction is slow. Have you ever felt that when everyone is laughing, you seem to be just smiling? why because you don't get it. because you don't understand. Or if somebody is talking to you. You seem to be somewhere else.
Never drive yourself to work if you think you can't focus. My dad caused a very long traffic when he doze off on a green light few years ago. That was humiliating so he got his self a driver.
Moody. you switch moods so easily. Poor performance. Your work suffers because you can't concentrate. So if you feel that you are stating to see these signs. better take a goodnight sleep. or tale some power naps in the afternoon.
People in the provinces are said to live longer than people in the city. Socio-economic and cultural factors aside, some theories credit the health advantages of a rural lifestyle, less stressful. Others say it's the food, home cooked vegetables, fish and meat, fresh from the backyard, market, or sea. Bot don't ignore one other aspect, sleep. Rural people normally get a full eight hour of sleep every night. Sleep affects various aspects of our health, including:
- Cognitive performance - Sleep helps organize memories, solidify learning, and improve concentration. Lack of sleep impairs alertness and affects judgment, reaction time, and recall.
- Mood and mental well being - Lack of sleep has been linked to anger, anxiety, sadness, and mental exhaustion.
- Hormones and metabolism - Important hormones are secreted based on person's sleep pattern. These hormones are affects growth, regulate energy and control metabolic and endocrine functions.
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Why so many people suffer from sleeping problems? Other people doesn't realize that they have sleeping problems.Maybe because of work specially night shift workers, the appearance of big coffee bars, cable TV with channels that you cant count anymore, internet 24/7. How many times we choose not to sleep just to spend a late night with friends? or finish a TV program or a movie even if we are sleepy, or surfing and chatting on the Net? maybe this information on why we we suffer from sleep disorders can help us know why?
Nicotine: is a stimulant, so smoking in the evening is likely to make it more difficult for us to go to sleep.
Caffeine: Our brain cells produce adenosine, a chemical that serves as an off switch to slow down brain activity. Coffees, colas, chocolate, and other caffeinated substance blocks adenosine receptors, thus overriding the brains off switch for six to eight hours.
Alcohol: Taking alcohol to help induce sleep is a bad idea, Alcohol may help us fall asleep, but it results in light, fragmented sleep. After the sedative effect wears off (usually in 4 hours) there's a rebound effect that can leave you wide awake in the middle of the night.
Food or exercise too close to bedtime: Both boost the body's metabolism which can drive away sleep.
Irregular schedules: Mostly shifting workers experience this. Abruptly changing bedtimes disrupts the body's cycle. The result were wide awake when we really should be asleep and drowsy when were supposed to be alert.
Depression: People with the blues often wake up early and cant sleep again, a condition called sleep maintenance insomnia.
Stress: The most probably common cause of sleepless nights. It increases heart rate and blood pressure, raising arousal levels.
Check yourself maybe you fall with one or more in this list, no one can help you sleep soundly, only you can help yourself.
Some people when they are sleeping experience snoring, this because of fatigue from a busy day, irritability and some health problems. And maybe it can be a symptoms of sleep apnea a condition that when you are asleep your breathing pauses, than can conclude to heart attack or stroke. Aged people are more prone to this kind of condition
Here are some useful tips to avoid snoring:
1. Don't eat too much before you sleep - hard to breath can often cause by too much eating so avoid eating too much before you sleep.
2. Don't drink alcohol before you sleep - drinking alcohol before you sleep can cause for our throat muscle too relax that can cause us to snore.
3. Try to avoid sleeping pills, tranquilizers, and pain killers - These drugs include alcohol, sleeping pills, antihistamines, and pain medicine (especially narcotics). The drugs relax your muscles and cause the tongue to fall backward. Relaxed throat muscles may draw in from the sides and narrow the airway
4. If you are overweight try to lose weight - being overweight can make your stomach compress your lung causing lower lung volumes, more weight around the neck area can cause the anatomy of the throat to be tighter and cause snoring, ten percent on your weight loss are effective enough for you to stop from snoring.
5. Stop smoking - Smoking affects the airways and sinuses causing swelling in the membranes of the nose and the tissues of the throat. Smoking also damages the small vessels of the lungs by blocking them. The nicotine itself also can cause sleep disruptions that can increase the nightly snoring.
6. Try to sing 20 minutes everyday - sound funny but it can help our throat muscle to be strong than can prevent us from snoring.
7. Try to sleep sideways - people who sleep on there back are more prone to snoring.
8. Try to cure your allergy in your air passage - allergy too can cause us snoring and hard to breath.
Lack of Sleep means added pounds - Perhaps surprisingly, recent evidence points to a strong link between sleep deprivation and obesity. Recent published studies suggest not getting enough sleep does two things that promote weight gain:
1. Hunger
2. Retards the body's metabolism
In combination, these two effects make it difficult for a sleep deprived person to maintain a target weight and shed pounds.
Sleep deprivation has been shown to affect the production of leptin, the chemical that makes you feel full. As a result, someone who hasn't been sleeping well may continue to feel hungry despite having a large meal. We feel hungry when we are awake than we are in sleep so the more hours the we are awake, the more hours that we will feel hungry.
Sleep loss may also interfere the body's ability to metabolized carbohydrates. This is cause your blood sugar level to shoot up, which in turn promotes the over production of insulin,leading to increased body fat.
Lack of sleep means getting ugly - This is a bad news for anyone who cares about her looks. While sun exposure is the often blamed culprit for premature aging, sleep deprivation can cause similar damage. Anyone who has lost a night's sleep can attest to the dull complexion and dark circles that inevitably stare back at her in the bathroom mirror next morning. But the long-term effects gradual and potentially irreversible. Sleep gives the skin the chance to repair itself while we are sleeping. Long term, those not getting adequate sleep may develop lines and wrinkles around the eyes and mouth sooner than individuals who gets and enjoy more sleep.
Lack of sleep may lead to depression, possible emotional disturbances and poor memory. It means Getting enough restful sleep helps prolong our lives and keeps us young active and vibrant.
We must realize that the quality of sleep is just as important as the quantity. There are several stages of sleep, ranging from light dozing to deep sleep and finally, dreaming sleep. These stages repeat themselves in a cycle throughout the night. Getting good quality sleep means getting enough deep sleep, and that requires being able to sleep peaceful, with few interruptions throughout the night.
Too many of us take sleep for granted, and don't think much starting the day tired and craving more time in bed. Taking control of how well you sleep takes effort and a little experimentation. But the rewards, feeling alert and energetic the rest of the day, improved mood, better health and better looks are more than worth it.
I think every person experience the occasional bout of sleeplessness, then recover a few nights later. Base on study one of ten people have chronic sleep problems. Even if we can manage some sleep every night and don't believe that there is some problem in the way we sleep.
Everyone upon getting out of bed in the morning, should feel recharge, refreshed and ready for the day. But some of us right after we wake-up do not feel refreshed, but feel the opposite drowsy, sluggish and want to just lay in bed for more minutes. If we feel this way every morning and we feel that this is our normal way of sleeping, i think this is not right, there's a price to pay for not sleeping well..
Here are 13 tips to have the sleepiest and effective way to have that good night sleep
1. Don't watch the time -This make even harder for you to fall asleep and adds to your anxiety about staying awake as each minutes passes.
2. Help your brain shutdown- Visualize something relaxing or repetitive so your minds quiets down. Imagine climbing down endless stairs, staring a flickering candle and the most common count jumping sheep.
3. Perform regular bedtimes rituals- at least try to have a warm bath or hot foot soak, and sip some tea, all this rituals send signals to your body that its ready for bedtime.
4. Keep your bedroom primarily a place for sleeping- Avoid doing work in your bedroom, let your mind and body get used to the fact that your bedroom is a place for rest and privacy.
5. Make sure your bed, pillows and sheet are soft and comfy- Invest of right bed accessories that gives comfort and gives support to your body from head to toe , high quality cotton sheets are the best for restful sleep.
6. Minimize fluid intakes before you go to bed- This is really important for people who tend to wake up in the middle of the night because of a full bladder.
7. Pull the curtains back- Waking up to sunlight will help regulates your body's natural biological clock. also keep your room as dark as possible when sleeping.
8. Avoid taking naps during the day- at this may affect your body clock and make it harder to sleep at night. If you feel that you need to nap, be sure to do it as early in the day as possible and to sleep briefly for 30 minutes or less.
9. Always exercise- A minimum of 25 to 30 minutes of exercise a day can help can help you sleep, avoid working out right before bedtime, as exercise stimulates the body and make it harder to doze off.
10. Stop smoking and minimize caffeine and alcohol - Aside from numerous health problems associated to smoking , the nicotine int cigarettes acts as a stimulants and can make you awake and can make sleeping difficult. Avoid drinking caffeinated and alcoholic drinks for a minimum of four hours before you go to bed , although drinking alcohol can make you sleepy at first but in cause you to wake up in the middle of your sleep.
11. Keep a regular schedule- sleep when you are sleepy and wake up at a fixed time every now and then.
12. Keep a journal- write all your concerns in a journal along with their possible solutions before heading off to bed can help prevent you from dwelling on them, jot them down and then forget about it.
13. Discipline is the key- you must have discipline for you to do all of this.
