Good night. Good morning everybody, it is 325
AM here where I'm at and this is Food for Thought,
Thoughts If It Were You by Neogentrics. Now, last
time I took a short break and covered night shifts
for those who needed it. Like I said before,
if you need any more advice on specific topics
or something you're interested in, please hit
me up on my Facebook, my webpage, or any of the
sites that you know me on, or here on Anchor.
So, continuing where I left off. Why is sleep
important? How to sleep? You know, let's go back
into this a little bit here. You know, although
our knowledge of exactly why we sleep is lacking,
we do know a lot about the efforts of not sleeping.
So, too little sleep or low quality sleep. I
mean, you get the idea of what I'm talking about
here. I mean, our overall quality of life can
be seriously affected by the lack of quality
sleep. And, you know, this can heavily influence
how we behave and perform. How we feel or even
how we look. So I'm promoting good sleep hygiene.
And the best way I can do this is by helping
people understand why it's even important. Sleep
hygiene is a term used to describe the environmental
and behavioral factors that may affect our ability
to fall asleep and gain a good quality sleep.
Good quality sleep. I can't talk. Anyway. People
who do suffer from insomnia, and I did for a
while, so this is why I'm doing this for a lot
of people who need to know this, okay? Inability
to sleep or staying asleep may work hard on their
sleep hygiene in an attempt to control the disorder,
but it's really hard for a lot of people. However,
many of us can benefit from good sleep hygiene
regardless of whether we sleep from a sleep disorder
or not. Sleep insomnia can either keep you awake
or keep you asleep. Either way, you look at it,
both are bad. Because eventually you do need
to wake up or you would want to wake up. In order
to get to sleep and stay asleep during the night,
it is important to relax both your body and mind.
And while you may find this a little bit hard,
I have a few tips that might help you, but that's
about it. It's still up to you to do some of
the work. We're going to take a short break and
I'll give you those tips. All right, and we're
back. First things first, avoid big meals before
bedtime, okay? I'm going to go ahead and say
this right now. Eating a large meal can make
us feel tired, but it can also make us feel uncomfortable
and therefore prevent us from falling asleep,
or in some people's case, staying asleep. Okay,
so don't do that. Also, this one should be an
automatic know -how, but don't drink caffeine
or alcohol. Let me go ahead and put a stipple
on that. A couple hours before you go to bed,
okay? Both caffeine and alcohol are stimulants,
okay? And they can prevent you from sleeping.
If you're a smoker, then, well, avoid smoking
for a few hours before you go to sleep, as nicotine
itself is a stimulant, okay? And then... To maintain
a healthy sleep environment, ideally you should
aim for a quiet, dark, cool, comfortable room
in which you can sleep. No, not freezing cold.
Cool. Between kind of warm and cold where it's
at least comfortable for you. And then stick
to a routine and make enough time for sleep.
Everybody's body is different and most adults
need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep in a 24 hour
period in order to get full rest. Try to keep
bedtimes and wake -up times consistent and allow
enough time for your sleep. If you feel tired
in the day, it's possible you're not allowing
yourself to sleep enough. So take that into factor.
Also, and this is a big one, avoid watching TV,
using your computer, tablet, or any other devices
immediately before you go to bed. Try reading
something easy or listening to music for 30 minutes
before you intend to sleep as that can keep you
awake. Also, taking a warm bath early in the
evening, although the bath can relax you, and
do not take a hot bath immediately before bedtime,
okay? As your body needs to cool down in order
to fall asleep and remain asleep. If you're burning
hot, that's not possible. Try taking a relaxing
bath a few hours before bedtime so that your
body has time to cool down. I just thought about
it as soon as I said that. A couple of people
I know who tried that. Well, let's put it this
way. They complained all night and never went
to sleep, and neither did I, sleeping in the
living room. Take regular exercise in the daytime,
but not close to sleep. If you're going to go
to sleep soon, please do not exercise before
you plan to go to sleep, as this will make you
insanely uncomfortable. Physical exercise can
promote good sleep, as well as many other benefits
to health and well -being, but it can prevent
you from sleeping properly. And the last one
is stay cool during the night. Make sure your
fan or the AC is going or, you know, a lighter
duvet comforter or something. Use those when
you're trying to go to sleep in the evening.
Your body needs to be cool to sleep effectively,
okay? So with that, find out what works for you
and experiment with your sleep hygiene and see
if you can improve your sleep. We'll be right
back. Alright, and we're back. So, if you have,
if you regularly have problems falling asleep
or wake frequently in the night, seek professional
advice from your doctor. And, you know, because
sleep disorders are not uncommon and should be,
they should not be left undiagnosed, okay? Just
going to go ahead and start off with that. Anyway,
lack of sleep, dangers and concerns. You may
be aware of the dangers of driving and operating
machinery whilst tired, but tiredness and lack
of sleep can be dangerous for lots of other reasons,
okay? Tiredness can kill. The dangers of too
little sleep. Let me go ahead and cover that
real quick. Generally, you are more likely to
feel irritable, grumpy, and have a shorter temper
when you're tired. Lack of sleep can make us
more emotional, which can have a negative effect
on our relationships with others. The reaction
times are reduced when we're tired. This makes
driving and operating machinery more dangerous.
In the UK, This is something I looked up. It
is estimated that as many as 1 in 5 of all motor
traffic accidents are caused by tiredness or
falling asleep at the wheel. If you don't believe
me, go look this up on YouTube. People make funny
clips about this. It's not funny. Lack of sleep
affects our ability to be creative and innovative.
The problem -solving and decision -making skills
are less effective, therefore making you pretty
much useless to everyone around you. Now, when
it sounds funny, it's not actually cool. Specifically,
brain cognitive functions are reduced, including
the ability to concentrate and pay attention.
So lack of sleep does not help you study for
your tests. It actually causes memory issues.
Believe it or not. Insufficient sleep can lead
to greater appetite, for one. Quality sleep helps
the body regulate levels of renin and leptin
hormones that are linked to your appetite and
feeling hunger. which in turn can increase the
likelihood of becoming overweight or obese, increases
the risk of higher cholesterol levels, developing
diabetes and heart problems. In a recent Norwegian
study, it concluded that people who had trouble
falling asleep and remaining asleep each night
were three times more likely to develop heart
failure than those who reported no sleeping.
Now, while I can't confirm this to be true, it
has been proven that it does cause a lot of problems.
A decrease in exercise also. Without sleep, you
are less likely to want to engage in physical
activities. This can be exasperating problems
as far as with your body weight or heart disease.
So that definitely can improve towards having
heart disease as a problem. Lack of sufficient
sleep can make us more susceptible to stress,
which is more likely to suffer from depression
and other serious mental complaints such as it
already is known. And people who do not get enough
sleep... When you drink more caffeinated beverages
to reduce the effect of tiredness. And I'm going
to go ahead and say this right now. Caffeine
can be dangerous in high quantities and can raise
your blood pressure and pulse, therefore adding
strain to your heart. So I recommend getting
a lot of sleep if you can help it. Alright, we're
going to finish up with the triggers for tiredness
and sleep, okay? Stuff that can trigger you being
tired during the day. There are numerous environmental
and circumstantial issues and reasons why you
might feel tired before bedtime. Other times
other than bedtime anyway. And some of them are
pretty common, okay? One of them is just not
sleeping enough the previous night. Believe it
or not, that can cause it. And while it sounds
obvious... If you don't sleep regularly like
you're supposed to and then you try to sleep
at night when you sleep during the day, it makes
it really hard. Eating after a large meal. Sorry,
I said that wrong. After eating a large meal.
That can make you tired and then sleep when you're
not supposed to. This usually has a natural response
and lasts only a relatively short period. However,
excessive tiredness after eating could indicate
a more serious dietary problem. Some people have
allergies to certain foods that can make them
feel tired after eating. If that's the case,
you should probably go to the doctor and have
yourself diagnosed. Anyway, natural changes in
your bodily rhythm. This means we feel more tired
and have an increased desire to sleep between
the hours of midnight and 6am, but also between
2pm and 4pm, which is not healthy. Certain medications,
both prescribed and over -the -counter, can cause
sleepiness. Always read the label and check the
side effects, especially if you need to drive
or operate machinery. Some illicit drugs can
cause immediate sleepiness or lead to delayed
feelings of lethargy, which is not healthy. Alcohol
can cause tiredness. I don't need to go into
that. Boring situations can cause lethargy. If
you're bored, do something about it. Bathing
can cause tiredness, especially if it's a hot
tub. Hot water lowers the blood pressure and
relaxes the muscles, which increases feelings
of tiredness. If you haven't already figured
that out, for those who do, good for you. Physical
exercise can make us sleepy, although this is
usually down to excessive or new exercise. As
the body becomes fitter, Therefore, less exerted
tiredness after regular exercise can be reduced,
so that's fine. Hormonal changes can make us
feel sleepy. For example, men can become sleepy
after sex due to the drop of the male hormone
testosterone, which causes a lack of energy.
Women feel more sleepy during their menstrual
cycle, during ovulation, menopause, and even
during pregnancy due to changing levels of female
hormone estrogen. So in case you didn't know
that, that's why most women feel tired. Other
than that, that's pretty much it. If you have
any additional questions, feel free to message
me. Again, this has been Thoughts for You, Food
for Thought by Neogentrics. Enjoy the rest of
your day, and thank you for listening.