Health tips: Slipping up on sleep
The day starts by getting a loud scolding for waking up late, subsequently dozing off in the restroom and then the car. Again in class the teacher keeps blurring in and out of view. And the next thing you know, the shrill sound of the bell ringing startles you awake and you wipe the drool off your face. If all this sounds familiar, then you are probably not getting enough sleep at night.
Different age groups have different sleep requirements. Newborns can sleep as much as 16 to 20 hours a day; preteens need 10 to 12 hours and teens need between 8 and 9 hours. However, there is no magic number that applies to all ages and people. Sleeping less than what your body needs for recharging itself will have detrimental effects on your day. Sleep is like the man who comes to collect the electricity bill; it accumulates over time and eventually if you don’t pay up, he cuts out the power. This is called sleep debt or sleep deprivation.
Nowadays, students have lot of expectations to live up to. Classes, tuitions and sports are just a few items among the long list of extracurricular activities that teenagers are expected to perform well in. Sleep gets pushed way down the list of things to do, in an attempt to cope with everything else. There are days when one reads social studies and finds him or herself wishing for a life on Mars where the days are longer.
However, lack of sleep is not something to be taken lightly. The body has a set biological clock. It releases certain chemicals (hormones) at certain times of the day and needs regularity in the daily routine. Some scientists think that the biological clock of teenagers is set to sleep a little late and wake up later too, while it may also be that some just think it is cool to sleep late at night and wake up even later in the morning. Sleep deprivation and irregular sleep timings on a long term basis can actually hold back the body from growing.
The benefits of fulfilling your body’s sleep requirements are countless. It reduces day time sleepiness, improves performance and athletics, and allows one to be in a brighter mood. One can deal with problems more creatively when well-rested. It’s actually dangerous if teenagers learning to drive doze off at the wheel. Sleep is actually the time that the brain is trying to memorize all that it learned during the day as well. So, if you are thinking that staying up an extra hour will improve your science grade, you are wrong.
The solution is something scientists call ‘sleep hygiene’. Finish all your homework and chores in advance. Avoid exercising or intense physical activity at least 3 hours before bedtime, though around an hour of it during the day will help sleep more soundly at night. Don’t drink soda, tea, coffee i.e., drinks with caffeine in late afternoon. Most importantly, go to bed at regular times for the required number of hours. Allow some down time prior to that, say half an hour, when you dim the lights before turning them out. Turn off your computer, stereo and television. Tell the friend you are texting that you will be turning in now. Do something relaxing, for instance reading. And in the morning pull the curtains apart and let the light in.
Finally, if you have been completing all your bodily sleep requirements for some time now, but are still waking up tired, talk to your doctor.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2011.