Can not sleep at night, try this

The dangers of poor sleep ripple through almost every corner of the body. A recent study found that irregular sleep may age the biological age by up to 9 months compared to people with stable sleep habits.

So, having stable sleep habits – going to bed and waking up at about the same time every day – can really help slow down aging!

Maintaining stable sleep habits helps slow down aging

A study published in August 2023 in the journal Sleep Health says that maintaining stable sleep habits helps slow down the biological aging process. Participants with greater deviations in bedtime and large differences in weekday and weekend sleep were nine months older in biological age compared to those with stable sleep habits.

The study analyzed the biological age of 6,052 adult participants, with an average age of 50 years, recording parameters such as time of falling asleep, time of waking up, duration, efficiency, etc., which were analyzed through blood samples. The relationship between sleep patterns and biological age was then analyzed.

The study found that the difference in the average daily sleep duration of the participants was 60 minutes, with an average of 78 minutes more sleep on weekends. Compared to those who maintained a stable sleep routine:

Participants with erratic sleep durations had a biological age 0.63 years older;

Participants with more catch-up sleep had a biological age 0.52 years older;

Participants with greater deviations in sleep onset, 0.74 years older in biological age;

0.77 years older in biological age for participants with a large difference between weekday and weekend sleep.

This means that participants with greater deviations in bedtime and greater differences in weekday and weekend sleep were 9 months older biologically than those with stable sleep habits.

Maintaining stable sleep habits, going to bed at about the same time and waking up at about the same time every day, can help slow down the biological aging process.

Harvest quality sleep with these 2 things in mind

There are two recognized influences that regulate sleep, one is the biological clock and the other is sleep self-balancing. In layman’s terms, the two key factors affecting sleep are “to be regular” and “to sleep enough”.

Most of the body’s self-repairing activities take place before 3:00 a.m., so the quality of sleep between 23:00 and 3:00 a.m. is especially critical. The recommended length of sleep for adults is 7 to 8 hours, 6 hours is the bottom line of health, the upper limit does not exceed 9 hours.

One study found that compared with people who sleep 6~9 hours, those who do not sleep enough for 6 hours and those who sleep more than 9 hours have an increased risk of heart attack of 20% and 34% respectively.

Difficulty falling asleep at night, waking up early in the morning, waking up easily in the middle of the night, and poor quality of sleep …… To deal with common sleeping problems, you can try the following methods to improve.

1 Difficulty falling asleep at night

Difficulty falling asleep and staying awake half an hour after lying down.

Suggestions:

① will be scheduled for dinner at 18:00 ~ 19:00, do not eat too much, so that the stomach as early as possible to complete the task of digestion, the sympathetic nerves to relax.

② Do not play computer or cell phone one hour before bedtime, and do not bring the cell phone to bed.

③Adhereby sticking to the same time of getting in and out of bed every day, which helps to cultivate sleep rhythm. Insomniacs can go to bed around 23:00 and get out of bed around 6:00 am. After insomnia improves for 2 weeks, gradually extend the bedtime. Generally 15 minutes per week. If this also does not work, you can slightly delay the sleep time, when you really feel tired and then go to bed, but not more than 12 o’clock.

2 Wake up easily in the middle of the night

Fell asleep, but had difficulty maintaining sleep, waking up for more than 5 minutes greater than 2 times.

Suggestion:

① Don’t drink too much water before going to bed to reduce waking up.

② Avoid substances that affect sleep, such as alcohol, caffeine and tobacco.

③ If the problem occurs only occasionally, get out of bed and do some relaxing activities, such as reading and meditating, but do not play the computer.

3 Wake up early in the morning

Fall asleep normally at night, but wake up at 3 or 4 a.m. and sleep less than 6 hours.

Suggestions:

① Cultivate good work and rest habits, it is best not to think about things before going to bed, the bedroom should not be put in the aromatic flowers and plants.

② Close the doors and windows, close the curtains, to create a quiet, dark sleep environment.

③ Before going to bed, you can take a hot bath or hot water foot soak; pillow height, soft and hard appropriate, quilt thin and thick appropriate.

More sunshine can help stimulate the secretion of melatonin and improve the quality of sleep at night.

4 Poor sleep quality

Shallow sleep, always groggy during the day, affecting daytime behavior or work.

Suggestions:

①Control the room temperature at a slightly lower level, such as 16℃~24℃.

② For those who snore, it is better to sleep on the side or put two or three pillows behind your back.

Note: If none of the above methods are effective when tried, it is important to go to the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sleep Center or Neurology in time.