How sleeping less than 6 hours affects your health

After being awake for almost 14-16 hours, our body demands sleep. Minimum sleeping time required for a healthy mind and body is 7-8 hours. Although, this duration varies according to age. Because generally speaking, where a child can sleep for 12-14 hours, grownups can sleep for not more than 9 hours. Sound sleep is very essential otherwise, it can be harmful for our health. Let's see how sleeping for less than 6 hours affects our health.

1. Headache, weight gain and poor vision: When you sleep for less than 6 hours a day, it can not only give you headache all the time but can lead to a poor vision also. And if continued for a long time, may hamper your eyesight. The lesser you sleep the more weight you gain. And after-effects of gaining weight could be even more hazardous.

2. Memory loss, heart disease, infection:  Sleeplessness can have an adverse effect on one's memory too. A person may find it difficult to remember even simple things. Also, infections can take a longer time to heal because sleep is something that stabilises and balances everything that goes wrong while we are awake. If we don't get proper sleep, the process of healing takes longer. Lack of sleep can also elevate blood pressure which ultimately affects the heart.

3. Urine overproduction, stammering and accident: Sleeping slows down urinating process but when you are awake for longer hours, you might have to urinate more than usual. Lack of sleep can also make you stammer while speaking. If lack of sleep continues, you may not be able to communicate properly. When you do not have sound sleep, your mental condition would not be stable because of declining concentration. You can be accident prone if you drive in such a condition.

These are just a few of the ill effects. Sleeping for less than 5 hours is far more dangerous than you can even think. From behavioural to mental to physical effects, it can harm you in many more ways, So, have a sound sleep to avoid complications in life.




Did you know, Sleeping less than 6 hours can be fatal?

Sleep is the normal physiological process of our body which is as important as respiration and digestion. Sleep is vital for maintaining our physical and mental health. Normal adults require 8 hours of sleep every day, whereas it 14 to 15 hours of sleep is recommended for for infants and toddlers.

What are the different stages of Sleep

Every human has a natural circadian clock in their body, which is responsible for maintaining our sleep - wake homeostasis. The different stages of sleep include REM and NREM that is rapid eye movement sleep and non rapid eye movement sleep respectively. REM is the deep sleep stage in which it is very difficult to wake up the person as this stage includes the sensory inhibition and all voluntary muscles along with almost all interactions with the surroundings are inhibited. Therefore, a person s physical stress and tiredness also gets relieved during this stage of sleep. NREM sleep is the stage between REM and awakening and here the person may have sensory connection with his or her surroundings, but may not respond.

Sleep and its benefits
Sleep and stress have a very strong connection with each other. The best way to relieve stress and any other mental disturbance is sleep. It is essential to have knowledge about sleep psychiatry for almost all physicians as they face many sleep deprived patients in their day to day practice.

    Sleep is not only responsible for relieving mental stress and depression, but has other benefits as well
    Sleep is also essential for the normal physiological growth in early infancy and it is vital for development of normal alertness, attention and knowledge
    It also relaxes our voluntary muscles and thereby, relieves us from physical stress
    Sleep disturbance may also aggravate diseases in our body. Sleep is also the state of recovery and healing.

Sleep psychiatry also insist on meditation and ensures that people have normal pattern of sleep, in order to maintain the mental health of the person in a normal state.

Sleep Pyschiatry: Its Stages and Benefits

Getting a good night s sleep is needed not only to remove dark circles but to improve your overall health as well. Ideally, adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night. This helps you stay physically and mentally healthy. However, getting a good night s sleep is easier said than done, as sleep apnea is one of the factors that could affect the quality of your sleep. This can cause a number of health issues including heart disease.

What is sleep apnea?
Sleep Apnea is a sleep disorder that can make your breathing start and stop repeatedly while you are asleep. These pauses can range from 5 times an hour to 30 times in one hour. Waking up tired after a long sleep and snoring are characteristic symptoms of this condition. This can be annoying for others, but for you, it could be life-threatening. When your breathing stops; your airways get blocked. 

This is characteristic of obstructive sleep apnea, as every time this happens, you wake up. This can increase the risk of high blood pressure. High blood pressure, in turn, can cause arrhythmia, heart failure, and strokes. This can increase the risk of a fatal heart attack by up to 5 times.

Heart disease and central sleep apnea have a cyclic relationship. In this case, heart disease causes the person to retain water and salts. At night, this excess fluid can enter the lungs making the person wake up feeling short of breath. This is not necessarily because the airways get blocked but because the brain does not send the diaphragm a signal to expand and contract. This is not as common as obstructive sleep apnea.

Reducing your risk of heart disease caused by sleep apnea
There are ways to treat sleep apnea so as to reduce the chances of heart diseases. To treat it, it must first be diagnosed. Thus, if your roommate notices you snoring, consult a doctor immediately. For a diagnosis, you will need to undergo a sleep study. This involves staying overnight in the hospital where they will monitor your sleep. Treatment for sleep apnea is known as continuous positive airway pressure or CPAP. 

This form of treatment involves wearing a mask that regulates the air pressure as you breathe thus ensuring that the air passages do not close down. In case of obstructive sleep apnea, losing weight if you are obese, can also help treat the condition and keep the airways open. 

Sleep Apnea - How It Can Increase The Risk Of Heart Disease?

You might have a wonderful morning routine to keep you healthy. However, do you know what really determines health is also your bed time routine? Each night you end one day and stand at the brink of starting a new one. It is therefore crucial how you organize your bed time.

Here are 7 things to adopt for your bed time- 

1) Plan for next day: Preparing in advance always gives you more time and leaves you stress free. Things like looking for keys, deciding what to wear etc make you late and add to your morning stress. Prepare also for breakfast or what to cook the next day. Planning at night doesnt take much time and makes your next day start on a good note.

2) Shut out the buzz: Most of us say goodnight to family and head to bed only to spend the next hour checking Facebook and social media. Or you end up watching a funny video or movie late into the night. If you keep yourself distracted, you can't go off to sleep early or get quality sleep. The light from your gadget's screen can be harmful and stress inducing. It is best to give yourself an hour away from your mobile phone or other gadgets before you sleep.

3) Write a 'Thank-You' Diary: There are many ways to become a more positive person and the best is to have appreciation. Try finding out that 1 thing (more is better) that you are thankful for. Do it everyday. This practice right ahead of your sleep time calms you down, makes you feel happy, satisfied and goes on a long way in contributing to a heathy lifestyle.

4) Stretch it out: Like most people do you also have a job where you keep sitting for long hours? Stretching really works, it helps lengthen tendons and muscles and can reduce the frequency and severity of cramps ensuring you get a better night's sleep.

5) Try meditating: Our work life has become ever so demanding, we are constantly bombarded with information via the television, social media, the internet, friends and work which results in stress and anxiety! Few minutes of meditation before bed, slows down your brain activity which results in a deeper and more peaceful sleep. You will wake up feeling well-rested, energized and ready to take on the day!

6) Book by your side: Reading before bed is has amazing benefits. Firstly, it calms the nerves by eliminating excess sound and vision stimulus (exactly the opposite of what you get from watching television!). It helps you to wind down and sleep better, it also improves brain function, your memory and the thinking process overall.

7) Sleep is crucial: Foremost is to simply make sleep a priority. It is not as simple as it sounds. Sleep deficiency directly relates to increased stress, weight gain and productivity loss. Going to bed late and managing with 5 or 6 hours sleep sets a bad tone for your day.

Your happiness and general wellbeing is controlled by how relaxing you make your bed time.

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Dr. Sapna Zarwal Tells You How To Improve Your Bed-time Routine

Sleep apnoea is a kind of disease that can affect people of any age and is basically a kind of sleep disorder. The person suffering from sleep apnoea may feel extremely tired and fatigued even after having a full night s sleep and his snoring may become extremely loud which is again a serious problem.

What are the symptoms of sleep apnoea?

There can be many cases where the symptoms of central sleep apnoea and complex sleep apnoea may be overlapping which makes it a bit difficult to get diagnosed properly. But, there are certain very basic symptoms of sleep apnoea.
Very loud snoring is a basic characteristic of patients with sleep apnoea.
The patient may suffer from regular episodes of cessation when they are sleeping as might be pointed out by other people.
The patient may awaken from sleep regularly due to shortness of breath and problems in the sleeping order.
The patient suffering from sleep apnoea may wake up from sleep with a very dry mouth and or a sore throat.
The patient may suffer from a bad headache often and in many unfortunate cases, the patients may also suffer from insomnia which is the problem of sleeplessness.
Patients of sleep apnoea suffer from intense problems of irritability and bouts of morning sleepiness.
Shortness of breath may intensify in a patient so much so that the person may get awakened from sleep gasping for air as if choking.
Excessive bouts of daytime sleeping may cause a person to perform very poorly in his work as well.
It is at these times when a patient should immediately consult a doctor for a proper treatment and further solution to this problem.

Causes of sleep apnea

Obstructive sleep apnoea is caused when the muscle in our throat starts relaxing. It is this muscle that gives support to the triangular piece of tissue that hangs from the uvula which is the soft palate and the side walls of the tongue. Basically, when this muscle relaxes, the airways in the body gets narrowed as a result of which the blood does not get enough oxygen which is required for proper breathing. It is then that the brain starts sending signals to get up from sleep so that the nasal passage can be reopened for sufficient amount of oxygen.
There can also be cases where the brain is unable to send a proper signal to the muscles that help us to breath as a result of which a person does not breathe for a certain period of time. This, in turn, makes the patient awaken abruptly from sleep with shortness of breath and the patient finds it difficult to fall asleep.


Sleep Apnea - Know The Common Signs Of It!

Sleep is a vital component of the human construct. This is the time when the body restores  itself. While too little sleep can be dangerous for the body, new research has shown that too much sleep has its pitfalls too. Oversleeping is an indication of certain health risk. It also indicates few medical conditions that a person might have. Here is more on the risks of oversleeping:

Difficult to get pregnant: A study conducted by a Korean research team in the year 2013 found that out of a sample size of 650 women who were undergoing in-vitro fertilization, the ones who got pregnant had 7-8 hours of daily sleep. The study also suggested that sleep can affect menstrual cycles, circadian rhythms, and hormone secretion. While research is yet to find out a direct co-relation between sleep and infertility, a number of researchers are trying to break the jinx.
Risk of diabetes: A Quebec study conducted in 2013 clearly showed that a person who sleeps for more than eight hours in a day is more risk prone to suffer from type 2 diabetes and reduced glucose tolerance. On a six-period time frame, people who sleep for more than 7-8 hours, are more likely to suffer from diabetes related complication, even if they keep body mass under control.
Mental health and depression: Depression is a major symptom of oversleeping. While people with depression tend to suffer from insomnia, an estimated 15 percent patients suffering from depression tend to oversleep. Compared to regular sleepers, the ones who oversleep tend to suffer from anxiety symptoms and persistent depression. A recent study has revealed that sleeping too much can increase the chances of genetic heritability. Another study revealed that people who sleep for more than 10 hours can result in mental illness. Another research conducted at the John Hopkins Medical School revealed that an irregularity of the body s sleeping clock can lead to temporary mental depression.
Increased inflammation: Oversleeping can increase the risk of certain diseases such as the Alzheimer s disease, cardiovascular disease etc. A study conducted by a group of researchers revealed that women who slept for more than eight hours are likely to suffer from 44 percent higher C-reactive protein. Another study reported that C-reactive increased by more than 8 percent for every hour of additional sleep an individual takes.
More pain: While sleep and rest are often associated with healing, oversleeping can, at times, exacerbate symptoms. Spending too much time in bed can aggravate back and shoulder pain. Oversleeping is also associated with a higher frequency of headaches. Oversleeping often triggers one-sided migraine and increases the level of stress in a person.

Sleeping More Than 8 Hours - How It Can Put Your Health At Risk?

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