Sleep remains a mysterious phenomenon, and its relationship to health has not yet been fully explained. But researchers have uncovered’ a great deal about what takes place during sleep, what disturbs a sleep, and/how to improve sleeping habits.
Myth: Sleeping pills are an effective and innocuous way to deal ‘with insomnia.
Fact: These may improve sleep temporarily, but may be dangerous. Sleeping pills, called hypnotics, are among the most commonly taken drugs in the US particularly among older people. These pills typically lead’ to further disruptions of sleep cycles an increase in fragmented sleep, disturbing dreams, and daytime fatigue. (Residual effects can last up to 17 hours and may affect your driving ability the next morning), Taken nightly, some sleeping pills lose their effectiveness in less than a week. Increasing the dose only accustoms the body to a higher level of the drug, and enhances the risk of side effects, addiction and overdosing. Never take sleeping pills more than three nights in a row. Never combine them with alcohol:
Myth: Warm milk and certain other foods help put you to sleep.
Fact: No food eaten at bedtime will guarantee a good night’s sleep. What you eat has some chemical connection with sleep quality, but the connection is not well understood. High concentrations of the amino acid tryptophan found in high protein foods such as dairy products and meat stimulate the brain’s production of serotonin a neurotransmitter which in turn causes to feel satisfied and sleepy. (Heavy consumption of sugar and other carbohydrates can have a similar effect), large doses of tryptophan in pill form have been shown to promote relaxation in some people. But the amount obtained from foods will not raise the tryptophan level in the blood enough to have a significant effect on sleep. Attempts to treat sleep disorders through diet alone have had inconclusive results.
Myth: Sleeping on a fall stomach increases weight gain.
Fact: There’s no evidence that Calories consumed at night are Stored more easily as fat than those taken in during the day. Assuming you eat the same foods and have the same activity level, it doesn’t matter what time you eat. The calories you consume at night will simply burn when needed. Of course, if what you eat late at night is in addition to your normal diet, or if you tend to eat high calorie snack foods at night, you may well gain weight. But don’t blame the late hour.
Myth: Sleep loss impairs normal physical performance.
Fact: Simply physical exertion is not significantly impaired by sleep loss. Studies have looked at subjects who stayed awake for 30 to 50 hours and then walked or cycled: heart rate, oxygen intake and other measurers of physical exertion were not altered by the sleep loss. However, subjects perceived that their exertion was greater than after a period of normal sleep. On the other hand complex physical activities (such as playing tennis or baseball) that require vigilance or cognitive skills may be more difficult for a sleep deprived person than repetitive activities (such as running or swimming).
What about mental performance? Since the most important benefit of sleep may be that it restores us mentally, our minds seem to suffer more from sleep loss than our bodies. A person kept up for long hours will generally feel fatigued and irritable, his attention wanders and he may experience mood shifts. The effect on mental ability depends on the type of thinking involved and the amount of sleep lost, According to research by Dr. J.A. Home published recently in the journal Sleep, loss of a night’s sleep undermines creative thinking (characterized by spontaneity, flexibility and originality), and the ability to deal with unfamiliar situations, Yet the loss of one night’s sleep was found to have little effect on less creative endeavors such as the ability to answer multiple-choice questions draw up balance sheets or deal with familiar types of problems using well established skills.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 7, 1989
