Insomnia: what is how it impacts our health

Sleep is very important for health. Sleeping the right hours, added to a good rest, generates both physical and psychological benefits. However, prolonged deprivation of it has opposite effects that are not long in becoming evident.

In this article we will see what insomnia is and how we can fight it through healthy habits to apply every day.

• Related article: "The top 7 sleep disorders"

What is insomnia?

The problem with insomnia is having difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or a combination of both. As a consequence, the person gets little or no sleep at night and is likely to feel tired at dawn. which causes a poor performance in the activities of the day when being sleepy, with lack of energy and irritable.

Insomnia can be acute or chronic. The acute is characterized by its short duration (days or weeks), which is generated by problems of the daily life, whether it is work stress, family or personal conflicts, the change of schedule when traveling, etc.

On the other hand, chronic insomnia lasts for more than a month caused by some disease that the person suffer, side effect of any medication, as well as other substances: caffeine, nicotine, alcoholic beverages, drugs, etc.

• You may be interested: "Circadian Rhythm Disorders: Causes, Symptoms, and Effects"

A public health problem

Currently, around 40% of the population in Mexico suffers from insomnia, according to Dr. Marisela Durán Gutiérrez, in charge of the Sleep Clinic of the Civil Hospital of Guadalajara.

In addition, it highlights the importance of taking care of the condition, since it can seriously affect causing road accidents due to drowsiness and slow reaction speed; poor work or school performance due to attention, concentration and memory problems; emotional imbalance: stress, anxiety, depression, irritability.

On the other hand, insomnia is associated with an increased probability of suffering from obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and arterial hypertension, among other diseases caused by the decrease in defenses.

It should be noted that people who sleep less than five hours a night are four times more likely to develop type two diabetes mellitus, and 45% more likely to have a heart attack, according to Alejandro Jiménez Genchi, coordinator of the Sleep Clinic of the National Institute of Psychiatry.

How to fight it?

To avoid insomnia becoming a problem as much as possible, it is useful to follow the recommendations outlined below.

1. Modify your sleeping habits

You can start by going to bed early at a set time to get used to it. It is advisable to sleep between seven or eight hours, so it is also important to establish a regular time to wake up.

Keep an eye on the weekends and avoid excessive trips because they misadjust the established schedule. Once in bed, try not to be distracted by the television or cell phone, as these can keep you awake and delay sleep.

2. Avoid high consumption of coffee, tobacco and alcohol

Caffeine is a strong stimulant that can alter sleep, you can find it in coffee, tea, soft drinks, among others.

On the other hand, with regard to tobacco, people who smoke take longer to fall asleep and wake up more frequently, in compared with those who do not smoke, this due to a small withdrawal syndrome, while, as for alcohol, the presence of the same in the blood disrupts the sleep cycle and causes intermittent or too early awakening, according to Melgosa (2008).

3. Do physical exercise

Sedentary lifestyle, for obvious reasons, provides little physical fatigue. Intense or regular exercise, in addition to helping to reduce stress, will provide you with well-being and a deep and continuous sleep; it also raises the daytime body temperature and lowers the nighttime, which induces sleep.

However, it is advisable to carry out the activity hours before going to bed, instead of doing it immediately before, since it does not induce sleep immediately.

4. Try to eat early

Digestive activity due to late dinner can cause difficulty sleeping, so it is advisable to eat little and early dinner, approximately two hours before going to bed. On the other hand, strong or spicy foods intercept the sleep process. If choosing a suitable low-carb dinner is difficult for you, you can ask a nutrition professional for advice.

5. Try not to sleep

Yes, you read that right, try not to sleep. Because the more attempts you make to fall asleep, the more effort and perseverance, the more difficult it will be for you.

Sleep is a natural thing that you cannot catch or generate yourself. It's similar if you try to make yourself hungry or thirsty, it just doesn't work that way. Sleep must come naturally, so if you have tried by all means to fall asleep without success, better do the opposite, try not to sleep. For example, starting to read a good book until the dream finally and without waiting for it catches you.

6. Seek professional help

Finally, if insomnia persists due to a particular situation that you are going through, it will always be an option to ask for help. The psychologist will evaluate your difficulty and will be able to indicate if it will be enough to solve it with psychotherapy, or if you will need medical support.

Conclution

Sleeping is not a luxury, there is even a correlation between good sleep and longevity, according to a report published in Psychosomatic Medicine (Dew et al., 2003), which is why it is very important to attend to this need that generates insomnia, to modify our sleep habits, as well as our lifestyle. Because sleeping is the cheapest way to take a step towards a full and healthy life.

Bibliographic references:

• Dew, M. TO. et al. (2003). Healthy older adults' sleep predicts all-cause mortality at 4 to 19 years of follow-up. Psychosomatic Medicine, 65: 63-73.
• Loera, M. (2018). In Mexico, 40 percent of the population suffers from insomnia. Retrieved on January 4, 2019, from the University of Guadalajara: http://www.udg.mx/es/noticia/mexico-40-por-ciento-poblacion-sufre-insomnio-0.
• Mejía, X. (January 5, 2018). Increase alert in cases of insomnia; specialist says it is epidemic. Excelsior. Recovered from https://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2018/01/05/1211675
• Melgosa, J. (2008). How to have a healthy mind. Madrid: Safeliz.