Despite the constant belief that a person needs 8 hours per day of continuous sleep, sleep experts disagree with that hypothesis, stressing that the number of hours of sleep required varies from one person to another depending on his age, mental and physical need, and that the same sleep pattern is not the same for everyone.
Sleep hours between myth and truth:
If you want to know how much you need and the nature of your pattern, you can achieve this by keeping a sleep diary for a week or two, and recording the number of hours of pure sleep away from the time spent lying in bed.
This procedure is usually recommended by many who are interested in getting 8 hours of sleep each night, although they may not need to, and may be concerned if their sleep goal is not achieved.
Regarding sleep patterns, have you ever woken up after midnight and not been able to sleep easily, so you decided to leave your bed for several hours before trying to sleep again? If you've done this before, you've had a bicycle sleep experience.
Two-phase sleep:
Sleep for one long period during the night without interruption is described as "single-phase sleep", while "two-phase sleep" is "fragmented sleep" in which a person divides his/her nap into two different periods.
According to some records and articles by sleep expert Dr. Rebecca Robbins, the majority of humans used this pattern of sleep before the industrial revolution and electric lighting, when humans slept shortly after sunset, then woke up after 4 or 5 hours to stay with their families or get some things done, and then went back to sleep a few more hours.
This pattern was followed until the beginning of the 19th century, and with the spread of the industrial revolution and the move towards time and clock dependence, in addition to the spread of artificial and then electric lighting by the end of that century, the rhythm of humans' biological clock changed, and artificial lighting allowed them to stay awake until late.
As they had to wake up at the same time in the morning to work, they soon began to cut off what they needed from the first period of sleep that had completely disappeared over time, and man only fell asleep at night.
According to UC Professor of Cognitive Sciences Sarah Mednick, humans are the only mammals that sleep at night routinely, an idea that can be described as modern, unlike all other mammals that sleep day and wake at night.
Types of dual-phase sleep:
For two types of bipolar sleep, the first falls under the title "first and second sleep" in which a person goes to bed early and falls asleep for a few hours, and then wakes up 1-3 hours, a period known as "observation or vigilance", before sleeping several hours again, the total of his sleep hours to 7-9 hours.
The second type is called "nap/nap", the first being a daytime snooze for an hour or more, and the second being at night for at least 5-6 hours, this pattern is common in many countries such as Italy and Spain.
Benefits of dual-phase sleep:
Many research indicate the benefits of the second type of biphasic sleep, based on two stages of napping, including:
- Improve perception and memory.
- Resuscitating the mind.
- Get better verbal and spatial memory.
- Ability to pay more attention.
- Relieve the feeling of sleepiness during the day.
- Increase stamina and develop some skills.
- Promote short-term athletic performance.
Tips for getting better sleep:
For its part, Robbins believes that this pattern of intermittent sleep has some risks, which can be confined to:
- Almost permanent feeling of sleepiness.
- Poor performance, whether in study or work.
- Fatigue.
- Exposure to car accidents or illness.
First tip:
The total number of their sleeping hours should be at least 7 hours per day, while napping should not be less than an hour to be ideal, and allow entry into the more refreshing "slow wave" phase.
Second tip:
The need to maintain low light during sleep, and not to use a mobile phone or computer during the waking period between first and second sleep, because their light sends to the brain messages telling him that the daily wake-up date has come.
Midnight hours are preferred by not getting out of bed and doing something quiet, such as reading a book, listening to audiobooks, meditation or yoga.
Finally, sleep should be maintained no matter how static it is, going to bed and waking up every morning at the same time until the weekends, giving the body a regular routine that it understands and can respond to.
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