We know the most immediate consequences of sleepless nights, such as physical and mental fatigue, reduced ability to concentrate and increased nervousness. And it is that sleep disorders, which affect 30% of the population, pose a risk to our health, generating, in addition to wear and tear, psychiatric diseases and cardiovascular conditions.
In addition, the problem is aggravated by the lack of health resources that means that people who suffer from these sleep disorders have to wait more than a year to receive adequate treatment.
What are sleep disorders
The difficulty in determining the problem that a person is suffering is greater if we take into account that there are more than a hundred different sleep disorders, although in general terms they can be grouped into four groups.
- Trouble falling asleep. It is about insomnia, a very frequent problem that prevents us from falling asleep.
- Trouble staying awake. It is the opposite problem of insomnia. The person who suffers from it tends to fall asleep at any time of the day or night, which ends up affecting her personal and work life.
- Problems keeping a regular schedule. This problem is generally suffered by those people who work shifts and prevents them from falling asleep at the scheduled time.
- Sleep interruption problems. They are sleep disorders that can include recurring nightmares, sleepwalking or night terrors, and it is a problem that children especially suffer from.
- Suffering from any of these sleep disorders poses an added danger to health, since it increases the risk of suffering a cardiovascular accident. Poor sleep is also related to weight gain, including obesity, and the onset of type 2 diabetes, as well as a greater tendency to fall into depression.
Good sleep habits
- While it is true that many of these sleep disorders require medical treatment, it is also true that there are some behaviors in our daily lives that can help us improve the quality of our sleep and thus get the rest we need.
- There are certain foods that help us sleep well, such as dairy products, eggs and cereals. So it is convenient to include them in our dinners that, as far as possible, should always be at the same time. Of course, it is necessary to avoid coffee or any other exciting drink after 5 pm, and alcohol, contrary to popular opinion, is a great enemy of restful sleep.
- Practicing physical exercise late in the afternoon helps us sleep well, and if the exercise is followed by a relaxing bath, that will make us go to bed stress- free and worry-free. Remember that it is not convenient to spend too much time in bed either, if you see that you do not fall asleep, do not keep turning around because you will worry more. Get up and sit in the chair while you read a few pages of a book, the important thing is that you associate the bed with the fact of sleeping well.