Some comrades may experience difficulty falling asleep, frequent awakening, excessive early awakening, etc. after moving from low-altitude areas to high-altitude areas. The low air pressure and low oxygen content in the air can easily lead to hypoxia in the human body. Hypoxia in the body will damage brain cells and cerebral cortex cells, and cause neuroregulation disorders, which will lead to a series of sleep problems. If you are in a state of insomnia for a long time, it is easy to reduce the body’s immunity, causing symptoms such as headache, dizziness, tinnitus, memory loss, and even neurasthenia, depression and other diseases.
If officers and soldiers have sleep disorders after going to the plateau, the following points can be used to improve sleep quality:
Appropriate oxygen inhalation. Compared with the awake period, when a person falls asleep, there is a lack of respiratory stimulation, an increase in airway resistance, a decrease in body sensitivity, a decrease in pulmonary ventilation, and a decrease in blood oxygen saturation. It is recommended that comrades in arms take appropriate oxygen before going to bed to help improve sleep and avoid severe hypoxemia.
Create a suitable sleeping environment. When sleeping, try to keep the sleeping environment as quiet as possible away from light and at a suitable temperature. Comrades with sleep disorders can try to wear noise-cancelling headphones, shading eye masks, etc. to help themselves improve sleep quality.
Regular work and rest. Irregular sleep can easily lead to insomnia, dreaminess, restlessness, irritability and so on. It is recommended that comrades try to avoid staying up late and overwork, and fix the time for getting up early and falling asleep to form a good biological clock. If you need to train at night for a long time, you can sleep 3 to 4 hours before training, and supplement sleep after training.
Eat healthy. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that if the stomach is not in harmony, it means lying down, which means that gastrointestinal discomfort will cause poor sleep. It is recommended that the comrades eat dinner as light as possible, and eat until they are full, so as to avoid affecting sleep due to gastrointestinal discomfort. Foods such as peppers and garlic can easily stimulate the gastrointestinal tract. Foods such as potatoes, vermicelli, beans, and sweet potatoes will produce more gas during the digestion process, which can easily cause abdominal distension. You should eat as little as possible before going to bed. If you feel hungry before going to bed, snack on cereal, milk, nuts, and more. In addition, do not drink strong tea, coffee and other beverages before going to bed.
Relax yourself. Negative emotions such as tension and anxiety can affect falling asleep and make sleep lighter. Comrades in arms should eliminate the fear of insomnia. Before going to bed, they can relax their body and mind and help them fall asleep by listening to soft music, counting repeatedly (preferably counting down), and abdominal breathing.
Rational exercise. In daily life, many people promote sleep through exercise. It is recommended that comrades in arms arrange their exercise time during the day, and do not engage in strenuous exercise 2 to 3 hours before going to bed. Strenuous exercise can easily make people excited, making it difficult to fall asleep.
Medication. If the sleep disorder is serious and the above non-drug intervention methods are ineffective, drugs can be taken rationally under the guidance of a doctor.
(Author: Western Theater General Hospital) (Zeng Xiaoli)
(Liberation Army Daily)