Sleep is one of the most important aspects of life, occupying one-third of our time. Only through enough sleep can the human body supply enough energy to the body.
About sleep, you should have heard that eight hours is the best sleep time, also known as the “eight-hour sleep theory”. There are indeed many middle-aged and elderly people who firmly believe in the “eight-hour sleep theory”. In order to ensure that they have a healthy body and pursue the principle of “health preservation”, they arrange themselves strictly according to the eight-hour sleep time every day, whether they go to bed early or not. Go to bed late as long as you can ensure eight hours of sleep, and if you can’t sleep, you have to force yourself to close your eyes and rest in bed for eight hours. As a result, I found that not only the black and white of my sleep were reversed, but the quality of my sleep also deteriorated, and I always had insomnia and dreams. What’s going on?
The “eight-hour sleep theory” has been overturned, and the important thing is not the sleep time but the sleep cycle
The eight-hour sleep we said at the beginning is actually based on the state of the human body and the Per capita sleep time is obtained by comprehensive analysis of quality. I don’t know when eight hours of sleep has become a commonly used recommended sleep time. There are even many people who have destroyed their normal sleep patterns in pursuit of eight hours, greatly affecting the quality of sleep. It can be seen that every person’s constitution is different, and their needs for sleep are also different. We should not blindly pursue sleep time and reduce sleep quality.
According to the survey and research report of the National Sleep Center: If you want to ensure sleep quality, it is not important whether you sleep for 8 hours or not, the important thing is to get enough sleep for 4-5 sleeps cycle.
Our sleep is divided into rapid first movement sleep period and rapid eye movement sleep period, the two cycles appear alternately, and the completion of one alternation is a cycle , A cycle is about 90-100 minutes. Our sleep cycle is 4-5, that is, 6-10 hours. Everyone’s physique is different, so the sleep cycle required is also different. The main thing is to ensure the quality of sleep according to your own situation. The best time to sleep is to keep yourself in a state of full energy.
If middle-aged and elderly people blindly pursue 8 hours of sleep, it will not only lead to excessive stress and reduce sleep quality, but may also exceed the sleep time required by the body, thus causing harm to the body.
Middle-aged and elderly people over 50 should not be snooze, too much sleep will hurt the body
①Increased risk of dementia
According to a study published by the Miami Miller University School of Medicine in Miami, Florida, USA, sleeping more than 9 hours a day or more Over a long period of time, language ability decreases by 20% and memory decreases by 13%, which increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, middle-aged and elderly people should not sleep too much. They should regulate their biological clocks and sleep to meet their own needs, so as not to increase the risk of dementia.
②Increase the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases
According to the research results of Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences: Insufficient sleep time or sleep Excessive time increases the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and the risk of death. Sleeping more than 10 hours a day increases the risk by 41%, and sleeping within 6-7 hours has the smallest risk. This is because our long-term sleep will put the brain and body in a state of imbalance, which will increase cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
It can be seen that sleep time is very important to the health of middle-aged and elderly people. Sleeping more and sleeping less have certain effects on the body. Harm, middle-aged and elderly people should maintain a sleep time of 6-7 hours, go to sleep before 11 o’clock in the evening, and get up at 6-7 o’clock in the morning.
All in all, the quality of sleep is not judged by sleep time, but mainly depends on your sleep quality. Middle-aged and elderly people over 50 years old have reduced sleep, and may have sleep disorders. If they blindly pursue sleep time, they will reduce sleep quality. Therefore, if middle-aged and elderly people want to ensure the quality of sleep, they first need to ensure that the sleep time meets their physical needs, that is, they will not feel tired and full of energy after waking up. You can do about 30 minutes of low-intensity exercise during the day, such as walking, tai chi, square dancing, etc. You can also drink a glass of milk before going to bed to promote sleep.
References:
1. “”8 hours of sleep” is actually wrong” Guangming.com 2021.2.5
2. “Don’t be “8 hours of sleep” Sleep theory “Cheat! Long-term sleep is not good, the most important reason is actually” · Popular Science China · 2021.2.4
3. “People will understand when they reach a certain age: if you want to be healthy, you must not” Greed”!”·Health Times·2021.9.4