Do Caraded have an eight -hour sleep to avoid health problems? Experts explain why it is important to wake up rested.
Sleep is still a mysteryDespite the fundamental thing that is for our health. Most of us pass approximately A third of our life that sleepsBut you may need more or less eight hours a night. This is what they say scientists and sleep doctors on the time you should move on to sleep.
“The reasons are not entirely clearBut it is essential that we all do, “says Dr. Rafael Pelayo, specialist at Stanford University.” It is the most natural form of cars -cura We have
Once people sleep less than six hours Or more than nine hours on average, the risk of health problems increases, Atwood said, but each person is different. When calculating the necessary hours of sleep, it is important to take into account its quality, says Pelayo and adds that you want to wake up feeling renewed. “If someone tells me he sleeps many hours But he gets tired, something that goes wrong, “says Pelayo.”
The amount of sleep we need changes
The amount of sleep we need Change during our life. Babies are the ones who need the most, between 14 and 17 hours. “When we are children and children, as we grow up so quickly, we have to sleep much more,” says Atwood. The National Sleep Foundation It recommends that most adults between 26 and 64 sleep between seven and nine hours. The oldest adults can sleep a little less and young people aged between 16 and 25.
Human beings cross different sleep phases About every 90 minutes. In the first part of the night, according to Atwood, most of the cycle is a dream of slow or deep sleep waves, which is essential to repair and restore the body. It is also when the growth hormone is released.
In the last hours of the night, the Most of the sleep cycle Corresponds to the dream of rapid eye movements, or dreams of dreams, important for learning and consolidation of memory, that is, the process through which short -term memory Become a long -term memory.
Children sleep more deeply, about 50% of the night. According to Atwood, this decreases in adolescence, because Our body does not need the same type of repair And restoration. Another interesting thing happens in puberty: sleep differences begin to appear according to sex.
Do women need to sleep more than men?
Research They don’t show that women need to sleep more, But they sleep a slightly higher medium than that of men, says Atwood. Begins at an early age. Although they have the same needs of sleep, teenagers seem to sleep less than male teenagers, says Pelayo. In addition, teenagers tend to complain more frequently.
When women become the first mothersUsually they take care of newborns all night more frequently, which implies less hours of sleep, according to Allison Harvey, clinical psychologist and professor who studies the dream at the University of Berkeley (USA).
HormonesThey can also influence the quantity and the quality of the sleep of women during pregnancy and menopause. According to experts, women may also need to sleep more just before their menstrual cycle.
When looking for help to sleep
You will know if you are not sleeping enough if you feel mathematical, irritable and ungraded. In the long term, those minor symptoms They can become serious, even fatal problems.
“If you don’t sleep enough or you have insomnia Or apnea of unhappy sleep, increases the risk of depression, “says Atwood”. Your immune system is compromised. Increases the risk of Alzheimer’s. “
If you sleep the hours recommended every nightBut you still feel tired when you get up, you can consider the idea of going to your doctor. They can exclude other health problems that can affect sleep, explains Atwood. But if the problems persist, it may be useful to go aa Sleep specialist.
