It’s no surprise to me that a new study published this week identified the “golden hour” from 10 pm to 11 pm as a sweet spot to fall asleep.
Based on data from more than 88,000 participants at UK Biobank, the study, published in the European Heart Journal β Digital Health, found that those who fell asleep between 10 pm and 10:59 pm fell asleep. We found that they had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke than those who did. It turns off early or late, why should I do that?
I think it’s because about 80% of the population is genetically programmed to be sleepy during that golden hour. Wake up after about 8 hours, Between 6am and 7am, and to stay healthy, we need to sleep in sync with our natural circadian rhythm, the sleep cycle.
Of course, some people who deviate from these norms, owls who get sleepy at midnight, are surprisingly not mentioned in this study. For those people, there is no benefit to shifting bedtime to reach this early “sweet spot.” The same is true for the happiest natural hibari, which sleeps and wakes up a little earlier. Again, they need to stick to their natural sleep patterns.
This is far from the first study to show how sensitive we are to sleep timing. Or how important is it to stick to the same sleep / wake cycle every day? This is because the body clock is synchronized by external factors, mainly the rising and falling of the sun.
When we wake up, the light hits our eyes, which synchronizes our bodies with the time of day we are. We want to say that humans are solar-powered because we are in sync with the cycle of light and dark and the destructive things that throw our body clock out.
Sleeping much later or earlier than we are accustomed to will ruin our body clock and circadian rhythms. For example, in the Covid blockade, many of us watched Netflix or glued to social media and slept later, causing circadian rhythms to get out of sync and sleep even more disturbed.
One global experiment to show this is the surge in heart attacks seen as the clock advances in the spring, with a 24% surge in heart attacks the next day.This is because we lost an hour of sleep Caused confusion To our body clock.
But why do sleep disorders increase the risk of heart disease and stroke? There are many links between sleep disorders and heart disease. One of the most obvious is that sleep disorders raise blood pressure.
The purpose of sleep is to activate the parasympathetic nervous system for relaxation, growth and repair, recovery and immunity.
But when you’re sleep deprived, you’re forced into a state of sympathetic dominance. In other words, it’s basically fighting or running away. You can see stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline spikes. Your heart rate will skyrocket and your blood pressure will skyrocket. Maintaining it for an extended period of time increases arterial wear and increases the risk of heart attack.
It is also known that sleep plays a fundamental role in insulin regulation (the hormone that controls blood sugar levels). Therefore, lack of sleep can lead to changes in insulin sensitivity. There have been some great studies showing that just one night without sleep can lead to a type of prediabetes. As a result, insulin did not wipe out glucose in the most effective way. We know that diabetes increases the risk of heart disease and stroke because too much sugar in the bloodstream can damage blood vessels.
Sleep also plays a fundamental role in cleaning arteries. Sleep disorders can increase the risk of atherosclerosis, where the arteries become clogged with plaque.
Studies show that women are at an even higher risk of heart attack through sleep disorders, which can extend to the age group studied by the study. 43 to 74 years old. The majority of women in this age group would have experienced menopause and would have increased their risk of cardiovascular disease.
However, heart disease and stroke are not the only effects of disturbed body clocks and disturbed sleep. As recent research shows, sleep plays a very important role in every aspect of our health.
Yes What you can do to get the best quality sleep?? First and foremost, you need to maintain normal sleep / wake time.
The body clock is a wonderful clock that is kept in sync by external factors.
The problem is that if you constantly chop up your bedtime and wake-up times, your body clock won’t know what’s going on.
You need a really good bedtime routine. During the last hour before bedtime, do something simple, such as turning off all devices such as TVs, laptops, and phones. It reduces not only the mental and emotional stimuli, but also the accompanying blue light stimuli. If you are looking at work emails that stimulate your psychic abilities and drive you even more awake.
We would like to participate in relaxing activities such as gentle stretching, listening to soothing music, reading nice books and dimming the lights.
You have to do the exact opposite in the morning. Morning light is essential It shows that our body clock has time to start the day, turn on the biological daytime process, and turn off the nighttime process. So when you wake up, turn on the bright lights. Walking for 10 minutes at 10 am improves your mental health and keeps you asleep.
Eighty percent of the population needs 7 to 8 hours of sleep, so if you go to bed between 10 pm and 11 pm, you wake up between 6 am and 7 am. But again, it is influenced by genetics. Just as some people naturally want to go to bed early, others need it, while others want to get up a little later.
People are often worried about waking up at night, but it’s perfectly normal to wake up several times at night in sync with a sleep cycle that lasts 90 minutes to 2 hours. Most of us are unaware of it, but if you do, I tell people to stay in bed. Even if you can’t fall asleep right away, there are benefits to resting.
But when sleep fragmentation is a problem, it’s usually because people are worried and ruminating, and of course worried about not being able to sleep can lead to a virtuous cycle. At sleep school, for example, there is a little distance and I’m worried.
You want to return to a quiet wakefulness. So you may notice a touch of duvet on your toes to help fix your mind’s attention at that moment. Alternatively, you can use your breath as an anchor. But this isn’t designed to put you to sleep β it only allows you to let go of those thoughts and rest your body.
As Sharon Walker told me
Dr. Guymedose is a co-founder and clinical leader of. Sleep school
Daytime secrets for a perfect night’s sleep
Helen Chandler-Wild
7:30 am
Open the curtain as soon as you wake up, says Linda Geddes, author of “Chasing the Sun: A New Science of Sunlight and How It Shapes Our Body and Mind.”
“Get that flash into your eyes as soon as possible,” she says. βThe cells behind the eyes are connected to the body’s master clock in the brain,β she says, which acts as a daily reset and helps you know when to fall asleep at night.
8 am
After getting dressed, leave the bedroom that day. Working in bed may compete your mind when you try to sleep at night, as the brain builds a relationship between location and activity. This is an important teaching of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for insomnia, and a 2015 meta-analysis proved to help improve the quantity and quality of sleep.
12:00 pm
Have your last cup of coffee around noon. The half-life of caffeine is about 6 hours. If you drink coffee at 3 pm, half of the caffeine will remain in the system at 9 pm.
1:00 pm
Eat a main dish at lunchtime, according to the Charity The Sleep Council. Eating large amounts of food just before bedtime can cause discomfort and indigestion.
5 pm
According to a 2012 review, people who exercise regularly sleep faster and sleep longer. But don’t get too close to bedtime. Vigorous exercise within 90 minutes of sleep can make getting off difficult.
6:30 pm
Alcohol also has a big effect on sleep, so if you want a glass of wine, it’s best to drink it in the evening.
7:30 pm
Geddes says he lowers the level of light in the house to let the brain know that it’s evening.
9 pm
Open the bedroom window and make sure the air is cold by bedtime. A 2012 study found that warming up participants resulted in more awakenings and reduced sleep at night.
9:30 pm
Try a warm bath or shower 1-2 hours before bedtime. A sudden drop in temperature when you get out of the bath simulates a natural drop in body temperature at night. A 2019 meta-analysis found that a 10-minute bath had a positive effect on sleep quality.
10:30 pm
I sleep between 10 pm and 11 pm. According to a study published this week, people at bedtime had the lowest risk of heart problems.