“Sleep one is a necessary process, it is not optional”, says neuroscientist Andrei Mayer, professor at the Department of Physiological Sciences at UFSC (Federal University of Santa Catarina) and presenter of the podcast A Culpa é do Cérebro.
With the stress of everyday life and habits that impair sleep, it is normal for this period of rest to be affected. The problem is that a bad night’s sleep impacts all the activities of the next day.
“An adult needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night. This story that sleeping just 5 hours is enough is bullshit,” says Mayer.
But this time is not enough if the quality is not good. It is important to go through all stages of the process, which include deep sleep, when hormones linked to cell growth and restoration are released, and REM sleep, which is the period of intense brain activity when dreams and fixation occur. of our memory.
In the quest for better nights, many people look for sleeping pills — such as benzodiazepines (diazepam, alprazolam, midazolam) and imidazopyridines (zolpidem) —, drink a dose of alcohol to relax, or take melatonin. But sometimes these substances get in the way more than they help.
The ideal, according to the neuroscientist, is to change the routine and include some practices known as sleep hygiene, which include exposing yourself more to natural light during the day, avoiding drinking coffee after 3 pm and having dinner two hours before bed.
Sleepless nights have a short-term and long-term impact. “Sleep impacts practically every function of our body and our brain. So everything a person has to do during the day will be affected by the duration and quality of sleep they had the night before and also that they have been having in recent years. years. If the person has to study, take care of the children, train, maintain a diet, deal with people, in short, everything will depend on how he slept”, emphasizes
Some of the immediate symptoms, i.e. the day after a night of insomnia, are difficulty concentrating — an attention deficit disorder similar to that of a person with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) — depressed mood, low mood, anxiety and lack of motivation for any activity that requires physical or mental effort.
“In the long term, poor sleep can predispose a person to chronic diseases such as diabetes, metabolic disorders, some cancers and Alzheimer’s,” warns Mayer.
Below, the neuroscientist comments on some habits that impact sleep quality.
Zolpidem and other sleeping pills
“Currently, we don’t have any drug that induces natural sleep”, defines Mayer.
For the neuroscientist, the use of any sleeping medication should be seen as something palliative, just to deal with the problem punctually and, of course, always with the follow-up of a doctor.
“Insomnia will only be resolved when the person readjusts his routine. He has to learn to live in a different way, so that he can sleep naturally at the right time and with the right quality.”
Instead of going to the doctor to ask for a prescription, Mayer clarifies that the ideal is to make an appointment and a check-up to investigate if the patient has any comorbidity that is disturbing sleep.
“Maybe this person is sleeping poorly due to some health condition. It could be an airway problem that prevents him from breathing properly during sleep, for example. It could also be a mental health issue, an anxiety disorder. necessary to follow up with a psychologist”, he says.
“A person who relies on sleeping pills like zolpidem or benzodiazepines needs to know that the sleep they are getting is not good. Is it better than not getting any sleep at all? Yes. But actually they are sleeping poorly every day.” alert.
melatonin
Melatonin is a hormone produced by our own body when night begins to fall and natural lighting decreases. This substance induces sleep and can be produced in the laboratory and sold as a food supplement.
According to Mayer, synthetic melatonin can actually help you sleep better, but its effect is very small.
“Melatonin can help you sleep at the right time, with a better quality of sleep and for a longer duration. However, meta-analysis studies show that its effect on all these parameters is very small. To give you an idea, a study of 2005 pointed out that latency is reduced by four minutes, that is, the person will be able to fall asleep four minutes earlier. Sleep efficiency increases, but only by 2.2%, and total sleep duration increased by only 13 minutes”, he says.
“Another study, published in 2013, showed almost the same thing. Sleep latency, that is, the time it takes a person to fall asleep, improves by around 7 minutes and total sleep duration increases of 8 minutes.”
That is, melatonin helps a little, but alone it won’t make much difference.
On possible side effects of using synthetic melatonin, Mayer says there is no robust scientific evidence. However, he reveals that reports of headache, nausea, anxiety and nightmares are common.
Another important aspect, he points out, is that the amount of synthetic melatonin that a person takes is much greater than what our body produces.
In addition, the dosage described on the packaging of these supplements is not always correct.
“A study published in 2017/2018 showed that there is a great variability in the dose that is in these bottles sold in pharmacies. This research evaluated the content and amount of melatonin from 31 manufacturers and found a variability that ranged from -83% of what the manufacturer advertised on the bottle up to +478%.And it was a variability between manufacturers and between batches of the same manufacturer. In some cases, the researchers even found substances other than melatonin, such as serotonin.
alcohol to relax
Alcohol interferes with the nervous system and causes a feeling of relaxation, so some people have the habit of taking a dose before bed.
“In our brain, alcohol stimulates GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter. This slows our movements and speech, for example. The person can fall asleep more easily”, he says.
However, points out Mayer, this does not mean that the person will sleep well. On the contrary.
“Many studies show that alcohol affects the structure of sleep, which in short means that it worsens the quality of sleep,” he reports.
“The individual will wake up more often during the night. He may not even remember it, because he was under the influence of alcohol. He thinks he slept well because he became unconscious quickly, but that’s not what we want in sleep. Our sleep it is made up of several phases and we have to go through all of them for a specific period of time. If you do something that disturbs this structure, you harm sleep in general.”
room temperature
Sleeping in a cooler environment, ranging from 16°C to 20°C, is ideal for sleeping.
“Our body temperature varies throughout the day by around 1°C, ranging from 36.1°C to 37.2°C. It is higher during the day and lower at dawn. This means that it is easier to people to induce and maintain sleep at lower temperatures”, he explains.
That’s why Mayer recommends choosing your bedding well and paying attention to whether wearing warmer pajamas and socks isn’t disturbing your sleep.
company in bed
Sharing a bed can be a problem. After all, a person or even an animal moves during the night and warms sheets and pillows.
“That will depend on whether the person snores, if they are very restless, and even the size of the bed,” says Mayer.
As the quality of sleep affects our mood and our social relationships, the neuroscientist says that if a couple is sleeping poorly together, it is better to consider sleeping in beds or even in separate rooms.
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