INSOMNIACS, WAKE UP!
ERRATIC SLEEPING PATTERNS MAY BE INEVITABLE, BUT WITH A FEW LIFESTYLE CHANGES, THEIR ADVERSE IMPACT ON HEALTH CAN BE MINIMISED, IF NOT ELIMINATED.
WORKING LONG hours to meet deadlines or hold business meetings may be unavoidable for today’s executives. But when such schedules add up to erratic sleeping patterns, it is time to wake up to potential health hazards. If you are feeling too irritable too often, finding it difficult to focus or feeling depressed, suffering from reflux (reverse flow of food that results in gastric problems and stomach pain), acidity and heartburn, gaining weight and most importantly, gaining belly fat, do not ignore these symptoms. One key issue that can cause all or some of them is loss of sleep, doctors tell us.
Dr P. Aparna Reddy, consultant pulmonologist and paediatrician at Hyderabad-headquartered Rainbow Hospitals, has studied this subject in depth and seen these symptoms in both adults and children. According to her, “Sleep helps modulate the neuroendocrine function and glucose metabolism. If there is erratic or poor sleep on a regular basis, it can trigger a hormonal imbalance, increase diabetes risks due to decreased insulin sensitivity and show up in increased belly fat.” Poor sleep also breaks the circadian rhythm, she adds, which means the body’s biological ability to synchronise day and night functionality gets disturbed. If left unchecked, one may suffer from heart conditions, obesity, high BP, diabetes and even stroke.
Sleep repairs and reorganises the brain, and restores brain energy, especially when it is tuned to the body clock. It means six hours of sleep during the day is not the same as the sleep you get at night, including three-four cycles of REM (rapid eye movement) and non-REM sleep. However, a few lifestyle changes such as avoiding work schedules that constantly clash with your internal body clock could go a long way. It should be coupled with regular exercise, yoga, walking and a healthy diet.
All these are worth a try instead of suffering from the conditions mentioned above or reaching a stage when you need a doctor to do a sleep analysis to measure how much and how well you sleep and then prescribe some suitable treatment.