VIJAYAWADA: How many of you are aware that lack of adequate sleep at night will have its impact on overall quality of life? Nowadays, majority of the people in our society are sleep deprived owing to personal and professional stress. Most importantly, stress is not letting people to have quality and undisturbed sleep.
According to physicians, good sleep plays a critical role in overall well-being and protecting one against cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity to boosting neurocognitive functions, mental health and longevity, according to doctors. A healthy person who manages to sleep uninterrupted for five hours will wake up feeling fresh.
Keeping television, laptop and other electronic items in the bedroom must be avoided at all costs as these affect sleep. Also, eating right is very important for mental peace, doctors suggest.
“The brain needs to shut down for a few hours every day. This does not mean that it stops functioning when we are asleep, but there are not external inputs for it to be continually stimulated,” said K Venugopal, a neurologist at a multispeciality hospital.
When a person’s sleep is disturbed on a regular basis, it leads to reduced functioning during the day, and this could trigger or worsen a mild psychiatric problem, he said. “One of the earliest symptoms people with mental health issues complaint is disturbed sleep or lack of sleep, an early indicator of a relapse,” Venugopal added.
Many studies have stated that sleep deprivation in students has lead to more extreme things such as dropping out of class. “Sleep deprivation also has negative consequences which include inability to concentrate, poor grades, drowsy-driving incidents, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and even suicide attempts,” said M Madhavi, a child psychiatrist.
Lack of sleep in school and college students is a very apparent problem. The effects of it range from mental and physical health to a decline in academic performance. “With academic demands and extracurricular activities, the students are going non-stop until they fall asleep at night. There is not enough emphasis on the importance of sleep, as there is with nutrition and exercise,” she said.
Majority of the students get tired, but they don’t realise they are actually sleep deprived. And if you ask them to stay off an activity, they would rather not. They would rather give up sleep than an activity, she added.