BENGALURU: Hitting the sack is the ultimate unwinding mantra for many. Nothing reinvigorates the weary mind and body as some good sleep, says ancient wisdom. However, nowadays, there is a growing tribe that indulges in ‘bedtime me time’ before zonking out. “Revenge bedtime procrastination,” the experts call it.
Scrolling through the phone, watching films, chatting, music, gaming... it could be anything that excites one. Reports say the term ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’ comes from the Chinese expression báofuxíng áoyé. That is, anything done as a “retaliation” against one’s hectic schedule during the day. “I stay up late, mostly hooked to my mobile phone,” says content strategist Siddharth K. “Most of my days are drab.
The only leisure time I get is at night, and I look for some disconnection from the mundane work-life cycle. Dozing off into slumber with the mobile phone on my chest has become a habit.” Not all choose not to sleep at a healthy hour. “I have been struggling to get a good sleep in the last few months,” says city-based Pooja Das. “I often wake up within hours of dozing off, mostly due to the noise from the metro construction.”
Both sound like classic cases of sleep deprivation, experts say. Sleeplessness or insomnia has, in fact, been flagged as a major health issue in the modern world - a ‘global sleep epidemic’. And, this year, the World Sleep Day (March 17) theme is a timely reminder to all those night owls out there: ‘Sleep is Essential for Health’.
Insufficient sleep impacts cognitive effects. Poor memory and lack of concentration are common problems. “Most people don’t realise how serious sleep deprivation is. In fact, numerous studies find that people who are sleep deprived for consecutive days have trouble focusing. In some instances, worse than people who are intoxicated,” explains Dr Arvind Bhateja, lead neurosurgeon at Sparsh Hospital.
Sleep-deprived individuals may also exhibit risky behaviour. They often fail to consider all aspects of a problem. “Some of the biggest disasters in the last few years have all been attributed to sleep deprivation. In the case of the Bhopal gas tragedy, and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the people who were in charge were found to have been sleep deprived,” says Dr Pavan Yadav, lead consultant, interventional pulmonology & lung transplantation, Aster RV Hospital.
Besides insomnia, doctors note, cases of obstructive sleep apnoea, a serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts, are also rising. “In India, if a person is snoring loudly, it is assumed that they are having a sound sleep. But contrary to that belief, snoring happens when a person isn’t able to breathe comfortably.
Therefore, they won’t be able to get a good night’s sleep and might feel daytime drowsiness,” says Dr Yadav, adding that such issues could also lead to cases of hypersomnia. “Patients with hypersomnia may sleep for more than 10 hours a day and still wake up tired. No amount of sleep helps them wake up refreshed,” he adds.