Learn to sleep well (for real) with these super helpful tips

Getting up early is torture for many peopleBut, beyond the so-called chronotypes – which divide us into morning (or larks) and evening (or owls) – the essential thing is to get enough sleep. However, the Spanish we don't sleep the recommended seven or eight hours by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. According to a recent study by the University of Murcia, our average daily rest is 6.43 hours a day. And that lack of sleep affects one special way to women (45%) compared to men (30%).

Nevertheless, measuring sleep and its quality is not so simple. "There are standards about the hours of sleep that you have to sleep, but it's like we're talking about how much money to earn", explains Dr. Milagros Merino, associate of the Clinical Neurophysiology Unit of the Hospital La Paz in Madrid." A good rest depends on many things. Every person needs a number of hours determined and this need is genetically marked. "

A essential factor when assessing quality Sleep is age: an adult does not need to sleep the same as a baby or a three-year-old. The need for sleep decreases with age. In children it is very high, because during sleep it decreases with age. In children it is very high, because during sleep the brain matures and memory and learning are consolidated. Those hours are decreasing until the age of 50. And from that age and when we reach old age, it is not that they sleep less, is that you sleep differently: more during the day and less at night, but overall the sleep rhythm is the same as at 50 years.

In women influence an additional factor, menopause: with this decreases progesterone, the same hormone that produces drowsiness during pregnancy and that it has an essential role in the deep sleep phase.

The price of insomnia

What is clear is that Spaniards spend less time sleeping than Europeans, despite the fact that we started work at the same time. The consequences of not getting enough sleep are irritability,lack of concentration, memory problems and forgetfulness, or forgetfulness dangerous behind the wheel or in tasks that require attention. But, in addition, not sleeping has cardiovascular consequences, with a higher risk of strokes and heart attacks, high blood pressure, appearance of dementias with age and immune problems.

"Is very negative not only sleep little, but to do it against the schedule. For example, shift changes are detrimental. We know they are linked to higher number of infections and that the tumors in these people have a worse evolution. "And the worst thing is that adults who rest little and badly are, often, responsible for children who sleep little and badly. Children are especially sensitive to lack of sleep: if they don't sleep they don't learn.

Sometimes, this concern can lead to diagnoses of deficit disorder of attention and hyperactivity, when the problem is in the lack of sleep. Common sleep problems affect a third of the population, although up to 70% will suffer from an occasional problem throughout their lives. But what is a good sleep? "It is to have a sufficient and quality sleep, taking into account that we do not have the same needs when we work as when we are on vacation, when we do not have so much stress and we do not feel the need to rest so much", explains Dr. Milagros Merino.

To say that we have slept well we have to wake up with the feeling of having rested. If we don't feel it, it's because we lack sleep. Ideally, the sleep is stable and not waking up all night, because if there are too many awakenings, we we will get up with the feeling of not having rested.

The importance of dinner

You also have to avoid large or too few dinners and very close to bedtime. The important thing is to apply good sense: have regular hours and avoid everything that stimulates us or can negatively influence the end of the day, like an argument. If in 15 or 20 minutes you cannot fall asleep, you have to get out of bed and do some creativity, how to listen to soft music.

Time to disconnect

And how do we get that stable and restful sleep? The first thing, if you have insomnia, is make no effort to fall asleep, because then we get the opposite. We cannot make efforts to sleep, just as we cannot make efforts to have an appetite: the appetite comes. "What you have to learn is to disconnect, to tell ourselves: the day is over and worries are overIn fact, people with insomnia often have a certain obsessive character which also covers everything related to sleep.

If anxiety is your problem, there are some purchases that can be very beneficial to help you rest at night. After the pandemic, it has been shown that 40% of people have worsened the quality of their sleep. The arrival of heavy blankets on the market, which we have already seen in the US, but which Blanky signature has brought to Spain, it can be a good alternative to help rest. Through the Deep Touch Pressure (DTP) technique, a gentle localized pressure on the muscles, the body relaxes as if it were a massage. This technique manages to calm the nervous system and obtain a great feeling of well-being and even, with daily use, regulate the sleep cycle.