The importance of sleep health

Sleep is never a physiological inertia used to "waste time", but is the core cornerstone that supports human immunity, cognition, metabolism and even emotional regulation. Its impact on health is much more important than regular diet and regular exercise.

Last week, I accompanied my Internet operator Fa Xiao to the neurology department for treatment of migraine. The 32-year-old man squatted in cold sweat at the door of the clinic when the pain hit him. He couldn't even hold the iced American drink in his hand that he usually uses to extend his life. The doctor asked him about his daily routine and found out that he only slept 4 to 5 hours a day for half a year and had to get up even on weekends to change his plan. The first thing written on the prescription was not painkillers, but "go to bed at 23:00 and wake up at 7:00 for 21 consecutive days. If the sleep time is insufficient, all painkillers will be halved."

Don't tell me, my first reaction at the time was that the doctor was making a fuss out of a molehill. He just slept less. The young man just got over it. It wasn’t until I read the latest research from the International Society of Sleep Medicine that I realized that this statement was not alarmist. Nowadays, there are two completely opposite arguments on the Internet. One group says that "elites only sleep for 4 hours" and that sleeping too much is a waste of life. ； Another school of thought says, "Not sleeping enough for eight hours is a chronic suicide," which scares many people into feeling anxious while lying in bed without falling asleep. In fact, objectively speaking, both statements have basis but are too absolute: It is true that less than three thousandths of the population carries DEC2 gene mutations. They only need 4-6 hours of sleep a day to stay energetic throughout the day without any health damage. You can think of many entrepreneurs who publicly say that they sleep little, most of them are such chosen ones. ； But for the remaining 99.7% of ordinary people, if they sleep less than 6 hours for a long time, the first thing that will cause problems is cognitive function - slow reaction and inability to concentrate are all minor. In the case of insufficient deep sleep, the cerebrospinal fluid cannot effectively clean up the beta amyloid protein produced by brain metabolism. The long-term accumulation of this substance is one of the clear risk factors for Alzheimer's disease. To put it simply, using your brain during the day is equivalent to creating garbage in the office for a day. Deep sleep means that the cleaning lady comes to clean up the house. If you don't let her in, there will be so much garbage that you can't even sit at the workstation. The same is true for the brain.

I used to know a young man who loved fitness. He ate chicken breasts, broccoli, and chicken breasts for half a year and went to the gym five times a week. His arm circumference could not increase, and he almost bought banned supplements in a hurry. Later, a reliable personal trainer only asked him one question: "How many hours do you sleep every day? ”Knowing that he stays up until 1 o'clock and goes to bed at 6 o'clock every day, he directly said, "First increase your sleep to 7 hours a day before talking about muscle training." It turns out that muscle tears occur when you lift irons, and repair and growth depend entirely on the growth hormone secreted during sleep. If you don't sleep enough, no matter how much you practice, it will be in vain, and you may even get strained.

As for the question that everyone always asks, "Is it useful to catch up on sleep after staying up late?", there is currently no unified conclusion in the academic community: Studies supporting the effectiveness of catching up on sleep believe that staying up late once in a while and sleeping 1-2 hours more on weekends can reduce the risk of metabolic disorders by about 40%.； But the opposition also has data to support it - if you sleep only 5 hours a day for two consecutive weeks, even if you catch up on 2 days on the weekend, your reaction speed and concentration in the following week will still be 30% lower than those of people who sleep 7 hours a day. This kind of damage can even be repaired by regular sleep for a week. I worked on a project for a week straight. I slept for 12 hours on weekends. When I woke up, I was groggy. After drinking two cups of coffee, I still stared at the computer for a long time and couldn't type a line. Then I went to bed at 11 a.m. and started at 7 a.m. for three consecutive days before I finally regained my composure.

Actually, there is really no one-size-fits-all standard for sleep. There is no need to cram in 8 hours to create sleep anxiety. If you sleep 6 hours a day and wake up refreshed and not sleepy throughout the day, that’s totally fine. ； But if you are still drowsy after sleeping for 9 hours, don’t take it seriously. It is best to check whether you have sleep apnea or other problems. Don’t use your youth as capital, and don’t use other people’s short-sleep cases to make up for staying up late. After all, the body’s calculations are clearer than anyone else. The lazy sleep you stole today will be recovered sooner or later in terms of health.