“The Sleeping”

Sleep is an integral part of daily life and a biological need that allows you to restore the physical and psychological functions essential for full performance, so today I will talk about sleep and give you a series of tips to sleep better.

What is the dream?

Humans spend a third of our lives sleeping, this is a necessary activity because with it physical and psychological balance is recovered.

Sleep plays a fundamental role in the development and well-being of children, although it also helps memory, attention and daily performance.

How long should we sleep?

According to our age, we should sleep for a certain amount of time as a minimum, and the National Sleep Foundation considers the following numbers of hours of daily sleep adequate:

• Maternal-age children (1–2 years): 11 to 14 hours.
• Preschool-age children (3–5 years): 10 to 13 hours.
• School-age children (6–13 years): from 9 to 11 hours.
• Adolescents (14–17 years): 8 to 10 hours.
• Young adults (18 to 25 years old): 7 to 9 hours.
• Adults (26–64 years): 7 to 9 hours.
• Seniors (65 years old): 7 to 8 hours.

What and what are the phases of sleep?

Sleep can be divided into two phases: NREM sleep and REM sleep.
NREM or non-REM sleep is the period of time that our body uses to physically rest, NERM sleep is divided into three parts:

• Phase I: This phase is a light sleep, even if the person is awakened at this time, they will not remember that they were asleep. This phase continues for a short time.
• Phase II: Phase II is the longest phase, it allows the body to rest and build up strength.
• Phase III: In this case, it is about deep sleep. In this part it is very difficult for a person to wake up. It is in this period that night terrors or sleepwalking occur.

On the other hand, there is REM sleep, it is called so because of the movements that the eyes do in this phase called “Rapid Eye Movements”. This phase serves mainly to strength memory, remember or forget data. It is the moment when dreams appear, as well as nightmares.

When we sleep, the body first goes through the NREM phases and later through the REM phase, after these phases a “micro-awakening” occurs, which is not remembered the next day and goes back to sleep. By performing all these phases, we complete a sleep cycle, and on a night of 8 hours of sleep, an adult person performs 5–6 cycles.

Tips for a good sleep

Sleep is a fundamental part of the child’s growth and for a good daily performance, therefore it is necessary to try to have the best circumstances so that the rest is correct.

• Do not go to bed hungry and avoid drinking a lot of drinks before going to sleep.
• At bedtime there should be a relaxing environment, without noise, with little light and a comfortable temperature.
• Avoid very long naps.
• Do not exercise excessively just before sleep.
• You should try to maintain fixed schedules, including weekends.
• Avoid using electronic devices before going to bed.

Lack of sleep brings various consequences both physically and emotionally, for example: high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, irritability and even depression. That is why we must sleep well, but if you have constant problems with your sleep, consult a specialist, since you may suffer from insomnia or sleep apnea.

Conclution

The dream has been and continues to be one of the enigmas of scientific research, and even today we have great doubts about it, it went from being considered a passive phenomenon in which apparently nothing seemed to happen, to being considered (from the appearance of techniques for measuring in electrical activity) that sleep is a dynamic state of consciousness in which we can have brain activity equivalent to wakefulness and in which great changes in the functioning of the body occur such as: changes in blood pressure, body temperature, heart and respiratory rate, among others.