Can I have a late night snack before going to bed? How long should you exercise before bed? Doctor: Practice "static activities" to improve sleep quality
Is poor sleep caused by bad habits? Watching TV shows on mobile phones can easily interfere with melatonin
According to statistics from the Taiwan Sleep Medicine Association, the prevalence of chronic insomnia among Taiwanese people reaches 20.2%, and 1 in 5 people faces sleep disorders. Insomnia is a common problem among modern people, which not only affects the quality of life, but may also cause other health problems. Dr. Yan Mingwei, the attending psychiatrist at Cathay General Hospital, said in an exclusive interview with “healthorn” that sleep is actually a dynamic process. The brain is still functioning after the body falls asleep, and will be interfered by daily life pressure and eating habits. Common examples include watching TV dramas in bed, Playing mobile games and eating are all behaviors that can easily increase the problem of insomnia.
In addition, the degree of connection between sleep behavior and the bed may also potentially affect sleep quality. Dr. Yan Mingwei pointed out that engaging in activities other than sleeping in bed will weaken the connection between sleep and the bed, making it more difficult to fall asleep. When lying in bed and watching TV shows on mobile phones, blue light and light sources will not only damage vision, but also interfere with the production of melatonin in the brain. Normal secretion can increase light sleep and insomnia at night.
No late-night snacks before going to bed? Does drinking alcohol to help you sleep make you more tired when you wake up?
Will eating late-night snacks before bed make it harder to fall asleep? Dr. Yan Mingwei said that it is not completely forbidden to eat before going to bed, but it is still recommended to avoid eating too full, or irritating foods such as fried and spicy foods, which can easily cause gastrointestinal discomfort and make it more difficult to fall asleep. Doctors point out that if you feel hungry before going to bed but deliberately do not eat, it will make you more nervous. You can drink a small amount of warm milk or dark chocolate to reduce hunger, or choose less seasoned and non-fried foods, which are better supper options. Night selection.
Many people drink alcohol before going to bed to help them fall asleep. Dr. Yan Mingwei said that drinking alcohol to help sleep is actually a myth. Alcohol will affect the normal functioning of the brain. Although drinking alcohol can cause tips and fatigue, making people think it is easier to fall asleep, in fact, long-term Drinking alcohol before going to bed will increase the problem of light sleep, causing you to feel insufficiently rested and in a poor mental state after getting up, making the insomnia problem worse.
Static activities before going to bed help the body relax. It is best to space them out 4 hours apart.
How to help sleep? Dr. Yan Mingwei recommends that “static activities” before going to bed can help the body relax, such as stretching, reading, listening to soft music and white noise, etc., which can stabilize the mind and improve sleep quality. Doctors remind you that it is important to have a fixed sleep schedule. If you don’t get enough sleep on weekdays, you only catch up on sleep when holidays come, or you stay up all night on weekends and holidays, etc., this will easily lengthen the sleep time span, causing insomnia or making you feel more tired after waking up. It becomes a vicious cycle where the more you sleep, the more tired you become.
Dr. Yan Mingwei believes that even if you want to catch up on sleep during holidays, it is not recommended to get up too late. It is best to have the same schedule as usual to avoid excessive fluctuations in sleep time that affect your energy during work hours. If you accidentally “sleep too much” during the holidays, you can offset the “sleep debt” accumulated in daily life through exercise. However, if you engage in strenuous exercise such as aerobics and strength training 1 to 2 hours before going to bed, it will increase your body temperature and over-excit the brain, which is harmful to sleep. Dr. Yan Mingwei reminds that if you want to engage in strenuous exercise, try to do it before Before 4 hours before going to bed, it will not affect your sleep state.
Don’t take sleeping pills when you have insomnia. Beware of aggravating drug addiction.
Insomnia is common among Taiwanese, and the number of sleeping pills used every year reaches 900 million. Dr. Yan Mingwei said that when assessing the patient’s insomnia, he will first understand the physiological condition and confirm whether there are problems such as sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, menopausal symptoms, etc. The first thing is to solve the causes of poor sleep quality. Then we will evaluate whether interventional insomnia medication is needed.
Dr. Yan Mingwei reminds that it is not recommended for ordinary people to buy medicines for insomnia. Since sleeping pills can affect the brain’s response to drugs, starting to use sleeping pills without evaluation may easily lead to the need for higher doses to fall asleep later, which may lead to drug addiction in the long run. Doctors remind you that to solve insomnia, you need to find out the cause and then prescribe the right medicine, and accept doctor’s evaluation and appropriate treatment. This is the fundamental way to improve sleep disorders.
