Difficulty falling asleep and other pathologies related to rest affect daily performance and cause cognitive and memory deficits, as well as health problems such as anxiety or depression, so productive sleep is essential.
On the occasion of World Sleep Day, which was recently celebrated, the doctor in Clinical and Health Psychology and professor at the International University of Valencia (VIU), Joaquín Mateu, warns that “by getting adequate sleep, the brain clears out a peptide known as amyloid beta, closely linked to diseases such as Alzheimer’s and myeloid angiopathy“So, if you don’t get enough sleep, this peptide accumulates and is found massively in the brains of those who suffer from dementia as they reach old age.
Difficulty falling asleep and other pathologies related to rest affect daily performance and cause cognitive and memory deficits, as well as health problems such as anxiety or depression, so productive sleep is essential.
This is because, during sleep, the brain “produces basic hormones and neurotransmitters to maintain mood, especially serotonin and melatonin“, explains Mateu
Likewise, it warns that those who sleep less hours than they really need “are more at risk of intrusive and recurring thoughts, common in many emotional problems“.
According to data from the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN), between 20 and 48 percent of the adult population has difficulty falling asleep, this means that more than a third of the adult population has problems falling asleep.
As he explains Dean of the VIU College of Health SciencesVicente Gea, rest properly “It results in other more perceptible benefits for people: increased creativity, memory or attention, better weight control, lower risk or greater resistance to contracting diseases (including communicable ones) or cardioprotective effects, among others.“.
If there is no effective rest, points out the professor of the Faculty of Health Sciences of VIU, María José García Rubio, “it breaks with the biological rhythms that define us as a human species”, to the extent that “all these processes are interrupted or take place partially“, since it is impossible to carry out a normal life.
The SEN itself establishes that, in at least 10 percent of cases, rest-related problems are due to some chronic and serious disorder, and less than a third of those affected seek professional help. “In Primary Care consultations, the number of subjective complaints related to lack of rest has increased and, in line with this, several studies have shown that rest increases the levels of quality of life perceived by the person“, affirms María José Rubio.
To avoid critical situations related to rest, it is enough to follow a series of simple behaviors, generally known by the population, such as: avoiding the continuous use of screens, especially at night, working hours with shifts, whenever possible, or the exaggerated imbalance between the routine of weekdays and the weekend. M.T.T./J.S.LL. (SyM)