2023-05-20 11:47:57
An investigation with almost 5,000 patients demonstrates the impact of looking at the time. Luckily, they have given a trick to deal with it
He insomnia affects between 4 and 22% of adults and is associated with long-term health problemssuch as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and depression.
The current pace of life, personal and work concerns and even the use of screens until a moment before going to bed are behind most of our problems falling asleep. Whatever it is that prevents us from sleeping, many of us, in a gesture of despair, look at the clock and even count down the hours until the alarm goes off, thus increasing our nervousness.
Now, an investigation by a professor at Indiana University, in the United States, shows that looking at the clock while trying to fall asleep aggravates insomnia and causes an increase in the consumption of sleeping pills.
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These are the risks of little and bad sleep
These are the risks of little and bad sleep
The investigation, led by Spencer Dawsonclinical adjunct professor and associate director of clinical training in the Department of Brain and Psychological Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, focuses on a sample of almost 5,000 patients They go to a sleep clinic.
The participants filled out questionnaires about the severity of their insomnia, the use of sleeping medication and the time they spent monitoring their own behavior while trying to fall asleep. They were also asked to report any psychiatric diagnoses. The researchers performed mediation analyzes to determine how the factors influenced each other.
“We found that the time spent monitoring behavior primarily influences the use of sleeping medication because it exacerbates the symptoms of insomnia“, said Dawson.
“People worry that they’re not getting enough sleep, so they start calculating how long it will take to get back to sleep and when they have to get up. That’s not the kind of activity that’s helpful in facilitating the ability to fall asleep: the more stressed you are, the harder it will be to fall asleep“, he stressed.
As increases frustration with insomniapeople are more likely to turn to sleeping pills in an attempt to control their sleep.
A trick that can help you
Dawson says the research, published in The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disordersindicates that a simple behavioral intervention could help sufferers of insomnia. gives the same advice to all new patients the first time they meet.
“One thing people could do is flip or cover your watch, get rid of the smartwatch, put the phone away so that they are simply not looking at the time”, Dawson has suggested, to settle that “there is no place where looking at the clock is especially useful”.
With 15 years of research and clinical experience in the field of sleep, Dawson is interested in comparing people’s dream experiences with what is happening simultaneously in their brains.
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