Dr. Eduard Estivill (Barcelona, 1948), director of the Son of Dr. Estivill Clinic, explains that more than half of the population has a disorder related to sleep throughout their lives.
And attention because more and more are those who have trouble sleeping.In this interview, we give you all the keys to solve what, for many, is a true ordeal.
Are more and more those who have trouble sleeping?
Yes because stress, anxiety and tension are increasingly common and that translates into an increase in cases.More than 50% of the population around the world has a disorder related to sleep throughout their lives.In fact, 3 out of 10 people have this problem chronic.
In the long run, sleep little or badly can cause cancer, obesity, cardiovascular problems or diabetes
In total, there are a hundred sleep disorders.What are the most common?
The most common is the insomnia that affects 30% of the world's population.9 out of 10 people who go through our consultation is for this problem.In second place we find snoring and apneas.Then the sleep disorders of the children caused by the bad habits would come.In a more sporadic way, we find narcolepsia (having a lot of sleep throughout the day) and sleepwalking.
Is it true that most of those who have problems sleeping do nothing to change the situation?
Most do not consult or follow a bad treatment due to misinformation.Little by little, however, people are aware.
Two hours before going to sleep we have to disconnect from social networks.
Is it better because not dealing with the problem can have very serious consequences for physical and mental health?
In the long run, sleep little or badly, it can have very serious consequences.The dream is a repair and restoration workshop.If we do not sleep well, at the physical level, the next day we will feel very tired.On a psychological level, we will suffer anxiety, lack of concentration and we will be in a bad mood.We will not yield and we will be more irritable hindering our relationships with others.And attention because, in the long run, lack of sleep will have a very direct impact on people's health and quality of life.
What can end up happening to us?
There are studies that show that, in the case of women, sleep little or badly, in the long run, increases breast cancer cases.During the night, we load our immune system and that makes us have better defenses.You already know that cancer is closely related to the lack of defenses and external aggressions that alter cells.Scientifically, it has also been shown that not sleeping well triggers the risk of lymphatic cancer because it is closely related to the lack of defenses and an increase in stress.Mally sleeping can also cause obesity, cardiovascular problems or diabetes.
Looking at the screen of a tablet for 13 minutes reduces the secretion of melatonin by 50%.
Give us sleeping tips more and better without resorting, if it can be, to the pills ...
The first thing we have to understand is that the dream is prepared, it does not come suddenly.To begin with, it is important to disconnect from social networks two hours before going to sleep.We have to do that for two things: firstly because the information does not allow us to disconnect and, secondIt helps us sleep.Think that looking at the screen of a tablet for 13 minutes reduces the secretion of melatonin by 50%.Avoid mobile, computers and have a TV in the room.It is also very important to follow a correct diet.
Dinner just an apple is not good becauseYou can wake up at midnight due to lack of sugar.
What do we have to eat for dinner?
I advise a salad, which can mix vegetables and pasta and a lactic derivative like cheese.Do not do very large dishes.Now, you know that dinner is either not good because we enter a phase of lack of glucose or sugar during the night that can wake us up.Therefore, those who say "for dinner, only as an apple" are wrong.At night, we recommend eating foods that carry Typtophan because it is the precursor of melatonin.
Put us examples ...
Bananas, carbohydrates and nuts carry a lot and, therefore, are highly recommended at night.
The protein for dinner, reveals.Avoid meat and ham
What do we don't have to eat at night?What do we have to avoid?
Avoid, especially protein.Eating meat, for example, reveals us.At night, it is not advisable to eat ham.
Alcohol and coffee prohibited, I suppose ...
It is important to avoid alcohol because, although it makes us relax very quickly, it will have a dream too superficial.With respect to caffeine, its effect depends a lot on the metabolism of each person.There are people who, after two hours of having taken it, have already eliminated the entire caffeine.Others, on the other hand, can take up to 8 hours.Therefore, each case is a world.There are people who can have coffee at 10 at night and, at 12, you can sleep perfectly.Others will take it at 6 in the afternoon and will not be able to sleep until two in the morning.Here, everyone has to know what effect it has on your body.
Is milk a good ally to help us sleep?
Not so how it seems because it is a bit indigestible.It is true that it has a tryptophan and that, therefore, it manufactures melatonin but to give us the necessary amount of this substance to make us sleep, we would have to drink a liter.
Recommend us some relaxation technique.It has always been said that, when we cannot sleep, it is very good to count sheep ...
What we cannot do is work until the last minute before going to bed.I insist on the importance of disconnecting much earlier.The most common error is to answer WhatsApps and Correos until 12 at night and, of Sopeton, turn off the light and want to sleep.It is of no use to be in bed with your eyes open as dishes because the dream does not come suddenly, there is no switch that we can turn off whenever we want.If we are not prepared for many sheep that you tell you.These techniques work if we do all the rest well.
In modern societies and in big cities, people sleep two hours less than those they need
Often, however, work does not allow us to get home early enough to follow all your advice ...
That is why the normalization of the schedules is important.It would be important to apply a time reform that would allow us to finish before working.Only then will we have the necessary time for our brain to prepare the dream.Currently, in modern societies and in big cities, people sleep two hours less than those need to rest.In Spain we get up at the same time as the rest of Europeans but we are going to sleep much later.This rhythm of schedules cannot endure!
We have just discovered a pill that combines melatonin with Valeriana and Passiflora
And as long as that does not arrive, what can we do?
We have just discovered that it is very good to combine melatonin with some plants such as the Valerian or the Passiflora.It is a two -layer bilayer pill, which helps us a lot to be able to sleep.It is a natural pill that does not create any addiction and that helps a lot to people who arrive home last night with many things in their heads and that costs themdisconnect.
When you can't sleep in any way, it is best to get out of bed?
That is what we thought before but now it has been discovered that the problem is not to get out of bed or not, but light the light.The most important thing is to stay in the dark.If you turn on any light, you can hardly sleep.
Avoid sleeping as a couple if you want a good sleep quality
Is it harder to sleep well if we share a bed with our partner?
From the purely scientific point of view of good sleep quality, it is disastrous!Each movement we have next to it, a snoring or simply one day that is cold and has a great affect our dream.It is not the same to sleep than rest.If you have a deep sleep without any noise around, you will get up with the feeling of having rested very well.On the other hand, if you have someone next to cough or circling, even if you do not wake up, the quality of sleep will have been defective because it has not been deep enough.
The best time to have sex is after nap
Does maintaining sex helps to sleep?
To men, yes.To women, no.In the case of men, after sexual relationship, there is a physical relaxation that helps us sleep.On the other hand, women do not have this muscle relaxation because they can have different orgasms and even if they are sleepy, as this relaxation does not occur, they are very likely to stay awake for a longer.The best time to have sex is after nap.
Do you say that sex helps us to sleep but exercise makes us raise body temperature and that, in theory, does not help us sleep?
Yes, but we are talking about an important exercise like playing a football game or running.Active sport increases temperature and does not allow us to sleep.
The nap has to last 15 or 20 minutes and you have to throw on the couch
When does the nap have to last?
Between 15 and 20 minutes.It has to be short because it is a complement to the dream of the night.
On the couch or in bed?
Better on the couch because it is a superficial dream and, by the way, very repairing.
If we do not sleep well, the skin will age much faster and we will have dark circles
What happens if we do it longer?
That we will wake up from a dream too deep and, therefore, with a thick head and bad body.To go well, in no case we have to throw it for more than 25 or 30 minutes because if we will not have the feeling that the nap has been repaire.Therefore, if necessary, put the alarm clock!
Children who do not sleep enough hours manufacture less hormones and can end up having a lower than normal size
To do well, how many hours do we have to sleep every day?
That varies greatly depending on age.Thus, 5 -year -old children, who move a lot, have to sleep 11 hours, a teenager needs to sleep 9 hours and an adult, 8. Now, 5% of the population has enough 5 or 6 hours.There are others who need 10. To know if we have slept enough, it is as easy as seeing if the next day we are fine or not.Children who sleep badly or do not sleep enough hours manufacture less hormones and, therefore, can end up having a lower than normal size.Know, also, that our skin regenerates in the deep phases of the dream and that, therefore, if we do not reach a deep sleep, the skin will grow much faster and we will have dark circles.
Those who have it really complicated are those who work in shifts.What do you advise those who have a rotating schedule and those who always work at night?
The brain adapts better to a fixed night shift than to changes.The worst thing that can happen is to sleep for a week and another at night because the brainHuman needs a routine.Unfortunately we can help little in these cases.
The dream does not recover.It is false that sleep priests can be made
Can you recover sleep?Can we make sleep priests?
Nooo!Many people think so but it's a lie.It is worth saying "I sleep 6 hours during the week and recover over the weekend."That is a mistake because the dream does not recover.Isn't that nobody say "I like only Monday and the weekend like everything I have not eaten during the week"?Well, with the dream exactly the same.
Eating difficult to digest
Are there foods that make us dream more?They say, for example, that eating olives makes dream ...
What there are are foods that make digestion more difficult, heavier.That will make us woke up more times and precisely what is essential to remember what we dream of, is to wake up.We all dream every night but many do not remember.If we eat food difficult to digest, they cause us microdespertar and that makes the next day we remember dreams.
Let us also talk about children's night terror.At what age does that usually appear and how can it be avoided?
It is very normal to happen.It usually appears at 3 or 4 years and then disappears on its own.When that happens to them, you see them as if they were half awake and half asleep.The only thing parents must do is watch that they do not hurt, that they do not fall.It is no use to wake them up because they are deeply asleep.
They say it can be very dangerous to wake them up ...
Before that was said a lot but it is completely false.Nothing would happen but better not to do it because they are deeply asleep and, therefore, it would cost us a lot to wake them up.If you did, they would not understand why you wake them up and would be more distressing for them.Neither do you tell them anything the next day, it is better to ignore it as if nothing had happened.Now, if that happens to them very often, for example 3 or 4 times a week, then the pediatrician should be commented that he will normally ask for a consultation of a dream unit.
What types of mattress and pillow do you recommend?
There is no mattress or an ideal pillow for everyone.In the case of the mattress, it depends on the weight and height of each person.When we are going to buy it, it is important to lose shame and try them for a quarter of an hour or half an hour if necessary.You test the different types of mattress.The highest and most fat people will need a softer mattress.The thinnest, a harder mattress will be better.Try everything before buying it: both the mattress and the pillow.
The least recommended posture for sleep is mouth.The best, side
What is the best sleeping posture?
The least advisable is to sleep up because the issue of snoring and respiratory problems.In fact, sleeping mouth is only recommended for babies.Boca down is not a bad posture but it is a bit uncomfortable for older people.It is best to sleep on the side although, if we do it on the left side, we can feel the heartbeat.In the end, however, many are changing posture during the night.
Precisely to avoid apneas you recommend not sleeping back.What else do you advise in this case?
Normally, one of the causes of apneas is genetic due to the shape of the face but there is an external element that can be controlled: weight gain.Therefore, the first thing we recommend is to lose weight and study the night sleep for 8 hours.
