Do you want to sleep like a baby? Take off your socks

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If we consider that it is advisable to sleep eight hours a day, this means that one third of our existence takes place between the sheets. Some lucky people spend all this time sleeping, however, others invest part of that period in trying to fall asleep and not always with a victory. Sleeping is fundamental, as much as breathing or eating , and the absence of rest, in addition to severely affecting, experts warn, can lead to serious consequences ranging from physical problems to psychological problems.

As indicated by Dr. Carles Gaig Ventura, coordinator of the study group of Vigil and Sleep Disorders of the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN) "sleep plays a very important role in our metabolism, in our immune system, in the mood, memory, learning ... So not sleeping properly can lead to the emergence of endocrine, metabolic, psychological, immunological, psychomotor complications . "

It is also increasingly considered not to sleep well "as a trigger or risk for certain neurological disorders, such as stroke, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's or various neuromuscular diseases. In short, not sleeping properly is a health problem," says Gaig Ventura.

On the debt of sleep, its consequences and how to obtain a quality rest is the Japanese doctor Seiji Nishino, director of the Laboratory of Neurobiology of Sleep and the Circadian System of the Stanford University School of Medicine, in his work The Art of Rest , (ed. Kitsune Books). In a simple and practical way, the researcher provides over 160 pages the necessary tools to achieve an optimal rest that allows to wake up with vitality in the morning.

Insomnia, tiredness, getting up early and insufficient hours of sleep and many other problems related to sleep, and lack of it, are some of the issues on which the Japanese author deepens while providing a series of keys to fix them The goal is to achieve a satisfactory and quality rest to enjoy good health. Quality that prevails over the quantity , since you can feel "tired after sleeping eight hours and, on the contrary, feeling fresh after sleeping six," says Nishino.

In addition, we must bear in mind that "we cannot sleep when they tell us, not even if they tell us that we can sleep as much as we want, and we cannot reserve sleep hours for the future . We have to change our attitude towards time when it's about sleep, but realistically, most people can't spend 14 hours a day in bed for three weeks to pay off a 40-minute sleep debt. [...] Since the amount is low, we must take into account the quality of sleep, "he explains.

What is the crucial moment of sleep time?

But what is the most remarkable moment of the dream so that it is of quality? "When they ask me which moment is the most important, I answer: 'The first 90 minutes' . Everything indicates that those first 90 minutes are the golden time slot to sleep. The goal is to organize our lives to have this cycle of sleep not Deep REM ... The rule that governs our dream is "if it starts well, everything that comes after it will be beneficial." If the first non-REM dream starts well and continues until it ends naturally without interruptions, we will enjoy many advantages [...] ", says the author.

Among the fundamental benefits of sleeping well for the first 90 minutes, as the Japanese points out, there will be the recovery of body and mind, the adjustment of the autonomic nervous system, the release of growth hormone, the organization and consolidation of memory and erasing the expendable of it, strengthening immune functions and eliminating brain waste. Thus a good rest will be synonymous with iron health , which if complemented with a balanced diet and exercise forms the basic pillars of a healthy life.

Keys to a quality dream

Nishino proposes a series of keys to achieve a quality dream between tight deadlines and schedules, but the author points out, in the end "getting up like new only depends on you" .

1. Take a bath before bedtime. A good way to facilitate the quality of sleep is to increase the external temperature of the body, which can be controlled simply with a hot bath of about fifteen minutes about an hour and a half before going to bed. Our internal thermostat takes approximately 90 minutes to recover from the 0.5º increase that will occur during the bath, a very decisive decrease since it will become the most effective "switch" of sleep and will allow you to sleep deeply. The dream is reconciled without difficulties due to the reduction of the difference between the cutaneous and internal temperatures.

If you do not have time for bathing, try a foot shower , it will improve blood circulation in the area to encourage heat dissipation.

Of course, although exercise is also a good way to raise the internal body temperature, stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system to the same levels as when we are awake will not help us sleep.

2. Adjust the room temperature. Sleeping at room temperature whenever appropriate is the most effective 'body temperature' switch. But if in the bedroom the heat is excessive we will sweat more than necessary. If this joins that our temperature drops when we sleep and there is a great dissipation of heat by perspiration, we can catch a cold from the considerable decrease in body temperature.

In addition, when the ambient temperature is very high it is very possible that the humidity is too. In that case, the opposite will happen, because we will not perspire and retain the heat that a poor quality dream will generate.

3. Wear breathable pajamas. Sleep quality is induced by a gradual decrease in internal body temperature. If we use thick blankets or polar pajamas, that dense tissue will prevent the body from cooling when necessary, and the residual heat trapped in our organisms will lead to poor quality sleep.

4. Take off your socks. If you are one of those people who always have cold feet, and you sleep with socks, forget about them if you want to achieve a quality dream. Remember that you will retain the heat and the internal temperature decrease will not occur. Maybe you can use some tricks such as an electric blanket or a water bag for a few minutes to heat that area of ​​the bed before sleeping and dispense with socks.

5. Get bored before bedtime. Following a monotonous and tedious routine night after night collaborates with turning off the 'switch' of your mind. For example, prepare your clothes for the next day, establish a routine of care and beauty for hair and face, read something that allows you to relax (avoid action or mystery novels that cause the opposite effect), etc.

Of course, under no circumstances should you entertain yourself with screens before going to bed. According to the author, what really inhibits sleep is not so much the light of the screens, but the brain stimulation caused by the different devices, since the mind maintains a certain level of wakefulness after being activated.

6. Environment without variations. Have you spent the night away from home and have you had a lack of sleep or lightheadedness upon waking up? It is normal. Some people in unknown places may have difficulty falling asleep because their brain tends to maintain a certain level of wakefulness to protect themselves unconsciously from unforeseen events . Therefore, we must ensure that the environment in the home does not have many variables, since the mind feels more comfortable when registering a family bedroom (your bed, your pillow, your bedside table ...).

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