How to combine air alarms and quality sleep: we talk to the experts

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70% of Ukrainians dream of war, according to an online survey by DreamApp published in The New York Times. 64% of the more than 700 respondents said that their sleep quality had changed drastically since the start of the full-scale invasion. Why this happens, how constant stress affects our sleep and how to reduce this effect, “Ukrainian Pravda. Life” helped to find out Olga Maslova – candidate of biological sciences, author of the book “When I finally sleep” and Olga Lavrychenko – psychotherapist and neuropsychologist. What is a “good sleep”? Sleep is of fundamental importance for a person’s mental and physical health. Remember the feeling when you slept. If this feeling is regular, then the brain is able to concentrate better, work more productively, remember more, and the body generally works harmoniously. In a dream, the brain also processes the information received during the day. There is an important process of remembering and forgetting, emphasizes biologist Olga Maslova. “If a person is studying, it is very important to get a full, long night’s sleep, which will help store all knowledge in the brain for a long time,” Maslova emphasizes. Good sleep also controls body weight. Lack of sleep disrupts the hormones leptin and ghrelin, which control appetite. Photo: OneLineStock/Depositphotos The norm of sleep for each person is different. Scientists agree that it mostly fluctuates between 7 and 9 hours of sleep. However, it may be different for you. First, you should research what this norm is for you, experts advise. If you have to wake up at 7:00 a.m. every day, try to fall asleep around 11:00 p.m. If after 10 days of regular sleep you start waking up before the alarm clock, this is the norm for you. If you have to snooze the alarm every time, try to fall asleep earlier. It happens that you sleep enough hours, but in the morning you feel tired. Often this is due to the fact that a person does not get up at the optimal time for himself, but because of the alarm clock. “Probably, a person does not guess with the optimal moment of awakening. It is worth testing sleep without an alarm clock and find the optimal duration of sleep for your chronotype [це схильність людини спати в певний час протягом доби – ред.]”, Maslova emphasizes. “I, for example, cannot actively work before 10 in the morning, – adds Olga Lavrychenko. – It is difficult for me to wake up before 9 o’clock and be mentally active. And there are people who, on the contrary, are productive from 6 in the morning. It’s all individual, you need to find out how you feel, and not force yourself.” Read also: How to fall asleep, have a good sleep and not get insomnia. Scientific advice Consequences of lack of sleep “When we sleep, rest, our brain generally restores the state of the body. If this does not happen, the system begins to break down. If sleep disturbances occur too often, disturbances occur in various parts of our body,” says neuropsychologist Olga Lavrychenko. Sleep disturbances or its deficiency can lead to a loss of vigilance, a decrease in immunity, a deterioration in the general condition of the body, and even an increase in the risk of neurodegenerative diseases (for example, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases).Constant stress and normal sleep For more than a year since the full-scale invasion, the sleep of Ukrainians can hardly be called “good” or even “normal”. Chronic stress affects the whole body, including sleep: it becomes difficult for us to fall asleep, we increasingly feel insomnia, often waking up or seeing dreams that make you wake up. “I often compare the body to a car. Stress is a race that never ends. If the car entered the race unprepared, parts will be poured on the road right away. Everything depends on the culture of taking care of one’s physical and psychological health. Those who monitor their health know where their weak points are and where they need to support themselves,” adds Lavrychenko. At the same time, experts emphasize that sleep is an individual need of the body. Despite the recommended norms and advice we wrote about above , a person should investigate the amount and pattern of sleep they need for full recovery. Photo: derplan13/Depositphotos Interrupted sleep for air alarms or explosions Interrupted sleep is the best of the worst, but it should be temporary. If work or service requires waking up often in a dream, then this is one of the possible options. The main thing is not to make sleep with frequent awakenings the norm for the body. “The difference is this: if we sleep in one block (as much as our body needs) and the same number of hours, but with breaks to “run into the corridor and back”, in the latter case, our brain performs certain processes with lower quality, for example, renewing the body, memorizing, forgetting,” says Olga Maslova. If you don’t get enough sleep at night, to recover, it is replaced by daytime. It can be 15-30 minutes of shallow sleep. It will help “restart the system” and add some new strength. If it is difficult to fall asleep during the day, you can just lie down. This will give the brain an opportunity to reboot a little and regain strength. Try to sit on the bed, stretch your body, put down the phone and let go of all thoughts. “That’s what our guys from the ZSU do. No matter how much I talk to my husband, if he has a minute, he sleeps,” neuropsychologist Lavrychenko shares. According to Maslova, daytime sleep should be short and night sleep must not be postponed. “For example, a person slept for a long time (three to four hours) during the day. He slept after lunch, closer to the evening. And his brain at this moment feels a conflict of interests, because it should already start preparing for night sleep and start the corresponding processes: melatonin synthesis , an increase in the levels of some substances, a decrease in the levels of other substances, and he should, on the contrary, wake up,” says the biologist. Disturbing dreams or horrors prevent sleep. Remember that in a dream, our brain processes the information it received earlier. If most of the time we were under stress, then our brain will have a lot of disturbing work at night. “If something keeps you awake once, it’s not scary,” says the neuropsychologist. “The brain sometimes processes difficult material in a dream. If dreams are disturbing all the time and you relive such moments often, then you need to manage your reality, impressions outside of sleep.” Our brain goes through images at night, adds Maslova. It may seem to us that we are seeing strangers in our dreams, but in reality the brain is extracting all the images it has seen and analyzing them. If, before going to bed, we unknowingly noticed disturbing news while scrolling through social networks, our brain caught it and will process it at night. If something constantly disturbs you in a dream, you need to ask yourself several important questions. For example, can you really change something in your life: cut yourself off from certain situations, events or people just to start sleeping peacefully. If you still can’t change anything or it didn’t work, you should contact a specialist. According to a neuropsychologist, disturbing dreams or horrors can be worked through in a few sessions with a psychologist, they do not require long-term therapy. If sleep is sensitive in general, it is an individual feature of each person, adds Olga Maslova. “The best thing that can be advised is earplugs that are correctly selected for a person,” says the scientist. In order to choose the right earplugs, it is better to take several options and try which ones are more convenient for you. So you can protect your sleep from extraneous sounds. Photo: wm.gnatuyk/Depositphotos Sleep hygiene and practices During constant stress, the level of cortisol and adrenaline in the body is quite high. These hormones speed up the heart rate for more efficient blood circulation to vital organs and muscles. And, accordingly, they prepare the body for immediate action in case of need. And this state does not even border on sleep. Accordingly, the body cannot cope on its own and needs help. First of all, you need to adjust your sleep hygiene, emphasizes Olga Maslova. This is an important process that should not be neglected, especially if you are under constant stress. How to prepare for sleep Reduce the intensity of lighting around you two to three hours before bedtime. Do not turn off the light when you decide to go to bed, but change the lighting gradient: from bright cold to dull yellow. Fewer emotions before sleep. Nowadays, it is difficult to deal with this, but it is worth trying to reduce the intensity of information that comes to you a few hours before sleep. Lower the temperature in the room. You can also ventilate. If you’re breathing the same air you’ve been breathing all day, that’s not what’s going to help you get a good night’s sleep. You can also work with the thermoregulation of your own body. For example, take a hot shower two to three hours before going to bed. But not just before going to bed, but to have a temperature jump (initially raise the temperature, then lower it). This will be a kind of sign for the biological clock that you should go to sleep. If you have taken care of your sleep hygiene, try to relax your entire body: from your face to the tips of your toes. Inhale and exhale slowly, focus on this and relax your chest. Try to clear your mind and not think about anything. Yes, it is difficult, but for concentration, you can focus on one thing: darkness, silence, or your own breathing. During the preliminary stage, different thoughts may enter your head. The main task is not to develop them, but to return to your point of relaxation. “Don’t blame yourself if it seems like you’ve been doing all this for too long and you still haven’t fallen asleep. Don’t wake up to see what time it is or check your phone messages. No matter how much time you spend preparing for sleep, your state of the morning will be better, even if you just lie down for an hour and relax your body, than if you are nervous and look at your phone,” adds the biologist. If you can’t fall asleep for more than an hour, and you start to get nervous and worry that there is very little sleep left, try the “paradoxical approach”: get up, do some work that does not require bright lighting, try not to think about sleep. But all these practices will not suit everyone, experts emphasize, because there are individual characteristics. It will not suit someone, for example, to sleep during the day. And there are people who need a short daytime nap of 15-20 minutes to recharge. “We have to do our own research, ‘how will it suit me?’. We have to try different options and also understand that it is not possible to find one option forever. From time to time we need to re-examine how well the current sleep pattern meets my needs”, – says the neuropsychologist. Maslova emphasizes: if a person’s insomnia does not go away in two weeks and he cannot fall asleep more than an hour and a half after going to bed and trying to correct sleep hygiene, then it is worth contacting specialists. It is possible that certain medications need to be administered to normalize sleep. “The first link is an examination. If there is a violation at the level of biochemistry (vitamins, trace elements, hormonal disturbances, etc.), the body will give a strong alarm due to exhaustion. This alarm can be triggered by external and internal reasons. If you are simply flooded with anxiety, then first of all you need to investigate what the body is signaling by this – sums up psychotherapist Olga Lavrychenko. Anastasia Koropetska, specially for UP. Life Read also: 6 reasons why you should sleep on your back

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