paves the way for severe daytime sleepiness and lethargy
A consultant in sleep medicine and research at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Professor Siraj Omar Wali, called on school and university students with the start of the school year not to ignore giving the body sufficient hours of sleep required daily, by adjusting the circadian rhythm, in order to avoid feeling tired, lethargy, laziness and extreme sleepiness during the day. .
He explained that sleep deprivation affects the quality of performance and productivity, especially among students, as it leads to poor educational achievement, and this has been verified by several studies, including a study conducted years ago and published in the Saudi Medical Journal, which showed the relationship of sleep efficiency with performance and educational achievement.
He believed that, with the start of the school year, students should be careful to adjust the daily rhythm of sleep and wake times, and avoid staying up completely, as sleep is considered the food that the brain and body need, while staying up and poor sleep push the body to react (through its hormones) in an unstable and unstable manner. It is expected, for example, a disturbance in the secretion of insulin in the body, in turn, leads to a disturbance in the body''s way of dealing with sugar or burning it to provide the body with energy, and thus it is stored in the body in the form of fat.
He pointed out that the immune system during sleep produces protective substances to fight infection, and among these substances are cytokines, which help sleep, and provide the immune system with the energy needed to defend the body against bacteria and viruses, and lack of or poor sleep may prevent the immune system from building itself, And restore strength, which leads to weakness in the fight against diseases, and a person may take longer than usual to recover from any disease, and long-term lack of sleep increases the risk of chronic diseases, such as: diabetes and heart disease.
Professor Wolley stressed that adapting to the new sleep schedule varies from person to person, while some of them do not find any difficulty in rapidly changing their sleep regime, while others suffer from this change for varying periods of up to two weeks or more, as it is known when Specialists in sleep disorders say that setting bedtime and waking up times is very difficult, which makes it difficult to adapt quickly, unlike delaying sleep and waking up, which is faster to adapt to, and those may suffer from some symptoms during the first days such as lack of activity during the day, increased drowsiness, lack of focus, and pain In the body, headaches, irritability, lack of appetite, stomach pain, acidity, reflux, and digestive upset, which negatively affects their product and their psychological state.
At the conclusion of his speech, Professor Wali gave some advice that must be followed to avoid or remedy this problem, so that the body can resume its activity as it used to do the rest of the year, and thus follow the nature of God that made people in it, which are the following:
Resisting the temptations of social activities late at night, Changing the culture of linking social entertainment with smoking, which is a strong stimulant to the brain, excessive sleep and caffeine, avoiding arousal of the mind at least two hours before bed, by limiting attachment to social media, reducing noise and intensity of lights, eating foods that stimulate sleep Relax and sleep such as bananas, milk, cherries, nuts and cheese, while not overeating in the evening, trying to gradually adjust sleep schedules, such as offering them by half an hour a day until they settle during the night hours instead of the day, exposure to sunlight during the morning hours to urge the body to alert and feel energetic, avoiding Long naps during the day so as not to delay sleep at night, and practicing relaxation exercises before bed helps to get a peaceful sleep.
