Sleeping long on weekends is useful
Scientists at the Stanford University Sleep Clinic, working under the guidance of Dr. William C. Dement, suggest calculating the time that people should spend in a dream, and which they actually spend in a dream. For example, because of the preparation for an important event, you missed 2 hours of sleep every night for a week. On weekends, you woke up 2 hours later than on weekdays, and on Monday you feel full of energy. However, this feeling is deceptive, because you still owe your body about 6 hours of sleep.
The lack of sleep increases every time a person deprives himself of a few minutes of sleep, and accumulates unnoticed by him. Research results indicate that chronic sleep deficiency leads to blurred thinking, impaired vision, problems with driving and memorizing information. Delayed effects of sleep deprivation include obesity, insulin resistance, and heart disease.
According to a survey conducted by the National Sleep Foundation in 2005, on average, US residents sleep 6.9 hours at night (6.8 hours on weekdays and 7.4 hours on weekends). Experts recommend sleeping 8 hours a day, but this indicator is averaged and the real need for different individuals to sleep can vary from 6 to 10 hours. But compared to the recommended eight hours, the average American loses 1 hour of sleep a day, which is about two weeks a year.
Sleep deficiency, like any other deficiency, can be eliminated. Unfortunately, it is impossible to get enough sleep at one time. The way out is to increase the duration of a night's sleep by 1-2 hours. People with chronic sleep deprivation should go to bed with the onset of fatigue for several months and get up in the morning without an alarm clock. At the beginning of this recovery period, a person may feel catatonic and sleep for 10 hours a day. Over time, the duration of sleep will gradually decrease.
To restore sleep deficiency, not only its duration is important, but also its quality. The most restorative is deep sleep, the effect of which on the state of the body is still being studied. If you sleep more, you allow the brain to stay in a state of restorative deep sleep for longer.
After eliminating the lack of sleep, the body will begin to adhere to the most acceptable individual regime for it. Experts believe that this mode is determined by genes. This means that a person cannot accustom himself to getting up early, even if he believes that he has succeeded. Moreover, according to a study published in 2003 in the journal Sleep, the more tired a person is, the less tired he feels.
The authors claim that the elimination of sleep deficiency significantly improves both mental and physical abilities of a person. At least they provide people with a scientific justification for getting up late on weekends.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of Scientific American
20.05.2008