Daytime sleep: positive and negative sides. Is it good to sleep during the day?

They say that a nap during the day allows a person’s brain to overload, so to speak, to look at everything from the other side in order to make the right decisions. The fact that daytime sleep is beneficial has long been recognized by experts in this field. Daytime sleep has a good effect on the human cardiovascular system. For example, after sleeping for about an hour after severe stress, the pressure will return to normal. The body will recover and the person can work again. The article explains whether it is beneficial or harmful to sleep during the day in detail.

Many people think that they should take a nap during the day after a hard first half of the work day. For example, Churchill argued that an afternoon nap helps restore the clear thinking needed to make decisions. right decisions. It was he who coined the term “restorative sleep.” And he said that between lunch and dinner you always need to get some sleep.

Let's consider what effect daytime sleep has on the body. Restores vigor. After sleeping for just 30 minutes, a person regains attention and performance. At the same time, short-term sleep will not lead to a bad night's sleep.

Prevents burnout. A person is constantly exposed to stress, exhaustion of mental and emotional strength. Daytime sleep provides an opportunity to rethink situations, reduce stress and restore the body.

Enhances sensory perception. After sleep, a person’s senses (taste, hearing, vision) become more acute. His creative activity increases, his brain was able to relax and come up with new ideas. Reduces the risk of occurrence cardiovascular diseases. If you sleep during the day at least 3 times a week, the risk of heart disease will decrease by 40%. According to scientists, daytime sleep is the strongest weapon against myocardial infarction. Improves productivity. Medical research shows that most workers have less productive afternoons. However, after sleeping for only 30 minutes after lunch, a person regains productivity similar to what it was at the beginning of the working day.

Is it possible to sleep at work? For most people, resting in bed after lunch is simply not an option. Many employers today have already changed their attitude towards daytime sleep for their employees. In order to sleep, you need to find a cozy and quiet place. However, this is easiest to do for those who travel by car. You can set the seat in a comfortable position and sleep a little. Perfect for this Personal Area, especially if there is a comfortable chair.

You need to sleep regularly. You should try to regularly set aside time for nap. This will adjust the daily biorhythm and increase productivity. You need to sleep for a short time. If a person sleeps soundly and for a long time, a feeling of disorientation and a state of intoxication will appear. Optimal time for sleep 15-30 minutes. Therefore, you should always set an alarm so as not to oversleep. In addition, long sleep during the day will affect the quality of night sleep. Try to sleep without light. Light always affects a person, giving him a signal to action. At the same time, darkness tells the body that it is time to prepare for sleep. If it is not possible to turn off the light, you can use a special sleep bandage.

Plaid. As you know, during sleep the human body's metabolism and breathing rate slow down. The temperature drops slightly. For a comfortable sleep, you need to use a blanket or light blanket. Sleeping during the day helps maintain beauty. This will interest women. Therefore, taking a little nap a person makes himself more beautiful. As you know, the condition of the skin is directly dependent on how the body rests. To do this, it is better to choose sleep between 12 and 15 hours. It's even better if you can sleep on outdoors or at least with the window open. While relaxing, you should think about something good.

Contraindications for sleeping during the day. It should be recognized that in some cases, napping during the day is simply useless. And sometimes it can cause harm. For example, it is best for a person suffering from insomnia not to go to bed during the day. Otherwise you will have to stay awake all night. Daytime sleep is also harmful to those who are susceptible various kinds depression, the condition of such a person can only worsen. You should not sleep during the day for more than 90 minutes, otherwise the body’s biorhythms are disrupted, which is very bad. And most importantly, you need to change your attitude towards those who like to sleep during the day. This is not a sign of laziness, but rather, on the contrary, these are some of the most productive and intelligent people.

So, let's summarize. Sleep will eliminate daytime sleepiness, which will lead to fewer accidents and reduce the likelihood of errors during tasks that require high concentration. Increases human reaction by approximately 16%. Perfectly improves long term memory. Contributes well to the absorption of information. By following all the recommendations, daytime sleep will benefit a person and improve his health and well-being. But after analyzing this information, decide for yourself whether a daytime nap will bring you benefit or, on the contrary, only harm.

The human body is designed in such a way that it requires both periods of wakefulness and periods of rest. During work, study, training, even simple homework and food intake all organs human body are actively working. Gastrointestinal tract accepts and processes nutrients. In this article we will look at the question of why you can’t sleep during the day.

Cordially vascular system supplies blood to all arteries, veins and vessels. The lungs and bronchi supply the body with oxygen. The musculoskeletal system allows a person to move. The liver and kidneys filter and cleanse the body of waste and toxins. The brain is actively working at this time, sending signals through nerve endings to all organs.

All this happens during the day. During such intense work, all organs and systems of the human body become tired and worn out, and the immune system is weakened. In order to the immune system The person was able to recover and needed the hormone melatonin. This hormone is produced only at night. Therefore, you cannot stay awake at night and sleep only during the day.

Why can't you sleep during the day?

• During the day under the influence sunlight The human body produces the hormone serotonin. This hormone provides a person good mood and a feeling of vigor. For this reason, serotonin is also called the hormone of joy.
• In order not to feel depressed, lethargic and overwhelmed, you should not sleep during the day. In addition, without serotonin, melatonin production is impossible. This process can occur in the body at night during sleep, when it is dark and the person is at rest.

What happens if you sleep during the day

Scientists from the University of Cambridge conducted experiments proving bad influence on the human body the habit of sleeping during the day. It has been proven that such a habit not only leads to deterioration in health, but also leads to a significant reduction in life expectancy. Those who like to sleep during the day live about 4 years less.

A person who sleeps during the day often experiences a lack of sunlight. This leads to a decrease in the production of the hormone serotonin, weakened immunity and the development various diseases. Lethargy, feeling tired, grumpiness, Bad mood become constant companions of such people.

Why should people over forty not sleep during the day?

The habit of sleeping during the day is especially dangerous for people who have crossed the forty-year mark. Among people in this category, the incidence of early death increases several times. In addition, older people often already have various pathologies and chronic diseases, which can be aggravated by prolonged daytime sleep.

People who have already had a stroke or are in a pre-stroke state should know that they should not sleep or nap during the day. This is dangerous because when they doze during the day, their blood pressure becomes unstable. And pressure changes, especially sudden ones, are fraught with hemorrhage in the brain.

The same danger threatens patients diabetes mellitus. If they fall asleep during the day after lunch, their blood sugar may spike. This can lead to serious complications.

Among other things, older people often suffer from insomnia. Then they try to compensate for the “lack of sleep” at night with daytime sleep. Insomnia sufferers should not sleep during the day, as this will only worsen their problem.

Who can sleep during the day and how long?

For small children, no one has canceled the additional daytime sleep at night. A growing body needs this. Yes, and sometimes it is useful for adults, and sometimes it is simply necessary, to take a nap during the day.

It has been observed that a short nap during the day can be of great benefit. It helps relieve psychological stress and reduce the feeling of fatigue. After a short nap, your mood improves and your performance increases.

It is recommended to sleep during the day wearing a light-protective mask over your eyes to create a feeling of darkness. The duration of daytime sleep should not exceed 20 minutes. In order not to feel a feeling of weakness instead of vigor, you cannot sleep for a long time during the day.

Daytime naps are useful for nervous individuals, people engaged in mental work with large amounts of information, and workaholics. According to scientists, an hour of daytime sleep can replace a full night's rest. In many countries (Japan, Spain, etc.), daytime sleep is actively used even at work to improve the performance of citizens.

If you are experiencing constant drowsiness during the day, this may signal chronic fatigue, lack of sleep at night and the presence of various diseases (neurasthenia, vegetative-vascular dystonia, anemia, etc.). Don't be lazy to visit a doctor.

For some diseases, a person is prescribed electro-sleep. In the atmosphere of a physical therapy room, on a couch behind a screen, you will be induced to nap during the day using special electrical sensors attached to your head. Current pulses of low frequency when exposed to nervous system cause its natural inhibition, and the person falls asleep.

Scientists estimate that sleeping during the day reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by 35%. Also, during daytime sleep, reserves of physical strength are replenished faster and mental balance is normalized.

A short daytime nap fills the body with hormones of joy and can replace sleep, which will undoubtedly be appreciated by people seeking to lose weight. This kind of rest is also good for the brain. Removed nervous tension and the stress of waking up early.

People who know how to relax during the day are more cheerful and active.

An interesting fact is that daytime dreams are more vivid and easier to remember.

What daytime hours are good for sleep?

Sleeping during the day is not only possible, but also necessary. It is not for nothing that daytime naps are used in children's institutions and sanatoriums. However, it is not recommended to go to bed for an hour or two after 16-00, when the sun is high above the horizon. The consequences of such a dream can be headache, lethargy and general malaise.

The most best time for daytime sleep - this is the afternoon from 12-00 to 14-00. Such sleep helps digestion and energizes you for the rest of the day.

If the weather permits, you can go to bed in nature. For example, at the dacha in a sun lounger or hammock. If there is no dacha, a glazed balcony with open doors will do, provided that the yard is quiet. Sleep on fresh air in the shadow - best medicine from depression and stress received in the metropolis.

The human body is a truly amazing thing: everything in it is interconnected and nothing in it happens “just like that.” Daytime naps play a big role in babies important roles, which mothers should be aware of in order to make the child's rest a priority when organizing the schedule for a particular day.

During their first morning sleep, children actively learn - they memorize new skills, words, phenomena, and after such sleep they show much more good results by reproducing what they were taught before going to bed. This fact has been described in many studies of children's sleep and this is why it is important to provide children with morning sleep for as long as possible - this is how they literally become smarter! In the first year and a half, children absorb such a flow of information that we simply must give them the opportunity to get the most out of it, and adequate sleep is much more useful than going to a developmental club (or better yet, have both of them: first the circle, then sleep).

Lunchtime naps allow babies to grow and develop physically. During this period (and only during sleep!), growth hormone is released, which not only helps the baby become taller and bigger, but also actively participates in the processes of tissue regeneration. Remember how your baby gets sleepy when he's sick? One of the reasons is the need to increase the production of this particular hormone and, thus, help the baby recover faster.

Organization of daytime sleep

Daytime sleep is fragile and very dependent on external factors process, especially if you are just starting to work on good sleep skills. To help your baby fall asleep faster and sleep longer, it is very important that you put him to bed in maximum darkness (as close as possible to nighttime). No, the baby will not learn to sleep in the dark during the day - this is a physiological need, remember yourself - where is it more comfortable for you to sleep during the day: in a darkened room or in bright light of day?

The sound background in the sleeping room should be smooth. There is no need to strive for silence - any sudden burst of sound will sound much brighter in it ( phone call, children on the playground under the window, ambulance siren on the highway). Ideally, you can use white noise and an excellent source for its reproduction is the DOHM-DS sound conditioner.

Physiology of daytime sleep

Daytime sleep is controlled by a different part of the brain than nighttime sleep, and serves more for the emotional recovery of the baby. Daytime dreams are finally formed and mature much later than nighttime dreams. Therefore, in a baby up to 4 months old (from PDD), you can see a rather chaotic duration of sleep - either 20 minutes or 2 hours. This is normal and in most cases does not require intervention. The main thing is that a certain balance is maintained and, as a result, the baby sleeps approximately equally long and short naps during the day.

The duration of one sleep cycle in children is shorter than in adults. Our cycle lasts from 90 to 120 minutes, and for babies it lasts from 30 to 50. When the cycle ends, any person wakes up - and, if he knows how to fall asleep on his own, he immediately falls asleep again (and by the morning there is not even a memory of this left) . Babies who cannot fall asleep after 40 minutes are always dependent on your help to fall asleep initially, which means that after waking up between sleep cycles, they will not be able to fall asleep on their own.

How to fix this? Start teaching your baby to fall asleep on his own - without breastfeeding, rocking on a ball or in a stroller, without a pacifier, a swing, or any actions that the baby cannot reproduce for himself without your help.

When to wake up your baby

Sometimes you really need to wake up the baby, although your hand doesn’t rise to do it. And therefore you must be sure that the child really needs to be woken up for his own good:

• if the baby is less than 8 weeks old (from PDD) and sleeps more during the day than at night. Wake up every 2 hours and be sure to take it out into the sun - this will help adjust the internal clock and return the most long sleep at night;
• if a baby aged 4-8 months sleeps for more than an hour in the third nap after 15-30. Such sleep will provide very little recovery, but will almost certainly mix up the hormonal rhythm of nighttime sleep;
• If a child sleeps for more than 3 hours on one nap, then it is worth waking up the baby so that night sleep The baby did not start too late and came easier.

How much, when, how?

Every mother at some point wonders whether her baby sleeps enough during the day? How many times does he need to sleep, and how long should at least the minimum period of sleep last to give the baby at least a little rest.

• After 4 months, the minimum sleep should last at least 75 minutes;
• By 5 months, most babies develop a 3-nap schedule;
• By 8 months, the third nap disappears in 95% of children. This happens literally in 2 days: the baby simply violently protests against being put to sleep and refuses to fall asleep. If by 8 months the baby still has three good sleep, then it is worth carefully assessing whether the previous two are of sufficient duration;
• Between 15 and 18 months, children give up the second nap and switch to one;
• Between 3 and 6 years of age, daytime naps go away completely (and around 25 they return again, but now we can’t afford them).

Switch to one nap during the day

This is one of the most difficult and protracted moments in children's sleep, so the mother must make all decisions regarding the reorganization of the regime very carefully.

When?

Many children show their first attempts to give up daytime sleep, starting at 10-12 months, but the body’s actual readiness almost never occurs before 15 months, and ideally it should be delayed until 1.5 years.

The child must refuse one nap at least 14 times in a row to decide to switch to one nap

How?

If it becomes difficult for your baby to fall asleep during one of his dreams, it is important to start separating the dreams from each other. This is perhaps the only stage in which I agree with leaving dreams at 9 and 13.

Limit your morning nap to an hour if you see that it is difficult for you to take a second nap later. Protect the lunchtime nap first of all - if the baby sleeps only in the morning, then until the evening he will accumulate excess fatigue and then the night will be difficult.

Offer alternating days with one and two naps.

Don't forget about going to bed early in the evening. Switching to one nap is a huge adjustment and the baby will need time to adapt.

How much?

For another 2-3 months after switching to one nap, babies sleep “as before” for only 75-90 minutes. And only after a few months sleep itself lengthens to 2-3 hours. Only after this can you return to bed later in the evening

It takes 4-6 months from the first signs of the transition to the final lengthening of sleep, do not rush this process, and remember, the later you make this transition, the easier it will be for the baby.

It would seem that we put so much effort into prolonging a child’s sleep, what could be contradictory about this? good sleep? However, here are a few points to consider:

• Prolonging sleep by breast/pumping/pacifier will not give a lasting effect and will only solve today’s problems, leaving tomorrow’s dreams in the same form as today;
• Sleeping while on the move greatly reduces the restorative effect of such a period of rest. Even if your baby slept for 2 hours in a rolling stroller/fitball, you can safely divide this time by 3 to get an idea of ​​the actual effect of this sleep. Remember how well you slept last time, falling asleep in a car/plane/bus?
• Not at any time will the baby sleep with maximum effect. Numerous studies of children's circadian rhythms (internal clocks) have shown that highest quality sleep is achieved when the baby falls asleep between 8-10 am and 12-14 pm local time;
• Even a short nap during the day is better than no sleep at all;
• Getting quality sleep during the day will ensure a more restful night's sleep and a more restful night's sleep.

The child’s nervous system is not able to withstand being awake all day; if the child’s emotional and physiological strength is not restored during daytime sleep, then not only his mood, but also his well-being worsens.

The first thought that comes to me in the morning when I see my own half-closed eyes in the mirror: “Today I’ll go to bed at nine o’clock in the evening!” A sleepy body calls you back to the warm duvet world so much that it is very difficult not to succumb to temptation. And I give in. “Just a minute” ends up being a whole hour late for work.

But the most interesting thing happens during the day: fatigue puts pressure on every cell of the body and forces you to look for a secluded corner to take a nap there, right in the middle of the working day! Has this ever happened to you?

For the time being, I thought it was abnormal to want to sleep during the day. But then I found out that Daytime sleep is a completely natural need. In countries South America It’s even customary to arrange a “quiet hour” - when, after the lunch break, employees lock themselves in their offices and just... sleep.

American sleep expert Scott Campbell called napping a healthy habit. He explains this by saying that his own body tells a person to take a nap after lunch, and there is no point in “turning a blind ear” to these prompts. If you don't listen inner voice and not rest for a few minutes, our strength will quickly be exhausted.

The benefits of short sleep have been proven by science. Experts in this field say that The biological clock Each of us is configured in such a way that we need to sleep twice a day. The first is from midnight to seven in the morning, and the second is from one to three in the afternoon.

What is the reason for this natural need? With the cold. It is during these periods of time that our body temperature drops, and this does not depend on diet and rest.

Many studies show that a short nap of 15 minutes increases physical and brain activity. After a slight “break,” the mood improves in both children and adults. And especially useful afternoon nap for the elderly.

And yet, every medal has a downside. Some scientists explain the desire to sleep among broad daylight laziness and availability serious illnesses. So, if older men and women like to lie down after lunch, then this may be a wake-up call stroke. This hypothesis is supported by studies that have found that people who have an urgent need for daytime sleep are two or even four times more susceptible to strokes.

What explains this paradox? It turns out that shallow, superficial sleep (and this is often what daytime naps are) provokes disruptions blood pressure. Such jumps lead to cerebral hemorrhage.

But don’t be alarmed, the researchers reassure. You only need to sound the alarm when you sleep enough during the day and are not overtired, but the bed still calls you for a date during the day.

For young people the desire to sleep in daylight hours days – and it’s completely normal, if not inevitable. After all, it is young people who most often lack sleep at night and are in dire need of recuperation. Experts from Harvard have concluded that just 60 minutes of daytime sleep can restore brain function in the same way as a full night's rest. To establish this fact, they recruited volunteers who slept for 20 minutes before taking an attention and memory test. Such young people showed more good results than those who do not sleep during the day, and after 40 minutes or an hour of daytime sleep their mental capacity and even increased.

So, you and I have to determine the harmfulness and usefulness of daytime sleep for ourselves. And yet, I will say, based on personal experience: sleep whenever you want, because you deserve it. ;)