Introduction
Sleep occupies one-third of our lives and is still not studied enough. In only the last century, many changes have happened to people’s lifestyles. The modern way of living is different from what everyone used to do in the past. Things like sports, gadgets, work, and even medication significantly impact the quality of sleep that not everyone considers. The problem of sleep deprivation is severe and disturbs people around the globe more year after year.
Modern world
Every person in the world has a biological clock. Our body collects information for different systems to use and cooperate every other day. That means that everything we do throughout the day affects our sleep directly. One of the worst irritants of sleep is blue light, which finds people in every gadget, like phones, tablets, TV screens, laptops, etc. As Professor Charles A. Czeisler mentioned in the DW documentary about sleep: “The electric light to which we are exposed in terms of resetting our internal clock is like light on steroids” (Robert 2021). One should note that the biological clock is set to a twenty-four-hour light/dark cycle and is synced with the sun’s light, just like the Earth, which ends the rotation cycle every twenty-four hours.
One of the most important things I learned based on the film is how much we eat influences our time in bed. It is possible to state that the brain is synchronized with the light, but other human organs, like the liver, pancreas, and muscles, don’t see the light, so their clock is based on calories. Glucose is the brain’s primary fuel, “but as soon as you fall asleep, your brain is not using as much, so the metabolism is slowed down drastically” (Robert 2021). So what happens when a person eats late is that glucose comes down twice slower. As Robert states in his documentary: “The more often we eat at the wrong times – the less we sleep, and the less we sleep, the hungrier we become” (Robert 2021). The bodies of people were not ready for the modern world’s changes.
It stood out for me that sport is also influential in terms of sleep life. Physical activity “requires a lot of energy” (Robert 2021) and can make us tired or energized, demanding what type of sports people do and when they do it. The best time for physical activity is late afternoon and the best kind of sport to improve sleep is aerobic exercise because it helps to fall asleep more quickly.
However, another huge problem connected to sleep is medication. Twenty percent of Americans take sleeping pills, according to a documentary by Robert T (Robert 2021). As it is said: “six hundred million people suffer from poor sleep. In Spain, one hundred thirty-one million packets of sleeping pills are sold each year” (Robert 2021). Sleeping pills are just like aspirin and are highly addictive. That is why we should affect the roots of the problem. The documentary also mentions that if you don’t sleep well enough, you’ll “have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s” (Robert 2021). The main alternative to sleeping pills is to take care of your health, which is way more effective in the future perspective.
Conclusion
Based on what I have learned in the course, I understand that sleep is complex yet very simple. Poor sleep, as also good quality sleep, affects every single aspect of life and every system in our body. If people use gadgets less than at least one hour before bedtime, do sports at the proper time, and eat healthily, the world will sleep well.
Reference
Robert T. (2021). DW Sleep Documentary [Video]. YouTube. Web.