World Sleep Day: How to get enough sleep, despite working late nights?

This World Sleep Day learn how to deal with the ailments that arise when you work until the wee hours of the morn
Rest Assured
Rest Assured

Last week, the hashtag #NationalNappingDay took social media platforms by storm. In a matter of hours tweets and posts from around the world—mostly featuring various GIFs and images of cute babies, cats, and puppies dozing off—received over 10.1 million hits. Though it seems like a farcical attempt by organisations, like the World Sleep Society, to capture the attention of millennials, it worked.
The online conversation eventually veered to sleep disorders and power nap apps like Pzizz. As today marks the World Sleep Day, we speak to one of India’s leading experts in this particular field of medicine to find out more.

Hit the sack
“As humans, we spend almost one-third of our lives sleeping,” begins Dr N Ramakrishnan. “This World Sleep Day the focus is on shift workers, who make up over 20 per cent of our country’s workforce. There is growing concern about the sleep cycles of those in industries like IT, BPO, media, entertainment, healthcare, etc,” he adds. Chronic sleep disruption disorder may also apply to those who’ve made it a habit to regularly binge watch TV shows all-night! 
 

Dr N Ramakrishnan
Dr N Ramakrishnan

Director of the Nithra Institute of Sleep Sciences, this doctor explains that living and working ‘out of sync’ with circadian rhythms (our body’s internal clock based on our sleep-wake cycle), as well as constantly shifting them, places stress on one’s body. “It may potentially lead to problems such as sleep disorders, stomach ailments, heart disease, and mental health problems,” he concludes.

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Give it a rest!
If you’re a shift worker who has difficulty sleeping during the day and trouble staying alert at night, here are a few simple pointers that may help:

* Eat earlier in your shift; avoid heavy meals and caffeine at least two-three hours before ‘your sleep time’. 

* Create and maintain a consistent sleep routine, even on your days off.

* Wear earplugs to block out noises during sleep, and hang heavy curtains over bedroom windows.

* Unplug phones. Most importantly, do not keep your cell phone near the bed.

* Inform family and friends that your daytime sleep is your night, not a nap.

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Sound sleep

Soft trance-inducing music has long been a nap-time playlist favourite for many as it is associated with nodding off quickly. To put this theory to the test and to help people get some shut-eye, German composer Max Richter is about to venture on a possible world-wide tour of ‘a concert with beds’ called Sleep. Another artiste, making waves on this front is Tom Middleton. The renowned British DJ has produced a scientifically-crafted album titled Sleep Better—which releases today—using ambient psychoacoustic soundscapes help you catch more ZZZs.

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 anoop.p@newindianexpress.com
@godsonlymistake

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