What are the mysteries of sleep?
There are many. First of all, all forms of life, from bacteria, plants, trees, grass and animals, sleep.
AND?
Sleeping remains one of the most enigmatic phenomena in our lives.
Is there a mystery in the stages of sleep?
In 1880 scientists believed that sleep was a reversible death, it took us a hundred years to understand that there was great electrical activity in the brain during sleep and that this activity had different phases.
You call the REM phase the “enigmatic state.”
Brain activity is high, very similar to that of the waking state, which is why the French call it paradoxical sleep. During REM sleep we do not control many of our bodily functions.
For example?
Our muscles are paralyzed, breathing and heart rate become erratic. In that phase we are like lizards: we don't even control our temperature, and we don't understand this either.
What else do we not understand?
A baby spends half of his time in REM: is he dreaming? And if so, what does she dream about? We have millions of unanswered questions. Did you know that every time a man dreams he gets an erection?
And how many dreams do you have in one night?
Three to five a night. And every time a woman dreams, the blood vessels in her vagina swell; and it's not something sexual.
You discovered sleep apnea.
I described it in the seventies in my country: stop breathing while you sleep and then wake up. Having just graduated in Pulmonology and being a resident doctor, one night I saw a patient who was having seizures while asleep. He was in the right place at the right time. I ended up performing a tracheostomy.
In your country, 45 million adults do not have a restful sleep.
Yes, and around 20% of the world's population has problems, you for example must have apneas.
Do you know it from my face?
Well yes, I have noticed that thin women, with long faces and retracted chins usually have sleep apnea.
Are we a sleepless society?
Yes, and that causes many accidents. Drowsiness was decisive in the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear plant, the Challenger space shuttle disaster or the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
And does it cause us diseases?
Sleep apnea can cause heart attacks, strokes, and accelerate cognitive decline.
Do we wake up five times an hour?
Yes, for seconds, 25 or 30 times a night, but you only remember if you wake up for several minutes. We don't know why it happens.
And the ramps while we sleep?
We don't know either, but it is very common in pregnant women, probably due to electrolyte disorders.
The consumption of sleeping pills is very high.
That has to be the last option. There is much literature that demonstrates that the most effective treatment for insomnia is cognitive-behavioral.
What does it consist of?
In teaching patients to prepare their minds for sleep by avoiding the thoughts that keep them awake.
What do we know about nightmares?
They are very common in children and are not a problem unless they are extremely unpleasant. Another thing is recurring nightmares. I have treated people with PTSD who repeat the same nightmare for 30, 50, and 60 years.
What is your sleep ritual?
Always go to bed at the same time, close my eyes and sleep, and that is something we have all done in our childhood. What did you do when you put your children to bed?
Tell them a story.
She has to treat herself like a child: there is a time to relax and then to sleep. Many people work late and that causes stress; And we already know, cell phones and computers do not help us. 50 years ago few people had sleep problems.
Does smart pajamas work?
It contains a gel that supposedly cools the body's infrared heat emissions, promoting long, deep sleep.
And the smart pillow?
Record the quality of rest. There are thousands of devices and remedies of this type and none have been studied, but the placebo effect may work.
What do we have left?
My advice is to make sleep a priority. If you don't get enough sleep, you will have a bad day, you will be irritable.
