World Sleep Day is March 21 every year. Sleep is an active process in the human body that refreshes the mind and relieves fatigue. Adequate sleep, balanced diet and proper exercise are three health standards recognized by the international community.One third of a person’s life is spent in sleep, and if he does not sleep for five days, he will die. It can be seen that sleep is a physiological need of human beings. As a necessary process of life, sleep is an important part of the body’s recovery, integration and consolidation of memory, and an indispensable part of health. According to a World Health Organization survey, 27% of people have sleep problems.
The “China Sleep Research Report (2022)” shows that in the past 10 years, Chinese people have fallen asleep more than two hours later, and the average sleep time has decreased from 8.5 hours in 2012 to 7.06 hours in 2021. The survey shows that only 35% of Chinese people get enough sleep for 8 hours, and new mothers, students, and professionals have serious sleep problems.
Factors that affect sleep duration include:mobile phoneOr surfing the Internet can lead to sleep delays, work or study hours that crowd out sleep time, and the impact of sleep disorders such as insomnia. The study showed that women who slept less than 5 hours a day had a 36% increased risk of colon cancer compared with those who slept 7-7.5 hours a day; men who slept less than 6.5 hours had a 112% increased risk of lung cancer.
Guo Xiheng, director of the Respiratory and Sleep Center of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, suggested that everyone should go to bed between 10:00 and 11:00, no more than 12:00 at the latest, and sleep time should preferably be maintained at 7 to 8 hours. According to experts, sleeping less than 6 hours a night for a week will lead to changes in more than 700 genes in the body. Long-term lack of sleep can even increase the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, depression, diabetes and obesity.
In medicine, the definition of staying up late is controversial, but from the perspective of biological rhythm and endocrine, it is generally believed that staying up following 23 o’clock is considered to be staying up late.