Sleep

The habits we gain play a major role in the relationship between sleep and health. It is important to understand that every single little thing we do today, affects us tomorrow. The common cold and weight gain, as well as how we do our daily activities are related to how much rest we get. Studies have shown that the less we sleep the more exposed to the rhinovirus we are. When we sleep less than 7 hours, we are 2.94 times more likely to get the cold ¹. At the same time, short periods of sleeping time are related to weight gain or obesity in children and adults. When adults and kids sleep less than 5 hours, there is a greater risk of suffering from severe obesity. However, there is a slight conflict of studies. Sleeping 5 hours or less, and eight or nine hours cause obesity and short term weight gain in women ². Our efficiency to perform a well done job or class work also depends on the way we sleep. According to the "Sleep Patterns of College Students at Public University" study, college students are required to sleep at least nine hours but they only sleep 7 or 8 hours. By doing so, their academic activities are affected in a negative way ³. For this reason, many students and adults rely on coffee to keep them awake and on task. On the other hand, caffeine tends to affect sleep quality during night time ⁴. This leads us to the affect of lack of sleep and insomnia. Insomnia is a problem related to the difficulty of falling asleep, staying asleep, or quality of falling asleep. There are different types of insomnia and about 54% of adults suffer from this problem, whether it is during the night or day. Such disorder can be blamed on the interferences on a normal sleep schedule ⁵.

References

1. Sleep Habits and Susceptibility to the Common Cold.Sheldon Cohen, PhD; William J Doyle, PhD; Cuneyt M. Alper, MD; Denise Janicki-Deverts, PhD; Ronald B. Turner, MD. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2009; 169 (1) : 62-67.
2. Sleep Duration, general and abdominal obesity, and weight change among the older adult population of Spain. Esther Lopez-Garcia, Raquel Faubel, Luz Leon-Muñoz, Maria C Zuluaga, Jose R Banegas and Fernando Rodriguez-Artalejo. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
3. Sleep Patterns of College Students at a Public University. LeAnne M. Forquer, PhD; Adrian E. Camden, BS; Krista M. Gabriau, BS; C. Merle Johnson, PhD. Journal of American College Health, Vol 56, NO. 5.
4. Caffeine or melatonin effects on sleep and sleepiness after rapid eastward transmeridian travel. M Beaumont, D. Batejat, C. Pierard, P. Van Beers, J.B. Denis, O. Coste, P. Doireau, F. Chauffard, J. French, and D. Lagarde. Journal of Apploed Physiology.
5. What Is Insomnia? http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/insomnia