D.ieta, exercise and sleep are the three pillars of a healthy life. One misses and the balance fails. And in the last period, more and more people are experiencing an imbalance due to lack of sleep: Covid with all its consequences has also been added to stress, insomnia and various ailments, including a different lifestyle that has thrown the circadian rhythm upside down for many people. Yet sleep and rest are essentialas he also stated Jennifer Aniston in a recent interview with People during which he confessed that he has been suffering from insomnia for years and sleepwalking, which have worsened in recent years. A serious problem that involves not only the “simple” sleep but the whole life of the person.
Sleeping and rest are not the same thing
Sleeping and rest are not exactly synonymous. You can also sleep the recommended eight hours but not really rested. “The American scholar Saundra Dalton Smithinternist and researcher, carried out a study according to which there are seven types of rest, very different from the concept of sleep and its phases during the night“, explains Beatrice Casoni, Psychiatrist and Health Director Neurocare Clinica of Bologna.
The problem is therefore that, when it is missing the balance between these seven types sleep disorders arise.
Getty Image
Seven types of rest, from the physical to the creative
The first type of rest is the physical one, the most classic: for an adult it means sleeping from 7 to 9 hours so as to completely regenerate; the second type is the mental one, taking breaks during work, slowing down the pace, helps to recharge the batteries of the mind so that it can continue better. Then follows the sensory rest “which can be obtained by moving away from the excess of stimuli to which we are subjected every day, particularly due to electronic devices. While the creative rest presupposes focusing on the beauties that surround uswhether they are given by nature, by art or by what we like most ».
Emotional rest, on the other hand, is to guarantee free rein to one’s emotions, do not hide them or keep them under constant control but let them flow freely. The sixth is the social rest, taking a break from the people around us: family, friends, colleagues, although they are good for our life, they need energy that runs out at some point. “Finally, there is spiritual rest, that is, dedicating ourselves to activities that allow us to cultivate our spiritual dimension. Whether they are activities related to one’s religion or any type of faith, from politics to sports to volunteering, dedicating oneself to it allows us to redefine priorities and feel that we belong to something ».
Lack of balance causes sleep problems
When there is a lack of balance between these seven types you have problems with sleep disturbances, increased after the pandemic. “Covid19 represented the first cause of mental distress as a consequence of both the trauma to which we have been subjected and the alterations in daily habits imposed by the restrictive measures. For example, we think of the impossibility of carrying out regular physical activity or walking outdoors, the greater time spent in front of blue light devices such as tablets, smartphones and PCs due to smartworking or for leisure reasons. Unfortunately many of these “bad habits” have entered our daily life, amplifying or triggering insomnia because they alter the circadian rhythms»Explains the expert.
A problem that has also raised Jennifer Aniston: in a recent interview with Peoplethe actress said she always had a hard time sleeping, with frequent episodes of insomnia and sleepwalkinga problem that has increased in the last two years “Insomnia also comes in different forms: initial when it is difficult to fall asleep, terminal with early awakenings or characterized by frequent awakenings during the night. Everything is summed up in a feeling of poor restdaytime sleepiness, poor concentration and mood swings’.
Sleepwalking, a benign disorder
However, insomnia is only one of the sleep disorders. To this is added, for example, sleepwalking which belongs to the parasomnias and which, as the expert specifies “it generally occurs in children and resolves by age 20 but 1% of cases continue to suffer from it even in adulthood. It is a disturbance of awakening as the frontal and prefrontal part that deals with it continues to sleep while some areas of the brain, in particular the motor one, wake up during the night. It is a phenomenon that occurs during deep sleep, when the subject gets up and performs actions that he usually does during the day ».
It should be noted that there is no specific therapy for sleepwalking, as it is considered a benign disorder.
Taking care of sleepwalking
As the expert explains, medical examinations have been carried out that exclude pathologies such as nocturnal movement disorders or forms of nocturnal epilepsy, sleepwalking is not curable. Pharmacological treatments that stabilize sleep can be taken or it could be very useful to undertake a course of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy “in particular sleep CBT. Important set up a proper routine and eliminate bad habits that cause the disorder. It should be noted that both i drug treatments that psychotherapy can help to improve any mental disorders that may cause alteration circadian rhythms such as mood disorders, anxiety disorders or other similar problems “.
In recent years, new non-pharmacological techniques have also been imposed that facilitate the restoration of good sleep quality, thus promoting relaxation such as neurofeedback: «It is a non-pharmacological, non-invasive and painless treatment carried out through a software with the aim of training the brain, with the help of an expert, to regularize its rhythms. With this gradual learning process, the patient learns to regulate dysfunctional activity by improving the symptoms of various disorders, including those of sleep “concludes the expert.
iO Donna © REPRODUCTION RESERVED