RStaying playing late at night, surrounded by lights and noises, complicates falling asleep. A world in debt to sleep, with young people even a “zombie” generation, emerged from a meeting promoted by Assosalute (simplysalute.it). The majority of people it doesn’t reach the advisable seven hours a night20 percent suffer from insomnia and wake up in the morning with the feeling of not having rested, regardless of how many hours they slept.
Often the cause is inthe hyper-vigilance of a brain that is always on to meet the needs of a hectic life: «The body asks us to sleep, but we don’t go to bed: this discrepancy is social jet-lag» explains Piero Barbanti, neurologist at the IRCCS San Raffaele University of Rome.
«The most common causes of insomnia are those related to lifestyle, such as stress and anxiety, coffee and alcohol in the evening, chatting and being on the phone before sleeping. In children, this, combined with school timetables that are poorly suited to physiological rhythms with lessons that start too early and last too long, has created the “zombie generation”: they should sleep 9-10 hours, rarely reaching eight.”
Young boy playing games on a computer at home
To remedy this, you need to have regular hours and exercise (before 5pm, otherwise the body and brain wake up), rest in a dark and quiet room because light and noises put you on alert. «To ease nervous tensions you can use substances such as tryptophan, magnesium or plant compounds such as valerian and passionflower; melatonin also helps you fall asleep and regain a good sleep-wake cycle” says Barbanti.
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