Myth 1: The longer you sleep, the healthier you are.
Is sleep time related to health? The average sleep time of young people is 7-8 hours a day, that of the elderly over 60 is about 6.5 hours, and that of children and adolescents is relatively long. Studies have shown that people who sleep for more than 8 hours do not live longer than those who sleep for 6 or 7 hours. In fact, the length of sleep has little to do with health, and the quality of sleep is always more important than sleep time. Therefore, we should develop good sleep habits at ordinary times and sleep as long as necessary to ensure high-quality and efficient sleep.
Myth 2: MUBI shows that he didn't sleep well.
There are not a few people who have this misunderstanding. Many people say that they dream a lot at night and feel tired when they get up in the morning. I hope you'd better not dream at night. I said yes, I'll give you sleeping pills to make sure you don't dream at night. In fact, dreams are a normal physiological phenomenon. Dreaming is a process in which the brain integrates all kinds of information. Without this process, it is not normal sleep, but some people have poor memories of dreams when they wake up, and some people are deeply impressed. As long as the mental state is good the next day and it does not affect normal work and study, there is no need to do too much intervention.
Myth 3: Drinking can promote sleep.
Many friends told me that drinking a little wine before going to bed and falling asleep quickly is more effective than sleeping pills. I said yes, I sleep fast, but will you wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep? He said, how do you know? I said, because I am a sleep doctor. Alcohol can paralyze the nerves, shorten the sleep latency, and indeed make people fall asleep quickly, but it also shortens the total sleep time, so people who drink alcohol seem to sleep fast, but actually wake up early. Moreover, the accumulation of harmful substances in wine will damage health, and long-term drinking will cause irreversible damage to the brain.
Myth 4: Sleep can be stored and promoted.
Some people are busy at work, often work overtime, and have little sleep time on weekdays. They start crazy sleep mode on weekends. They think sleeping more on weekends can make up for the lack of sleep at ordinary times. I don't know if this will make the usual sleep rhythm out of balance. Once you are at leisure and don't work overtime, it will be difficult to return to normal sleep, and even serious insomnia will occur. So it's best to go to bed and get up at the same time on weekends as usual.
Myth 5: Sleeping pills can be eaten often.
Many patients come to the hospital and tell the doctor what sleeping pills to prescribe when they come up. Some patients take clonazepam from the beginning to solve the problem of insomnia. They never care about the causes of insomnia, but only worry about its symptoms. Sleep brought by sleeping pills can't replace real natural sleep, because sleeping pills will shorten the time of deep sleep. Most sleeping pills still have the risk of long-term addiction, so sleeping pills must be taken under the guidance of a doctor. In fact, many patients are addicted to sleeping pills because they don't treat the cause.
Myth 6: Reading in bed helps you sleep.
Some people say that I will lie in bed reading at night and fall asleep when I am sleepy. I said that you are fine now, and you can't sleep sooner or later. Many people like to engage in activities unrelated to sleep in bed, such as reading books, reading newspapers and watching TV. Nowadays, it has become a fashionable behavior for young people to follow the drama with their mobile phones in bed. But after a long time, these behaviors will lead to the loss of contact between bed and sleep, and the thinking will become active as soon as you go to bed, leading to or aggravating insomnia.
Myth 7: Old people should have more rest.
Many of my elderly patients will find themselves with the same problem when consulting. They go to bed at seven or eight in the evening and at nine in the evening. Many people think that the later you go to bed, the more you can't sleep. Although the elderly need adequate sleep as much as young people, with the growth of age, people's sleep time is shortened, with infants sleeping the longest and the elderly the shortest. Therefore, don't cause anxiety because of shortened sleep time, and then blindly take sleeping pills. The quality of sleep is based on whether you regain your energy the next day, not on the total time of sleep or bed rest.
Myth 8: Lie down if you can't sleep well.