SLEEP IS GOD. GO WORSHIP.

Sometimes we would check with others when we feel we are doing something wrong, or we are confused. During our school life our parents used say that we are always sleeping, but now the same parents say that we are not sleeping enough. Parents always care for us; therefore, we can assume that something is going wrong. Let’s see what the problem is, how it is impacting us and what are the solutions for this issue.

To do that American psychologist helped us to start the proposal with his famous ‘Hierarchy of Needs’. We have carried out a survey for age group between 30 to 45 years, 83% of them are said they are suffering from lack of sleeping hours. Those respondents showed green signal to GO with this survey.

Next step of this survey was to identify the factors influencing the sleeping hours. According to the responses, 60% of respondents said that Social Media is the worst factor influencing their sleeping hours. Office Working Hours also badly influence the sleeping hours. 90% respondents said Staying Out also influenced their sleeping hours. The good thing is 40% of the respondents said that they are not having heavy meals for dinner. 

Since the Social Media is the worst factor, the next question is validated. 50% of the respondents said they are spending more than 3 hours on smartphones in a day. The sad thing is all the respondents are spending minimum one hour with their smartphone in a day. The result of this survey is, 25% of respondents sleep only for a maximum 5 hours in a day. Another 25% of respondents sleeping 7 hours and 42% sleeping 6 hours. Now we can see how smartphones are killing our sleep.

It is the time to know the Sleep Deprivation Effects. There are 4 noticeable signs of sleep deprivation. Excessive sleepiness, Frequent yawning, Irritability & Daytime fatigue. 1st day of the week we can see that most of our colleagues are showing all these signs. Now we will go back to the previous findings that 90% of respondents said that ‘Staying Out’ is influencing their sleeping hours. Our lifestyle during the weekends is similar to the owls life. If we do not care about the sleeping hours, we must face many serious issues listed in this slide, such as Weakened immunity, Accidents, Weight gain. 

Every problem has a solution. We have summarised respondents’ valuable suggestions to improve the sleeping hours as listed. In this proposal we have seen that most of the respondents are having lack of Sleeping hour, then the most influence factor is Social media and all of us are spending minimum one hour on our mobiles. Therefore, we need to give high priority to the worst factor. If we keep electronics out of our bed or switch off Wi-Fi device will add some sleeping hours. Establish a routine when going to the bed such as going to bed on time and waking up on time. Set the scene by setting the bedroom for sleep environment based on your comfort for better sleep. Caffeine and alcohol are two common sleep disrupting culprits, avoid drinking alcohol within three hours of bedtime, and limit yourself. No matter how tempted you are, don’t turn on the television, get on your computer, or check your texts or email. Try not to expose yourself to bright light, extreme temperatures, or loud sounds. 

References:

1. https://www.healthline.com/health/sleep-deprivation/effects-on-body

Medically reviewed by Stacy Sampson, D.O. — Written by Stephanie Watson and Kristeen Cherney on May 15, 2020

2. https://www.health.harvard.edu/sleep/8-reasons-why-youre-not-sleeping

    Published: February 2014

3. https://survivalreport.org/basic-human-needs/

    By Mike T - May 4, 2017

PS: The above content is prepared for Toastmasters Level 3 Project 1 under an Innovative Planning path.

Too much sitting linked to shortened lives

http://www.reuters.com

REUTERS - People who spent a lot of time sitting at a desk or in front of a television were more likely to die than those who were only sedentary a few hours a day, according to an Australian study that looked at death rates during a three-year period.

Researchers, whose results appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that the link between too much time sitting and shortened lives stuck even when they accounted for how much moderate or vigorous exercise people got, as well as their weight and other measures of health.

That suggests that shifting some time from sitting to light physical activity, such as slow walking or active chores, might have important long-term benefits, they added.

"When we give people messages about how much physical activity they should be doing, we also need to talk to them about reducing the amount of hours they spend sitting each day," said Hidde van der Ploeg, the new study's lead author from the University of Sydney.

Of more than 200,000 adults age 45 and older, van der Ploeg and her colleagues found that people who reported sitting for at least 11 hours a day were 40 percent more likely to die during the study than those who sat less than four hours daily.

That doesn't, however, prove that sitting itself cuts people's lives short, she noted, adding that there could be other unmeasured differences between people who spend a lot or a little time sitting each day.

The team surveyed about 220,000 people from New South Wales, Australia, between 2006 and 2008, including questions about participants' general health and any medical conditions they had, whether they smoked and how much time they spent both exercising and sitting each day.

Then the research team tracked responders using Australian mortality records for an average of almost three years, during which 5,400 - between two and three percent - died.

They found that the extra risk tied to sitting held up regardless of whether people were normal weight or overweight, how much time they spent working out and whether they

were healthy or had pre-existing medical conditions.

Van der Ploeg said too much sitting may affect blood vessels and metabolism by increasing fats in the blood and lowering "good" cholesterol levels.

"When you are standing or walking, your leg muscles are constantly working which helps to clear blood glucose and blood fats from the blood stream," she said. "If you are sitting, this is not happening because the muscles are not active."

The findings are consistent with other recent studies suggesting health consequences from too much sitting, said Mark Tremblay, an obesity and activity researcher at Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Canada.

"Sitting or reclining, especially in front of screens, is bad for you regardless of your age," said Tremblay, who wasn't involved in the study.

He added that even though people tend to think they're okay as long as they work out a certain amount a day, that's not necessarily the case.

"Getting your 30 minutes of physical activity five times a week is not insurance against chronic disease.

Both he and Van der Ploeg said there were ways that even people who have jobs involving a lot of desk work can train themselves to regularly interrupt sedentary behavior, such as standing up while on the phone or holding a stand-up meeting.

"Make sure the fax machine is four steps away from you, not within reaching distance," Tremblay said.

"Drink enough water that you have to pee four times a day. Stand up, stretch, walk around a little bit, say 'hi' to your friend in the cubicle next door."