World Sleep Day 2023 | Health benefits of sleep, and tips to improve sleep quality

Grown-ups need at least 7 hours of sleep a day - this may increase depending on circumstances such as poor sleep quality or after burning the midnigght oil for days on end. (Image: Andrea Piacquadio via Pexels)

All of us have heard the ditty “early to bed and early to rise…”, yet thousands of people across industries such as healthcare, media, hospitality, security, transportation and aviation continue to work long and strange hours at the cost of their sleep. This, despite the fact that there is plenty of scientific evidence to support that our sleep and health are intricately interlinked. So much so that the theme for this year’s World Sleep Day, being observed on March 17, is “Sleep Is Essential for Health.”

“Sleep is a restorative process which relaxes the body, benefits the immune system by rebooting it, helps us become stronger, and also ensures that our memory and cognitive functioning remain optimal. When we sleep, our breathing becomes slower and the body preserves energy,” says Dr Ashish Kumar Prakash, a respiratory and sleep medicine consultant at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram.

According to general guidelines, children between 5 and 12 years require 9-12 hours of sleep, teenagers need 8-10 hours and for adults 7 hours or more is required, points out Dr Bikky Chaurasia, consultant (internal medicine) at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital.

“If you are sleep deprived the amount of sleep you need increases. Among adults, less than 7 hours of sleep has been linked to weight gain having body mass index (BMI) greater than 30, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, depression and anxiety disorders,” says Chaurasia.

There are other factors which influence the amount of sleep one might require, points out Dr Vikas Maurya, director and head of the department of pulmonology and sleep disorders at Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, Delhi. “Sleep quality, for example. If our sleep quality is not good, then we may require more hours of sleep to make up for the poor quality. In case someone has a previous sleep deprivation… for instance, if a person hasn’t had adequate sleep for many nights, then more amount of sleep is required. Hormonal fluctuations in pregnant women could result in a poor sleep quality,” he says.

Also, there is the ageing myth when it comes to sleep. It is widely believed that older adults require less sleep as compared to younger adults. That’s simply not true. “The truth is that older adults need the same amount of sleep as younger adults because sleep plays a very important role in the prevention of various diseases,” Dr Maurya adds.

Sleep problems can cause wide-ranging health complications, like “obesity, type-2 diabetes, increased sugar levels, hypoglycaemia, heart diseases, hypertension, increase the risk of heart attacks, irregular heartbeat, coronary heart disease, stroke impaired immune function" explains Dr Maurya. "Also, sleep is vital for our body organ functions. Deep sleep provides our cells and tissues the opportunity to recover from the wear and tear of daily life. Tissue repair, muscle growth and protein synthesis, which are major restorative functions in the body, occur almost exclusively while we are sleeping.”

Dr Maurya also points out that sleep has a bearing on our longevity. It has been found that poor sleep patterns could increase mortality risk in humans by as much as 15 percent.

Insufficient sleep has a negative impact on mental health as well, warns Dr Shama Kovale, an ENT consultant at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai. “Lack of sleep can cause irritability, fatigue, hinders our ability to concentrate, impacts memory, and leads to overeating, problems with socialising and  feelings of loneliness. These effects can contribute to more severe mental health disorders in the long term," she adds.

“People should think about sleep like they do other important healthy behaviours such as exercise - as something to reflect upon and, when appropriate, improve so that one can feel better and remain healthier over time,” advises Lourdes DelRosso, the co-chair of World Sleep Day 2023.

Healthy sleep encompasses three major points: total hours of sleep, quality of sleep, i.e., uninterrupted and refreshing sleep, and finally a consistent sleep schedule.

Bad food choices, caffeine, alcohol, late dinner and too much time on gadgets before sleep sets the mind racing and makes one more alert mentally, and that can disrupt one’s sleep schedule.

There are plenty of gadgets, including Apple Watch, Garmin and FitBit smart watches, that monitor sleep pretty accurately and can help you understand your sleep patterns. Also, setting a daily sleep alarm could help you fall into a regular pattern and develop a regular and healthy sleep schedule, suggest sleep experts.