sleep healthy growth

There is no universal sleep standard for everyone. A dynamic sleep rhythm that adapts to an individual's growth stage and life rhythm can better support healthy physiological, cognitive and emotional growth throughout the life cycle than the rigid "sleep X hours".

Last week, I accompanied a friend to the child growth and development clinic to get a report. I met a 10-year-old boy who was being dragged by his parents and looked aggrieved. The parents said that since the third grade, they have strictly adhered to the standard of "elementary school students should sleep for 10 hours". They pushed her to bed at 9 o'clock every day and forced her to get up at 7 o'clock. As a result, after half a year, she became half a head shorter than her classmates and she was always distracted in class. The doctor couldn't laugh or cry after reviewing his sleep monitoring report: The child lay in bed for two hours tossing and turning before falling asleep. The actual effective sleep was only 8 hours. The proportion of deep sleep was less than 15%, which was nearly half lower than the standard value. The secretion of growth hormone was less than 30% of the normal level. What's the use of sleeping for the "paper duration"?

When it comes to this, someone must mention the standards in textbooks: WHO clearly gives the recommended sleep duration for each age group, 10-13 hours for preschoolers, 8-10 hours for teenagers, and 7-9 hours for adults. Could it be wrong? This is actually the core point of controversy between traditional sleep medicine and emerging rhythm research: the former believes that duration is the basic bottom line of sleep quality. Sufficient sleep duration can leave enough time for body repair and cognitive organization. ； The latter is a view that has been promoted by the Stanford Sleep Institute and the Chinese Sleep Research Association in recent years - the priority of rhythm is much higher than that of duration. As long as you fall asleep and wake up at a fixed time every day, and the proportion of deep sleep and REM sleep meets the standard, even if you go to bed at 3 a.m. and wake up at 11 noon every day, the impact on your health will be far less than "sleeping for a long time" of sleeping early and late every day, tossing and turning in bed.

When I was working on projects in the past two years, I deliberately tried two modes: At first, I forced myself to stay in bed at 11 o'clock according to the "healthy schedule". My mind was filled with unfinished plans, and I couldn't sleep until 1 o'clock with my eyes wide open. When I woke up the next day, my head felt as heavy as a shot put, and the error rate in data verification was three times higher than usual. Later, I simply put it aside and worked until 12:30 on any day I had to work overtime. After I finished my work, I stood by the window for 10 minutes, threw my phone in the living room and then went to bed. Instead, I fell asleep after lying down for 10 minutes. The proportion of deep sleep was basically stable in the healthy range of 22%-25%, and I would not be groggy the next day. Another friend who works in cross-border e-commerce is even more exaggerated. He wakes up at 2 pm and goes to bed at 4 am every day. His day and night have been reversed for almost three years. Last month, all indicators in his physical examination were normal. The doctor said that this is equivalent to living in the Eastern Time Zone of the United States for a long time. His rhythm is very stable, and he is healthier than people who often suffer from jet lag.

Interestingly, the popular "segmented sleep method" (that is, the Da Vinci sleep method spread online, which involves sleeping for 20 minutes every 4 hours of work and only sleeping 2 hours a day) is even more controversial. Several freelancers I know say that it smells great, and they can work for several more hours a day, leaving them full of energy. ； But the clinical tracking data is also there: more than 60% of people who use the segmented sleep method for a long time will suffer from cortisol disorders and memory loss. People with underlying diseases may also induce cardiovascular and cerebrovascular problems. To put it bluntly, this method is only suitable for a very small number of people who are born with short sleep genes. Ordinary people trying it blindly are digging holes in their bodies.

Many people's misunderstanding about sleep health is that they actually regard it as a "fixed indicator". They would like to set an alarm clock to go to bed at a certain time and wake up at a certain time. If they do not meet the standard even slightly, they will become extremely anxious. For example, the elderly always think that their lack of sleep is a disease. In fact, after the age of 60, 5-6 hours of sleep a day is completely enough. As long as you are not tired or dizzy when you wake up, it is completely fine. If you force yourself to lie down for 8 hours, you will have the problem of sleep fragmentation. ； There are also parents who always urge their children to go to sleep quickly, then turn around and sit next to them to watch short videos. The blue light of the screen has already suppressed the child's melatonin. No matter how much you urge them, they still can't fall asleep? It's better to let your children run downstairs for half an hour after school to break a sweat, and put away all electronic devices half an hour before going to bed. This is much more useful than saying a hundred "go to bed soon".

I have fallen into many sleep-aid traps before: I drank red wine to help me sleep, and my head hurt even more when I woke up the next day. I later learned that alcohol can cut the duration of deep sleep by nearly half. It seems that I fall asleep quickly, but in fact, the quality of my sleep is very poor.； I followed the trend and took melatonin gummies. After half a month of eating them, I couldn't sleep at all without eating them. I went to see a doctor and found out that excessive melatonin supplementation would suppress my own melatonin secretion, which would in turn worsen my insomnia.

In fact, after all is said and done, sleep is the most personal thing. How can there be any template that is universally applicable? You don’t have to follow online tutorials to concoct a “perfect routine”, and you don’t have to suffer from anxiety and insomnia just because you stayed up late once in a while. After all, growth itself is dynamic. When you are a student, you have to catch up on homework, and when you are in the workplace, you have to rush for projects. As you get older, you will naturally sleep less. Just adjust according to your physical condition - as long as you wake up the next day without a headache or feeling sleepy, and can concentrate on completing the day's work, then your sleep is healthy.