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Manipal Journal of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Letter to editor:

Waking Up The Youth: Sleep Is Essential For Health

According to the World Sleep Society, sleep, like good food and exercise, is a behavior essential to physical, mental and social well-being. Adequate sleep at appropriate time is necessary for optimal health and safety, while changes in sleep time and duration are intertwined with a variety of metabolic, cardiovascular, endocrine, and neurological disorders1,2.Therefore,sleep, which is directly related to health and quality of life, is considered a basic human need to maintain his/ her bio-psycho-social and cultural functions3.

The timing and duration of sleep for each individual is influenced by multifarious factors, namely personal factors (smartphone use, work hours, and length of previous sleep and wakefulness), environmental factors (light-dark cycles), and circadian (his/her own internal biological timing) factors2.

Sleep disorders reduce the quality of life and, as a result, pose a slew of health issues. The disease burden for sleep disorders is enormous among Indian population. They have been considered thecinderella branch of medicine for decades4. India being a developing nation, and the Indian youth, who account for approximately 62% of the population, play an important role in the nation's and, to a lesser extent, the world's progress through their hard work and innovation. It is worth noting that the health of today's youth has recently deteriorated as a result of compromised modern lifestyle habits such as altered diet and sleep. Health and nutrition awareness programs have thrived in recent years, but sleep health remains implicit at optimal levels, particularly with regards to youth5.

To collect feedback on sleep health, a cohort of 150 college students completed a survey. Feedback was collected using the Google Forms survey questionnaire. The survey questions were comprehensive and collected from various websites of organizations and published articles that emphasizesleep health. Once the survey responses were collected, the investigator analyzed and interpreted the data to gain insights into the student cohort's sleep patterns and attitudes.The studyresults revealed that over 62.2% of youths sleep less than 8 hours per night, with 37.4% sleeping less than 6 hours, 67.9% having trouble sleeping, 75.6% reporting study activities during bedtime, and 60.3% sleeping during the day. The reason for the decreased and altered sleep pattern was that 79.4% of them use mobile phones and 16% watch television (TV) during bed time.

It’s high time to educate young people about sleep hygiene and its impact on health and well-being. Recent studies and center for disease control and prevention (CDC) elucidates numerous measures to enhance sleephygiene among young population. Physical activity, yoga, maintaining adequate sleep duration with an appropriate bed room environment (bed rooms with quiet, dark, relaxing and comfortable bedroom temperature), and life style modification may be the tangible ways to enhance sleep health among youths.

First and foremost, regular physical activitythat includes 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobics or at least 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobics; or an equivalent combination of moderate and vigorous aerobic activity during the week. Moderate- or vigorous-intensity muscle-building activities that engage all major muscle groups for two or more days per week should also be included in the physical activity protocol6.

Yoga has its roots in Indian culture and is a way of life that promotes physical, mental and spiritual well-being. Various combinations of yoga such as posture exercises (asanas), breath control (pranayama) and meditation play a crucial role in improving sleep health in young people7. Other measures that improve sleep health in youths include maintaining 8 to 9 hours of sleep per night as recommended by the World Sleep Society, avoiding televisions and smart phones during bed time, and leaving an adequate gap between night meals and sleep.Predefined sports/games, awareness programs, indulging in cultural entertainment, and increased social/ extracurricular activitiesare effective measures to prevent mobile phone addiction.

I hope that the study's findings and recommendations will encourage the younger generation to consider the importance of sleep health and well-being.

We wish everyone a “good sleep and healthy future!”

Financial support and sponsorship: Nil.

Conflicts of interest: There are no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgement: I thank Dr. SharathBabu PT, PhD [Principal, MGM Institute of Physiotherapy] and all the faculty of theDepartment of Neurophysiotherapy, MGM Institute of Physiotherapy for their constant support of this study.

References:

1.Luyster FS, Strollo PJ, Jr., Zee PC, Walsh JK, Boards of Directors of the American Academy of Sleep M, the Sleep Research S. Sleep, a health imperative, 2012,35:727-34.

2. Buxton OM, Cain SW, O'Connor SP, Porter JH, Duffy JF, Wang W, et al, Adverse metabolic consequences in humans of prolonged sleep restriction combined with circadian disruption, Science translational medicine, 2012,4:129.

3. Engin E, Ozgur G,The relationship of sleep patterns to job satisfaction of intensive care nurses, Journal of Ege University School of Nursing, 2004, 20(2):45-55.

4. Panda S, Taly AB, Sinha S, Gururaj G, Girish N, Nagaraja D, Sleep-related disorders among a healthy population in South India, Neurology India.,2012 Jan 1,60(1):68.

5. Yilmaz D, Tanrikulu F, Dikmen Y, Research on sleep quality and the factors affecting the sleep quality of the nursing students,Current health sciences journal, 2017 Jan,43(1):20.

6. World Health Organization T, Global recommendations on physical activity for health, World Health Organization, 2010.

7. Panjwani U, Dudani S, Wadhwa M. Sleep, cognition, and yoga, International Journal of Yoga, 2021 May,14(2):100.

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