Prolonged poor sleep may cause cardiovascular diseases – UITH neurologist

PUNCH

Lara Adejoro

A consultant neurologist at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Kwara State, Dr Abiodun Bello, speaks with LARA ADEJORO on how individuals can achieve good sleep without affecting their daily activities

What do quality and good sleep mean?

Quality and good sleep mean when an individual sleeps very well and, by the next morning, is satisfied with the sleep and doesn’t feel any effect the next day attributable to not sleeping well. It involves the ability to sleep for almost some minutes when you are ready to go to bed; it means that you can initiate sleep, maintain that sleep, and wake up at your desired time.

When you wake up the next morning, you feel refreshed, and you can carry out your daily activities without having those feelings we have in our bodies when we don’t sleep well.

So, it has to do with time and the effectiveness of sleep the next day. Having good sleep varies. It has to do with that person’s satisfaction. When some people sleep for five hours, they are satisfied, but some people need to sleep for about eight hours at night to be satisfied. Most adults require about eight hours of sleep per night to sleep well.

How many hours of sleep should an individual have at the very least?

The average baby could sleep for up to 16 to 18 hours per day; children will need to sleep for longer hours, but for adults, eight hours of sleep will be okay for them. Even for older people, the number of hours required for sleep should not reduce, even though it may reduce a little bit, but it should be around eight hours, but that is a general thing.

Many people sleep for five hours, and they are fine; they can carry out their normal activities, and they will not experience fatigue, excessive yawning, or tiredness.

Meanwhile, if an eight-hour sleeper gets six or seven hours of sleep at night, he will not feel good the next day. So, for an adult, you can say that they get an average of about eight hours of sleep.

Does it mean that an adult who doesn’t sleep for an average of eight hours hasn’t achieved good sleep?

It depends on the usual number of hours that a person sleeps. When we say eight hours, that is just average, because many people do well with five hours, and some require nine hours.

So, anytime you sleep fewer hours than the hours you sleep, you can conclude that you didn’t get good sleep. If the average sleep time for an adult is eight hours, and you reduce it by one hour consistently for a few days, there will be some changes in that person, but the person may not know because nobody looks out for those things.