1. The importance of insomnia
1) Xiao Hong, a famous female writer, has a sentence in The Last Wood: "Why do you have to sleep for a long time before you die?" In life, people often use it to tease some sleepy people. In fact, if you really think so, or even do so, then you will get closer and closer to this "last sleep".
2) Sleep is one of the most basic needs of life. Just as people can't live without air, water and food, people can't live without sleep. Modern scientific research divides sleep into two types, non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM) and rapid eye movement sleep (REM).
3) The basic rule of normal sleep is that normal adults first enter NREM at the beginning of sleep, then turn to REM after about an hour, and the duration is only about 10 ~ 15 minutes, and then turn to NREM, so NREM and REM appear alternately periodically, 4 ~ 6 times a night until they wake up.
4) During a night's sleep, the average young people sleep about 5%~ 10% in the first phase of NREM, 50% in the second phase, 20% in the third and fourth phases, and 20%~25% in REM sleep. From childhood to old age, with the growth and development to aging, REM sleep and NREM sleep in the third and fourth stages gradually decrease. After 60 years old, there is basically no NREM sleep in the fourth stage, and the number of waking up at night increases.
5) It is not difficult to see from the above data that the sleep quality of the elderly is gradually declining. No wonder Cao Tingdong said in the first sentence of Sleep in the first volume of The Old Man's Constant Words: "Less sleep is a big problem for the old man." In other words, people's life span is actually directly related to the quality of sleep.
6) Normal adults need to sleep for about 7-8 hours. Some experts think it should be kept at about 9 hours, while the elderly over 60 should be at least 6-7 hours. However, some experts think it is best to keep it above 9 hours, not exceeding 1 1 hour. However, I think few elderly people can get about 10 hours of sleep, and I don't agree with such a long sleep time, but they should get at least 6-7 hours of sleep. This kind of sleep is healthier, neither too long nor too short, and everything that is inconsistent with normal sleep is sleep disorder.
2. It belongs to sleep disorder
Generally speaking, there are three kinds of sleep disorders. The first kind of lack of sleep is insomnia. The second kind of sleep is too long, that is, sleepiness, and the third kind of abnormal behavior in sleep is sleepiness. Then I'll talk about these three kinds of sleep disorders separately.
1) insomnia
Insomnia refers to the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep, resulting in insufficient sleep. Also known as falling asleep and maintaining sleep disorder (DlMS), it is caused by many reasons, such as difficulty in falling asleep, short sleep depth or frequency, early awakening, insufficient sleep time or poor quality. Almost everyone has had this experience, but if it is only occasionally, it is not called sleep disorder. If it lasts for a long time, it must be taken seriously.
In traditional Chinese medicine, sleep is the rest of the human body's spirit or consciousness. If God doesn't get rest, there will be a series of problems such as listlessness, forgetfulness and weakness during the day. So how can we let the immortals have a good rest?
The Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic Su Wenling Lan Secret Classic records: "The heart is the monarch, and the god comes out." It means that the heart is equivalent to the position of the king, emperor and ruler of China, which is the place where consciousness begins. The meaning of starting here is said in classical Chinese, not as the meaning of going out and leaving. Some people don't understand this word in classical Chinese, saying that Chinese medicine doesn't even understand the human body, and the brain should take care of people's consciousness. In fact, the harmony of the internal organs of traditional Chinese medicine is completely different from that of modern science. Traditional Chinese medicine pays more attention to function than form, so the heart of traditional Chinese medicine includes brain or the heart of traditional Chinese medicine is equivalent to some functions of the heart and brain of modern science.
Back to the topic, Chinese medicine calls insomnia insomnia, but it is basically the same thing. Chinese medicine believes that if you don't go to court, the gods will be restless, and the gods will be restless and sleepless. Explain this sentence, you mean your heart, but you don't face it. In other words, if there is something wrong with the heart, people's minds will be confused. Once the mind is confused, people will lose sleep. The symptoms of insomnia in the elderly are generally the beginning signs of brain and heart decline, so only by raising the heart and brain can we have a healthy sleep.
2) Sleepiness
Narcolepsy refers to excessive sleep during the day, which is not caused by lack of sleep, alcohol, drugs, physical diseases, or some mental disorders (such as depression). At present, the etiology is not clear, and it is often related to psychological factors. However, Chinese medicine does not think so. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the general somnolence syndrome is due to the loss of heart, while the heart is nourished by blood, and the spleen governs biochemical qi and blood. Therefore, general Chinese medicine can often get good results by adopting the treatment methods of invigorating spleen and enriching blood, nourishing heart and calming nerves.
3) Sleep disorders
Then there are generally three kinds of sleep disorders, namely sleepwalking, convulsions and nightmares.
A. sleepwalking is called sleepwalking syndrome in modern medicine, which generally appears in the deep sleep period of13 before sleep. Walking indoors or outdoors after getting up, or doing some routine activities during the day at the same time, but generally there is no language activity or answering questions. Most of them can go back to bed automatically and go back to sleep, and you won't remember it when you wake up the next morning. Then Chinese medicine believes that the body is the home of God. It means that the body is the house of consciousness and mind, and all actions of the body are the result of being dominated by the mind. When you sleep at night, God is at rest, so it is called fugue. Generally speaking, there are three fugues. First, there are fewer elderly people who are uneasy because of excessive anger. Secondly, there are more elderly people who have lost their homes due to insufficient kidney essence. Finally, there are cases where the heart and kidney do not cross.
B convulsion is commonly known as cramp, convulsion and convulsion, also known as convulsion. It is characterized by paroxysmal convulsions of limbs and facial muscles, often accompanied by bilateral eyeball inversion, gaze or strabismus, and unconsciousness. Sometimes accompanied by foaming at the mouth or touching the corners of the mouth, apnea, and blue face. The attack time is mostly within 3 ~ 5 minutes, and sometimes it is repeated or even continuous. The liver is the main muscle and the kidney is the main bone. Generally, sudden convulsions in sleep of the elderly are caused by liver and kidney deficiency, which can be cured by nourishing liver and kidney and strengthening bones and muscles.
C. nightmares, commonly known as ghost beds. It refers to crying when you are asleep because you are scared in your dreams; Or feel something pressing on your body and you can't move. It is often used to describe terrible things that have been experienced. When you suddenly wake up, when your muscles and nerves are not awake, you will be conscious and unable to move. This is called a nightmare. That is, it is often accompanied by a sense of oppression and chest tightness, which wakes the sleeper. I had a dream that I felt depressed and had difficulty breathing during sleep, which was mostly caused by excessive fatigue, indigestion or excessive tension in the cerebral cortex. Emphasize nightmares a little, because some elderly people around me often have this situation. It is generally believed that they are possessed by evil spirits, and under the guidance of some feudal thoughts, they often turn to ghosts and gods for help. Actually, this is very incorrect. Then we know that Chinese medicine believes that the body is the home of the gods. Generally, this situation is that the kidney essence of the elderly is insufficient, and the lack of nourishing qi can not lead to housing. Generally, the methods of tonifying kidney, replenishing essence and filling marrow to soothe the nerves can achieve good results.
In fact, the above three kinds of sleep disorders are all caused by the decline of various physical functions of the elderly, especially the function of the kidneys, which is called congenital basis by Chinese medicine.
3. Other influencing factors
In addition to internal factors, sleep disorders actually have external factors, such as snoring, uncomfortable bed and noisy environment.
1) Snoring is commonly known as snoring, and modern medicine is called snoring or sleep apnea syndrome. Studies have shown that mild snoring has little effect on human health, but snoring with apnea should not be underestimated. It can not only lead to different degrees of hypoxia, but also cause hormone secretion dysfunction in the human body for a long time, thus causing damage to various systems, tissues and organs. It causes severe hypoxia in the brain and blood, leading to hypoxemia, especially for the cardiovascular system, which can cause hypertension, coronary heart disease, cerebral infarction, arrhythmia, myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, stroke and so on. In severe cases, even sudden death at night. People often say that you can rest easy. In fact, many people snore because the pillow is too high. Generally, the height of the pillow is parallel to the shoulder. Secondly, you can take a lateral position to avoid snoring, which is more effective, so you don't have to worry, on the contrary, it will increase a lot of troubles.
2) Furthermore, the bed you sleep in should be comfortable, but not too comfortable. This scale should be mastered by yourself, because people feel different. Finally, if you can't avoid being in a noisy or bright environment, you can take earplugs, eye masks and other ways for artificial control.
3) To sum up, for example, how to sleep healthily? First of all, you should have a comfortable sleeping environment. Secondly, you should keep a good happy mood. Don't think too much about the past, sleep for about seven hours every day and keep exercising. It's best to jog for an hour every day, but don't force yourself to be too hard, don't pillow too high, let your heart be relatively peaceful, and don't be bothered by trivial things, so that you will have a good body and health.
4, insomnia can be eaten
1) banana
Bananas are actually "sleeping pills" wrapped in the peel, which are rich in serotonin and N- acetyl -5- methoxytryptamine, as well as magnesium that can relax muscles. It can relax your brain and muscles and help you sleep well, so it is good to eat bananas properly at ordinary times.
2) Chrysanthemum tea
Chrysanthemum tea is the first choice to prepare tea drinks before going to bed, which can soothe the nerves and is also a natural method to soothe the nerves. Women can choose to drink some chrysanthemum tea before going to bed, which can improve the quality of sleep.
3) Warm milk
Many urban women suffer from insomnia. Drinking a cup of warm milk before going to bed can improve the therapeutic effect on sleep, because milk is rich in tryptophan, which can help calm and hypnotize, and at the same time can supplement calcium to protect the skin. It is a very good health care method.