HEALTHY SLEEPING HABITS TO PREVENT AND TR EAT DYSSOMNIA

Healthy sleeping habits is a complex balance between behaviour, enviro nment and circadian rhythm. The quality of sleep can be improved by be haviour, e.g. eating tryptophan and carbohydrate rich foods, physical exercise in the afternoon or a cold shower just before going to bed. T otal sleep time is maximal in thermoneutrality and decreases above and below the thermoneutrality zone. Thermoneutrality is reached for an e nvironmental temperature of 30-32 degrees C without night clothing or of 16-19 degrees with a pyjama and at least one sheet. Noise also modi fies sleep structure and above 50dB shortens total sleeping time. Alth ough subjects do become subjectively accustomed to noise, vegetative c ardiovascular reactivity to environmental noise remains unchanged. The spontaneous circadian awake/sleep cycle is 25 hours, slightly longer than the body temperature cycle, but when subjects are exposed to envi ronmental synchronization, the two cycles coincide. In individuals und ergoing temporal isolation, the two rhythms become independent often l eading to subjective discomfort and fatigue. Certain factors including age can favour internal desynchronization. Other factors may include social contact, stress due to mental work load, and constant lighting which could lengthen the awake/sleep cycle. Caffeine blocks the recept ors of adenosine, and thus its effects of inhibiting neurotransmission . Intake 30 to 60 minutes before sleeping shortens total sleep time an d increases the duration of stage 2 and shortens stage 3 and 4. Alcoho l may act as a relaxing, sedative agent when consumed just before slee ping but can also lead to night-time awakening due to sympathetic acti vation which does not return to baseline levels until the blood alcoho l levels have returned to 0. Nicotine has a biphasic effect on sleep: at low concentrations, it leads to relaxation and sedation and at high concentrations inhibits sleep. A careful study of sleeping habits is the first step in evaluating complains of insomnia or hypersomnia. Bef ore relying on drugs, treatment should start with attention to the sle ep environment and personal habits.