Published on
Updated
Reading 2 mins.
Do you know junk sleep? By analogy to junk food, which is literally junk food, junk sleep is bad sleep. How is it defined? How to fix it? The answers of Dr Jonathan Taieb, doctor at the Hötel-Dieu and director of the Medical Institute of Sleep, in Paris.
Sleep is fundamental to our existence. However, many of us neglect it, shorten it and the repercussions, both on our days, our mood and our health, are felt. How to take care of your sleep?
Get enough sleep and get good quality sleep
Having poor quality sleep is characterized by short and irregular sleep cycles, frequent awakenings and non-restorative periods of sleep. This type of sleep can have detrimental effects on physical and mental health, as confirmed by Dr. Jonathan Taieb: “Sleep is important, it’s not a waste of time, as some people may think, but rather an essential moment for our body, which allows it to rebuild itself both physically and mentally”.
For the doctor, it is therefore necessary to respect a minimum sleep time: “Sleeping less than six hours a night increases the risk of cardiac pathologies, such as hypertension, or cerebral. It is essential to know your needs well in order to be able to get enough sleep“.
Learn to let go
You have understood it, it is important to sleep. And sleep well. And for that, you have to observe how you feel when you wake up. “Good sleep is restorative sleepadds Dr. Taieb.We feel repaired from the fatigue of the day before but also from the emotions that we were able to go through during the day”.
The difficulty lies in the life we lead and the fact of managing to cut with emails, professional life or screens, quite simply. “We don’t have the same days at all as in the 19th century, for example. We are constantly overstretched with difficulty sometimes picking up. What makes that one sleeps 6:30 on average per night, where it would take eight. You have to be able to disconnect, to have good nights, for better days” adds the specialist, who recalls that if one suffers from poor quality sleep, it is important to consult a doctor.
Consult a doctor online for your sleep disorders
Some tips to relax before sleeping
- Try to go to bed and get up at regular times every day;
- Limit screens before bed;
- Read before bed;
- Avoid caffeine and alcohol;
- Exercise regularly;
- Expose yourself to daylight outdoors for at least an hour a day.