Our standard of monophasic sleep during the night is often considered the norm by physicians (Steger & Brunt, 2003). However, historically and internationally it is the exception. In addition to our monophasic culture of sleep, there is the siesta-culture and the napping-culture.
In a siesta-culture in addition to the sleep during the night a further rest period is established in the early afternoon. Not everybody sleeps but the social life comes to a stop. An example is Spain and several South American countries that hold a siesta for a few hours after a long lunch. This way, for one the human biorhythm is taken into account and also the midday heat is being avoided. The siesta is bound to the noon time and is traditionally only held at that particular time. However, globalization and the use of modern technology are showing their effects. The number of people napping is constantly decreasing due to changed work rules and the use of air conditioners (Booth, 2011).
In China napping is even established in the constitution. In article 49 of the Constitution from 1950 the Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong established the right of the working people to hold on to rest (De Mente, 1994). After Mao’s death, however, it was considered as a symbol of traditional Chinese culture as well as a sign of economic backwardness. Napping is still a daily activity in rural areas but in the cities the capitalism has turned people away from it. Taiwan has the same cultural roots but with a different political development: a very aggressive approach to the afternoon naps. Staring in elementary school after lunch and even in the work force at the desk people doze for about 10 minutes (Moore, 2007).
The siesta which is firmly bound to the noon time...
... middle of paper ...
...earch, 193(1), 79-86.
Moore, L. (2007, March 18). The Afternoon Nap Attack. U.S.News. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070318/26nap.htm
Steger, B. & Brunt, L. (2003). Night-time and sleep in Asia and the West: exploring the dark side of life. New York, NY: Routleg Curzon.
Stone, K. L.; Ewing, S. K.; Ensrud, K. E.; Redline, S.; Bauer, D. C.; Cauley, J. A.; Hillier, T. A.; & Cummings, S. R. (2009). Self-reported sleep and nap habits and risk of mortality in a large cohort of older women. The Journal of American Geriatrics Society, 57(4), 604-611.
Tamaki, M.; Shirota, A.; Tanaka, H.; Hayashi, M.; & Hori, T. (1999). Effects of a daytime nap in the aged. Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 53, 273-275.
Winterman, D. (2007, November 28). Are you getting enough? BBC News. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7114661.stm
Each year at least 40 million Americans suffer from long term, persistent sleep disorders, and an additional 20 million experience occasional sleeping problems. About 60 million Americans a year have insomnia and it tends to increase with age and affects about 40 percent of women and 30 percent of men. It is estimated that 18 million Americas are suffering from sleep apnea, 12 million have RLS, and 250,000 are affected by narcolepsy. Adults typically need between 6 and 10 hours of sleep per 24 hour period, and most people need approximately 8 hours of sleep per day. Infants generally need about 16 hours per day; whereas, teenagers require 9 hours on average. In the first 3 months of...
Having no sleep can lead to unhealthy lives, relationships, one’s ability to function and interact with the world, and an unbalanced state of body, mind, and spirit. Sleep is crucial to an individual because it is a time where the body rests and restores energy and develops important information and without sleep, the body will slowly disintegrate. Poor sleep quality often is associated with Insomnia, but the two are two different items. Poor sleep quality is where an individual does not get at least 4 hours of sleep, but is still able to sleep and does not have a normal sleeping cycle. Insomnia is classified as a sleeping disorder, where one persistently lacks the ability to sleep or maintain sleep. This paper goes into a deep discussion of what Insomnia is and the two different types, the causes of Insomnia and how it affects a person’s lifestyle, a comparison between Men and Women who have Insomnia, and possible treatments to aid this disorder.
Chronic sleep loss is becoming more common in modern culture and less restricted to sleep-deprived diseases such as insomnia. Suggested to be the result of a number car, industrial, medical, and other occupational accidents, sleep deprivation is beginning to be recognized as a public concern. As a result, the Centers for Disease Control
Guo, Yanjun. Et al. “The Effects Of Shift Work On Sleeping Quality, Hypertension And Diabetes In Retired Workers.” Plos ONE 8.8 (2013): 1-6. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.
Sleep is one of our basic needs to survive and to function in day to day operations, but not everyone needs the same amount of sleep. Some people can survive on very little sleep, i.e. five hours a night, and some people need a lot of sleep, to the extend that they are sleeping up to 10 to sometimes 15 hours a night (Nature, 2005). According to Wilson (2005) the general rule states that most people need from seven to eight hours of sleep. The deprivation of sleep in our society in continually increasing with the demands in society increasing work loads, the myth that a few hours of sleep is only necessary to function properly and that sleep is sometimes considered as killing time (Nature, 2005). Sometimes sleep deprivation is also caused by other situations like sleep disorders, i.e. sleep apnea, chronic insomnia or medical conditions such as stress (Wilson, 2005).
Wells, Mary Ellen, and Bradley V. Vaughn. "Poor Sleep Challenging The Health Of A Nation." Neurodiagnostic Journal 52.3 (2012): 233-249. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 May 2014.
Sleepiness, whether due to sleep apnea, heavy snoring, idiopathic hypersomnolence, narcolepsy or insomnia from any number of sleep-related disorders, threatens millions of Americans' health and economic security (1). Perhaps somewhat most concerning of these disorders are those that allow sleep without having any control over when it happens-idiopathic hypersomnolence and narcolepsy. The two are closely related in that both cause individuals to fall asleep without such control, yet narcolepsy occurs without any dreaming during naps (2). For years, narcoleptic people have been falling asleep in corners, concerned, as they have given numerous attempts to try to stay focused and awake. But besides the excessive fatigue that people experience, there surely must be more that can be associated with causing such sleepiness among people at an uncontrolled level. There might especially not be a reason involving the I-function of the brain, as people are not aware of when necessarily they will fall into their deep sleep.
Sleep is a behavior universal to all people, yet it remains largely a mystery. Chronic sleep deprivation has become rampant throughout western society, for a number of reasons. The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of sleep deprivation, with major objectives being to identify what sleep is, and the reasons for sleep. An emphasis is also placed on the effect, symptoms, causes and ways to combat sleep deprivation. These areas are of particular interest to those seeking to investigate sleep deprivation, or individuals who suffer from sleep deprivation by investigating the symptoms, causes and strategies to combat sleep deprivation.
“When the going gets tough, the tough take a nap.” This statement by Tom Hodgkinson perfectly describes the solution to the life of the average American high schooler, who wakes up early, rushes to school, and undergoes several grueling classes, only to later participate in extracurricular activities and return home to complete homework. Due to all these activities, only a vast minority of teenagers obtain the amount of sleep they need in a night; Tom Hodgkinson’s quote proposes a solution to this problem. By instituting naptime in high schools, students could simply nap to refresh themselves when the going gets tough, whether that be an excessive amount of homework, an extremely demanding test, or a sports practice that lasts long into the
To sleep an individual usually requires relaxed skeletal muscles in their posture (sleep. 2014). Also according to the many research done by United States, United Kingdom and Australia (sleep. 2014) a person usually needs to sleep for a certain amount of time depending on if it is a weekday or weeknight. Adults are supposed to sleep between ‘6 to 9 hours per night’ (sleep. 2014). However, according to sleep polls that had been undertaken by United States in 2009 and in 1998, 6 hours per night sleeping had increased from ‘12 percent in 1998 to 20 percent in 2009’(sleep. 20149. REM decreases after a night of sleep for ‘100 minute’ every night (MARZANO et al, 2010). On the other hand, there had been a decrease during the same period when the poll was created to see the average of individuals sleep for 8 hours’ (sleep.2014). For 8 hours there had decrease from ‘35 percent of people to 28 percent (sleep. 2014). In the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, adults have an average less than 7 hours of sleep per night during weekdays, which is not enough due to the amount of work they have during the day and can lead to disorders.
Milner, C. E., Cote, K. A. (2008). Benefits of napping in healthy adults: Impact of nap length, time of day, age, and experience with napping. Journal of Sleep Research, 18(2), 272-281
Furthermore, there are clear distinctions in the type of naps that are commonly used. Some people may choose to nap to replace lost sleeping time, which is referred to as “replacement napping”, others may want to prepare for an extended period of wakefulness by napping, which is also known as “prophylactic napping”, and a third motivation to nap is described as appetitive napping, when a person naps for pure enjoyment of falling asleep (Milner & Cote, 2008). These three types of naps could apply to the subject of this particular study, which is a college student. College students are subject the enormous amounts of stress and pressure from parents and teacher to get all their work done, perform in the classroom, obtain good grades, etc… and they form a group that could profit largely from napping.
Sleep disorders are an underestimated public health concern considering that fifty to seventy million Americans are affected. Technological advances in the field of sleep have facilitated various theories to explain the need for and the purpose of sleep. Scientist have uncovered many types of sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy. Sleep disorders affect men ,women, children, the elderly, and the obese in different ways. Factors such as the number of children and the effects of menopause have been studied to determine their effects on sleep. Various treatments have been utilized ranging from non-pharmacologic to pharmacologic methods. Scientist have pinpointed areas of the brain that are involved in sleep deprivation and hormones that ultimately affect sleep.
Specific purpose: To persuade my audience to take care of our sleep duration as it may affect our daily life.
Important public policy issues have arisen in our modern 24-hour society, where it is crucial to weigh the value of sleep versus wakefulness. Scientific knowledge about sleep is currently insufficient to resolve the political and academic debates raging about how much and when people should sleep. These issues affect almost everybody, from the shift worker to the international traveler, from the physician to the policy maker, from the anthropologist to the student preparing for an exam.