New Year Resolution, mens sana …?

If I had let my new year’s resolution fizzle out, I would not have seized this opportunity to bring you the second part of DrLifestyle’s concept about living well. By ‘living well’ I mean going beyond mere somatic health, and looking more deeply and spiritual and mental wellbeing. If you haven’t read my first article on this topic, or if you don’t remember what it was about, you may access any time the link at the bottom of this page.

The saying Mens sana in corpore sano prioritises first the three pillars whose disbalance leads to somatic diseases. The other three: sleep, stress and love are of equal importance.

However, can they be fully separated and addressed as a closed / open switch? No. To support this, let’s consider a disbalance between feet and fork: by increased intake and decreased caloric consumption, the eventual result is likely to be obesity. The obesity may lead to Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), that is one of the underlying causes of insomnia. Insomnia leads to tiredness during the day and lack of effectiveness in our professional life. And this is not even considering the hunger hormone, ghrelin, which is excessively produced due to insomnia, and may lead to bulimia, and again to obesity, and so on.

Lack of effectiveness at work leads to stress, as we can all relate to.

A definition of a good and healthy night’s sleep is the following: falling asleep in less than 30 minutes, uninterrupted duration of 7-8 hours of sleep, or maximum 3 short awakenings, and feeling fresh and restful in the morning.?Of course, kids or certain categories of people may need a longer sleep duration.

Within today’s fast–paced, hyper-connected society, we are all pushed relentlessly to the point of exhaustion, to thrive financially, to maintain high performance, or to race to the top.

I will set aside those categories of people suffering from insomnia due to stress, depression, anxiety, cardiovascular diseases, endocrine disorders, or having side effects from their current medication. They must be medically investigated, diagnosed and the underlying cause must be treated.

Therefore, in this framework I am going to focus on those who, for different reasons, suffer from insufficient sleep.?Yes, I wrote “suffer”. Didn’t you know that insufficient sleep is classified, according to the ICSD3 (International Classification of Sleep Disorders, 3rd edition), as a sleep disorder?

Some have no choice when struggling to survive and are forced to have two or even three jobs. Some are workaholics or just pushed to align to their organization or their line manager’s style. Some believe that workaholism is a recipe for success.

What do all of them have in common? A syndrome of insuficient sleep, characterised by having daytime sleepiness (dozing off unintentionally) along with a chronic patern of sleep?time that is shorter than expected for their age and present for 3 months.

And how many of us are brave enough to admit, at least tacitly, that we passed through such an experience? I would dare to show them their own reflection in a mirror of the future. What that would show, you might ask? Decreased cognitive performance, disturbed mood and somatic disorders. Medical evidence shows the relationship between less than six hours of sleep and the risk of cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and all-cause mortality. Of course, those with more than 9 hours of sleep have increased risk for disease too, but this is another story.

Anyway, I believe that at least some of us have noticed a colleague dozing off unintentionally during a meeting. Those present are excluded, of course ??. Who’s to be blamed for that? The boring presentation or the boss who sets frequent and long meetings?

The very truth is they aren’t to be blamed and the sleep pattern is to be analysed.

And, if you still minimise the importance of the sleep, here it is one last argument. Failing to follow the rules of sleep hygiene and reducing the duration of sleep will knowingly lead you one day to thicken the ranks of those with insomnia in your GP’s office. And most likely you will receive a pharmacological prescription, although many situations can be solved by lifestyle changes or cognitive-behavioural interventions. Everyone is in a hurry, right? And we need something with an immediate effect, regardless of side effects.

So why not start this year, when there are still a few days until the end of the first month of the year, with the establishment of three rules:?to respect your sleep schedule, to allow yourself to sleep as long as you need, and to teach your loved ones to do the same.

Bellow you may find a list of rules of sleep hygiene.

Research shows that resistance training, Tai Chi and yoga improve quality of sleep. And if you have kids, teach them how important the rules for sleep hygiene are.

As for the sleep-stress relationship, it’s like the chicken and the egg: which came first? ??

If we do observe sleep hygiene rules, we get sufficient sleep and we do not have somatic diseases, it is very likely that stress is the underlying cause of the sleep issues.

A definition of organisational stress is that the requests of the organisation we work for do not match our abilities, passion, or motivation. We do have a saying: birds of a feather flock together. So, dare to say “those who don’t resemble don’t gather together”.

Let us dare, therefore, if our state of health also depends on this, let us give up the stressors, let us make a change. The world is big, and with globalization, we are more likely to find the group we are like.

Of course, for that purpose we may need to learn new things. And that’s the way to maintain or grow our cognitive abilities. Neuroplasticity is discussed, in the sense of loss of grey matter with age, but also in the sense of recovering the volume of the grey matter through complex learning processes, even in, or perhaps especially in, middle or old age. Interestingly, doctor Pascal Douek mentions, in his book Les Nouvelles clés de la longévité, a study published in 2016 that shows a positive direct correlation between the number of finalised years of study and brain age: with each year of study completed the brain age rejuvenates by 11.5 years.

So, let’s keep our brain young through continuous learning!

To learn we can learn anything: a new foreign language, a new sport, how to play an instrument, a new profession, how to communicate or how to write articles (as I learn now from my English teacher). Even to learn left-handed writing with my left hand when you are right-handed can be a good exercise.

The sky is the limit. Just activate your creativity button.

We can learn new things, be it for leisure or for entering a new profession. Learning will not only increase the volume of grey matter, but also expand your knowledge and openness to people as well as your interaction with society. Speaking about grey matter, please do note though, while there are a lot of observations on neuroplasticity and enhancing the volume of grey matter, further studies are needed further on this subject-matter.

Our wellbeing is linked to our connections with the society and with the altruism. By the way, did you know that the best way to reduce your own stress is to take care of others? Whether it’s just smiling at someone, having organised a friend’s birthday party, or helping a homeless stranger.

One last item to put on the list is related to environmental sustainability, an issue that concerns us all. What has this got to do with our health?

I will bring you 3 arguments, of which you probably know one or at least you intuit it.

Pollution affects our respiratory health. Intuitively or well known.

Exposure to small particles pollutants leads to erectile disfunction. And a healthy sex life has a cardio-protective effect.

Finally, time spent in nature, even if not very long, for example, 20 minute, leads to stress relief. In my previous article mentioned above I made a plea for walking. You can do this by taking it through a park to work. And in doing so, kill two birds with one stone.?

Well, the question is, where does nature come from if we keep destroying it? And here I am with a suggestion: plant a tree in 2022!

Tree by tree will make a forest.

Tatiana Popescu, MD, alias DrLifestyle (the doctor that keeps you away from doctors); [email protected]; www.doctorlifestyle.ro

References:Pascal Douek, Les Nouvelles Clés de la Longévité; Lifestyle Medicine, a manual for clinical practice, Editors Jeffrey Mechanick, Robert Kushner

Sleep hygiene recommendations (Sleep Management, Kelly Glazer Baron and Leland Bardsley – Lifestyle Medicine, a manual for clinical practice, Editors Jeffrey Mechanick, Robert Kushner)

1.????Schedule and time spent in bed

a.????Do not go to bed unless sleepy

b.????Get out of bed if awake for 30 minutes

c.????Unse the bed for sleep and intimacy only

d.????Get up at the same time each morning

e.????Avoid naps

f.?????Allow yourself sufficient time for sleep; for most adults, 7-8 hours per night

2.????Presleep activities:

a.????To not go to bed hungry, but also do not eat a large meal 2 h before bed

b.????Wind down in the evening, such as a warm bath or a few minutes of reading before bed

3.????Bedroom environment

a.????The bedroom should be cool, dark and quiet. Use room-darkening shades or an eye mask to control light. For sound, a white noise machine or table fan may be helpful

b.????Go “off the grid”. Turn off cell phone, tablet, or other electronic media

4.????Engage in healthy behaviours and avoid substances and behaviours that interfere with sleep

a.????Avoid caffeine in the afternoon

b.????Avoid alcohol prior the bedtime

c.????Avoid cigarettes and nicotine before bedtime

d.????Avoid or limit use of sleeping pills

e.????Schedule “worry time”

f.?????Turn alarm clock face away from the bed to resist the temptation to check the time

g.????Exercise regularly

h.????Manage stress and engage in relaxation

Mens sana in corpore sano / A Healthy mind in a Healthy body / Minte s?n?toas? ?n corp s?n?tos

Please access the link below for the previous article:

New Year Resolution, knowledge, experiences, and sensitivity – 9 suggestions for feet, fork, fingers

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/new-year-resolution-knowledge-experiences-sensitivity-tatiana-popescu/?trackingId=CdQiR5rEQq6RYHtYJxJSaQ%3D%3D