Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Avoid being a night owl!

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Sometimes you are surprised when you go out of your home for an emergency in the middle of the night or returning from a work to see the youths in the neighbourhood still awake. unfortunately this has become common nowadays. Are they sick or has it just become a habit that our young people may not know it is unhealthy?


Moreover, such individuals who tend to stay up until late at night, or the early hours of the morning, have they thought that a single night of poor sleep can leave them feeling cranky and even worse with fatigability during the day. Unfortunately, those people showed more total sleep time, more time in bed, greater variability in time in and out of bed and higher levels of distress about sleep. On the other hand, studies show that awaken person during night tend to report more daytime sleepiness, and have a harder time adapting healthy sleeping habits than morning people.


However, when you take a look at different studies, which remarkably showed that we’re all controlled by so called body clocks. These body clocks are in almost every cell in the body and control when we feel awake and tired during a 24-hour period. But as it turns out, our body clocks have a much bigger impact. In fact, our body clocks actually affect how well a person performs on both mental and physical tasks.


Briefly, what I am trying to express here is that our body clocks are controlled by the brain’s suprachiasmatic nucleus, which detects light. When cells in your eyes register that it’s dark outside, they send these signals to that brain nucleus. It then releases the hormone melatonin, which makes you and me feel tired. On other hand, morning individuals tend to wake early, but struggle to stay up in the evening while night owls are the opposite, preferring a lie in and remaining active late into the night.


Regrettably, time by time as such habit continue those people with such sleep deprivation, raises the risk of chronic health problems, including obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. In addition to that, insufficient sleep can also lead to mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. Also, those night owls are more prone to the common cold if they exposed to viruses.


In a few cases, sleep shortfall can lead to daytime drowsiness and to what we call it micro-sleeps. They usually last just a few seconds, but can go on for 10 or 15 seconds, and sadly pose a grave danger if they happen while you’re driving. Looking at different sides of this issue, have we imagined how healthy restaurants are closed in the middle of the night and some restaurants that offer and serve unhealthy food are still open and serve harmful and fast meals which over time can affect those individuals with obesity, cancer and diabetes type 2 development.


Finally, try to have a basic lifestyle changes that promote sleep, do exercise, avoid caffeine and follow a good sleep practice. Nevertheless, understanding if you are a morning or evening person can really impact the schedule you choose.


Dr Yousuf Ali al Mulla, MD, Ministry of Health. He is a medical innovator and educator. For any queries regarding the content of the column, he can be contacted at: dryusufalmulla@gmail.com


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