Some days, you may feel extremely tired throughout the day, no matter how much coffee you drink. However, as soon as you go to bed, you find yourself fully awake. Does this feeling sound familiar to you?
There are multiple reasons that may explain why you feel sleepy during the day, versus your inability to sleep at night. Once you determine the reason, you can take practical steps that will help you improve the quality of your sleep, according to the “Healthline” website.
1- Naps...do you take them or avoid them?
Napping is not harmful in itself, but on the contrary, it may provide many health benefits. But following inappropriate habits when taking a nap may keep you awake when you are supposed to be enjoying a deep, restful sleep.
Research indicates that long naps, or those taken in the late afternoon, may increase the time you need to fall asleep at night, and lead to poor sleep quality and more frequent awakenings during the night.
Therefore; Try not to exceed 20 minutes, and a maximum of 30 minutes, and be sure to take it at the same time every day, until your body gets used to it and becomes ready for it.
2- Anxiety and its effect on sleep
It's difficult to fall asleep peacefully when your mind is full of thoughts.
Therefore; It is not surprising that sleep disturbances are one of the symptoms used to diagnose some anxiety disorders, which in turn are a common risk factor for insomnia.
Anxiety may also lead to an increased state of alertness and attention. This makes it more difficult to fall asleep and delays its time.
3- Depression and sleep disorders
According to a scientific review published in 2019, up to 90 percent of people diagnosed with depression suffer from disorders that affect the quality of their sleep. Among the conditions observed among these people were: insomnia, narcolepsy (sudden sleep attacks), breathing disorders during sleep, and “restless legs syndrome.”
The relationship between depression and sleep problems is complex. It appears that both may contribute to disrupting the body's daily rhythm, known as the biological clock.
Other factors may also affect this mutual relationship, including inflammation, changes in brain chemistry, and genetic factors.
4- Caffeine and its effect on sleep quality
The average “half-life” of caffeine is about 5 hours, which is the time the body needs to get rid of half of the amount consumed.
Research indicates that consuming 400 milligrams of caffeine 6 hours or less before bedtime may lead to a noticeable decline in sleep quality.
If you are accustomed to drinking caffeinated drinks, try to stop them between 4 and 6 hours before your bedtime.
For example, if you plan to go to bed at 10 p.m., then 4 p.m. is a good time to stop drinking coffee.
5- Use screens before bed
Blue light emitted from smartphones, tablets, laptops, and television screens contributes to inhibiting the production of the hormone melatonin during the evening hours. Which reduces the feeling of sleepiness.
Therefore; It may be helpful to stop using electronic devices two hours before bedtime.
You can also consider wearing glasses designed to block blue light during the evening.
6- Other sleep disorders
Some sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea and restless legs syndrome, may cause you to feel sleepy at night, without necessarily being accompanied by a feeling of physical fatigue.
In the case of sleep apnea, breathing stops repeatedly or becomes very shallow, before returning to normal again.
As for “restless legs syndrome,” it causes a feeling of discomfort in the legs, which prompts the sufferer to constantly want to move them.
Delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS) is another disorder associated with an imbalance in the body's circadian rhythm.
This syndrome is more common among young people. The infection rate in this group ranges between 7 and 16 percent, compared to about one percent among adults.
These disorders can affect sleep during the night; Which in turn leads to feeling sleepy during the day.
A recent scientific study has discovered a molecular signal in the blood that may help monitor the subtle changes that precede ovarian cancer, in a step that may represent an important development towards early detection of the disease, which is often discovered after it has already spread.
According to the British newspaper The Guardian, researchers pointed out that efforts to detect early ovarian cancer have focused for decades on trying to detect small tumors, but they decided to focus on monitoring early molecular signs that precede the appearance of cancer.
“We asked a completely different question: What if we could identify the first warning molecular signs, before invasive cancer even develops,” said Rajan Gogna, study leader and researcher at the Hoag Cancer Research Institute in California, USA.
The researchers explained that ovarian cancer may begin with microscopic changes in the inner lining of the fallopian tubes, and these changes are known as “serous tubal epithelial carcinoma.”
The study revealed that women with these changes have high blood levels of an RNA molecule known as to-stroma, which allowed researchers to use it as a potential indicator to detect these early changes.
When measuring levels of this molecule in blood samples, the test was able to detect pre-cancerous changes in 92.3 percent of women with it, and it also succeeded in correctly identifying 98.2 percent of healthy women.
The results were not limited to women with precancerous changes, but the study showed the potential importance of testing in women who have genetic factors that increase the risk of ovarian cancer.
The researchers explained that about 72 percent of the positive results in this group may be correct, while the accuracy of the negative results approached 100 percent, indicating the promising ability of the test to rule out the presence of these changes in women who show a negative result.
The researchers pointed out that this discovery represents a promising step towards developing more accurate methods for early detection of ovarian cancer, and helping women who are most at risk of infection make preventive decisions based on clearer biological information.
A recent scientific study revealed that losing one hour of sleep may increase people's susceptibility to falling victim to electronic fraud, which relies on fake messages aimed at deceiving users and pushing them to reveal their personal data or click on suspicious links.
According to the Everyday Health scientific website, the study was conducted by researchers at the University of California, and included more than 11,200 university employees. Their response to experimental fraudulent e-mails was tested before and after the change to daylight saving time in the spring of this year, when clocks were moved forward by one hour.
The team found that the rate of clicking on fake e-phishing links increased by about 13 percent after the implementation of daylight saving time, compared to the period before it.
Eitan Schechtman, the study's lead researcher and assistant professor of neurobiology and behavior at the university, said that what surprised the researchers was that "a simple, normal change in sleep patterns, the kind that many would not consider harmful or unusual, had a significant and measurable effect."
However, the study had some limitations. The researchers did not measure the participants' actual hours of sleep, so they could not determine whether lack of sleep was the direct cause of the increased click rate on phishing links. The study also suggests that changes in circadian rhythms - the body's biological clock - or exposure to morning light may have contributed to these results.
Why does lack of sleep affect decision-making ability?
Sleep supports attention, concentration, memory, and the brain's ability to perceive potential dangers.
Michael Grandner, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, said checking email requires paying attention to small details and identifying messages that can be trusted.
He added: “Your brain does more than just keep you awake. It needs to sort information, determine what deserves your attention, keep track of what you are doing, and detect errors.”
Research indicates that lack of sleep particularly affects the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is the area responsible for planning, judgment, and impulse control.
For his part, William Kilgore, professor of psychiatry and neuroscientist at the University of Arizona, explained that the study did not determine whether the participants clicked on the links because of their weak ability to make decisions, or as a result of decreased alertness and failure to notice important details.
He cautioned against overestimating the impact of losing one hour of sleep on everyone, saying: “For most healthy people, one night of one hour less sleep is unlikely to have a significant impact on their decisions.”
He added that the greatest risk appears when a person reduces his sleeping hours significantly during one night, or when he constantly suffers from sleeping for hours less than his usual needs.
Harms go beyond electronic fraud
The repercussions of lack of sleep are not limited to increasing the chances of falling into fraud, as it can affect multiple aspects of daily life, including memory, attention, and emotional regulation.
Grandner explained that a lack of sleep may make a person less able to spot an error in a bill, remember whether he took his medication, or correctly understand a message from a colleague.
Shechtman also believes that this may have potential implications for leadership and impulsive buying.
Shechtman emphasized that the most important message from the study is that “even minimal sleep loss can have a noticeable impact on our daily cognitive performance,” expressing his hope that the results will encourage people to give sleep a priority instead of postponing it or considering it a secondary matter.
