Question: Is there anything I can do to train
my body to need less sleep?
Karen Weintraub
June 17, 2016
Many people think they can teach themselves
to need less sleep, but they’re wrong, said Dr. Sigrid
Veasey, a professor at the Center for Sleep and Circadian
Neurobiology at the University of Pennsylvania’s
Perelman School of Medicine. We might feel that we’re
getting by fine on less sleep, but we’re deluding ourselves,
Dr. Veasey said, largely because lack of sleep skews our
self-awareness. “The more you deprive yourself of sleep
over long periods of time, the less accurate you are of
judging your own sleep perception,” she said.
Multiple studies have shown that people don’t
functionally adapt to less sleep than their bodies need.
There is a range of normal sleep times, with most healthy
adults naturally needing seven to nine hours of sleep per
night, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Those
over 65 need about seven to eight hours, on average,
while teenagers need eight to 10 hours, and school-age
children nine to 11 hours. People’s performance continues
to be poor while they are sleep deprived, Dr. Veasey said.
Health issues like pain, sleep apnea or autoimmune
disease can increase people’s need for sleep, said Andrea
Meredith, a neuroscientist at the University of Maryland
School of Medicine. A misalignment of the clock that
governs our sleep-wake cycle can also drive up the need
for sleep, Dr. Meredith said. The brain’s clock can get
misaligned by being stimulated at the wrong time of day,
she said, such as from caffeine in the afternoon or evening,
digital screen use too close to bedtime, or even exercise
at a time of day when the body wants to be winding down.
(http://well.blogs.nytimes.com. Adaptado.)
No trecho do segundo parágrafo “Those over 65 need
about seven to eight hours, on average, while teenagers
need eight to 10 hours”, o termo em destaque tem sentido
de
