Do you know which is more harmful to the body, sleeping less or sleeping late?

High-quality sleep is an important repair process for the body. Everyone knows the harm of staying up late, and many netizens have asked: Which is more harmful to the body, sleeping late or sleeping less? How to improve sleep quality?

The harm of staying up late is irreversible

1. Staying up late once will increase the level of inflammation

Studies show that "monocytes" in the human body are an important part of the innate immune system and the first line of defense of the human body. Just staying up late once will affect the characteristics of "monocytes" and aggravate the body's inflammatory response.

Sleeping well is to help the body fight inflammation. Chronic low-grade inflammation is difficult to detect, and it is not easy to find through routine physical examinations, like a "hidden killer" of health. If this continues for a long time, it will inevitably cause damage to organ tissues and cause diseases.

2. Abnormal fat metabolism and blood sugar regulation

People who often stay up late are prone to hunger at night. Frequent eating can lead to abnormal fat metabolism, abnormal insulin secretion and then abnormal blood sugar, increasing the risk of high fasting blood sugar, and also increasing the probability of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Staying up late often may also increase blood pressure, from fluctuating hypertension to persistent hypertension.

3. Memory loss and slow thinking

Under normal circumstances, information learned during the day needs to rely on sleep to form long-term memory. Frequent staying up late deprives sleep in the first half of the night, which will reduce memory ability, make it difficult to store information, slow down the brain's reaction speed, and make it difficult to concentrate, which will eventually lead to reduced learning and work efficiency.

Which is more harmful, sleeping late or sleeping less?

If the human body is compared to a rechargeable battery -

• Sleeping late is like charging only when there is only one bar left, and it is overcharged;
• Sleeping less is like charging only a little each time.

Both methods are harmful to the body. The best way is to keep the power consumption state for a period of time, and start charging when the power is about 20% left at the specified time, and unplug it after charging for 6 to 8 hours.

Sleeping less (<6 hours/day)

Short-term damage: decreased memory and attention, irritability, and decreased immunity.

Long-term damage: accelerated degeneration of brain cells, increased risk of obesity, hypertension, and heart disease.

Sleeping late (falling asleep after midnight)

Short-term damage: disordered biological clock, irritability, depression, and gastrointestinal dysfunction.

Long-term damage: increased risk of cancer and diabetes, and increased incidence of depression/anxiety.

After staying up late, this kind of sleep-replenishing is more harmful than staying up late-

Excessive sleep-replenishing: sleeping for 12 hours or even 24 hours on weekends disrupts the normal biological clock of the human body and affects endocrine, metabolism, and digestion.

Long-term sleep-replenishing during the day: No sunlight during the day, it is more difficult to fall asleep at night after getting enough sleep, resulting in circadian rhythm disorder.

Irregular sleep-replenishing: intermittent sleep-replenishing during work during the day, the brain is easily in an excited state, increasing the risk of anxiety and depression.

5 ways to improve sleep quality

Wear socks to sleep

Research has found that wearing socks when sleeping can effectively improve sleep quality.

Compared with people who don't wear socks when sleeping, people who wear socks to sleep:

Sleep time is shortened by 7.5 minutes;

Total sleep time is extended by an average of 32 minutes;

Sleep efficiency is improved by 7.6%.

This is mainly related to the body's limb temperature during sleep. The temperature of parts such as the calves and feet is usually easily affected by the external environment. Wearing socks can help maintain a comfortable and warm sleeping environment.

Cover with a heavier quilt

Sleeping with a heavier quilt will increase melatonin release and promote better sleep. Research has found that using a weighted quilt can increase the concentration of melatonin in saliva by about 30% compared to using a thin quilt.

Soak your feet before going to bed

If you don't like to wear socks to sleep, you can also soak your feet before going to bed. The principle is similar.

Soaking your feet in warm water 1 hour before going to bed is a way to significantly improve the sleep quality of the elderly. When the water temperature is 40℃, the foot soaking time does not exceed 20 minutes, and the water level is 10 cm above the ankle, foot soaking has the best effect on improving sleep.

Don't play with your phone before going to bed

The survey found that if you use your phone for 8 minutes before going to bed, your body will be excited for 1 hour. After playing with your phone for 8 minutes before going to bed, it takes an average of 1 hour to fall asleep. This is because the blue light emitted by the mobile phone screen increases people's alertness, which leads to a longer sleep time.

Do some sleep-aiding exercises

Research shows that doing more of these 3 exercises within 4 hours before going to bed can significantly extend sleep time.

Squat: imitate the action of sitting on a chair, with your knees not exceeding your toes.

Heel raise: Stand up and lift your heels to contract your calf muscles, and then slowly return your heels to the ground.

Knee raise and hip stretch: stand with your knees raised and straight-leg hip joints stretched.

It only takes 3 minutes at a time, and do it every 30 minutes. This can extend your sleep time that night by nearly 30 minutes.