수면의 중요성

[구용운]

약간의 의학용어가 나와서 발췌 번역합니다.

연구들에 의하면 최상의 기능을 보이려면 7-8시간의 수면이 필요하다고 한다. 밤에 충분한 수면을 하지 못하면 건강을 해칠뿐 아니라 수명이 짧아진다. 모든 연령층에 걸쳐 수면 결핍은 기억, 학습, 창조, 생산성, 정서 불안과 동시에 신체적 건강에 영향을 끼친다.  

수면 전문가에 따르면 수면 결핍은 심장, 폐, 콩팥등의 장기에 부정적 영향을 끼칠 뿐 아니라, 식욕, 신진대사, 체중조절, 면역체계, 질병에 대한 저항, 동통에 민감성, 시간 감각, 정서와 뇌기능에 부정적 영향을 끼친다.

수면부족은 우울증, 약물중독의 위험성을 증가 시킨다. 

수면은 인체의 거의 모든 조직에 영향을 끼친다.  

수면부족은 체중증가에 영향을 끼치는데 여러 음식을 마시고 먹을 시간이 증가하는 뿐만 아니라, 뇌에 충분한 음식이 들었왔다고 알리는 leptin호르몬을 감소시키고 식욕증가 호르몬인 ghrelin을 증가시킨다.

그뿐만 아니라 하루생체리듬이나  수면주기가 망가진 사람은 영양대사가 감소되어 일년에 10파운드의 체중증가 효과가 나타난다.

인체의 포도당대사에도 영향을 끼쳐 결국 2형 당뇨병이 생긴다. 연구에 따르면 건강한 젊은이를 6일 연속으로 4시간이내의 수면을 시켰더니 인슐린과 당의 측정치가 전 당뇨병단계에 이르렀다. 하루만의 수면부족으로도 고혈압이 생긴다. 수면부족은 관상동맥의 석회화를 야기시키고 심장질환의 염증요인을 증가시킨다. 

수면부족은 암발생의 위험도 증가시킨다. 일본 연구에 따르면 하루 6시간이내로 자는 24,000명의 40-79세의 연구대상 여성에서 유방암의 발생빈도가 증가하였다. 하바드의대연구에 따르면 멜라토닌의 감소가 유방암발생을 증가시킨다.

또 한 연구에 따르면 6시간이내의 수면은 대장의 용종발생을 증가시킨다.

어린이도 수면부족의 영향을 받는데, 성장호르몬은 깊은 수면시 분비되는데, 성장호르몬은 성장 촉진뿐만 아니라 근육양을 증가시키고 손상된 세포의 복구에 관여한다. 

수면부족은 어린이의 주의력결핍 과활동장애라는 병과 증상이 비슷하여, 잘못된 진단을 내리게한다.

자는 동안 감염과 싸우는 cytokine이란 호르몬이 분비되는데, 수면부족은 감기나 독감을 자주 유발한다.   

수면부족의 가장 만성적인 영향은 학습, 기억, 판단과 문제해결등 정신적인 문제이다.  자는 동안 새로운 기억이나 학습이 뇌에 저장된다. 노인의 인지능력 장애도 만성적인 수면부족에 기인한다. 운전테스트에서 수면부족인 사람은 마치 술에 취한것 같아서, 어떤 카페인이나 찬 공기로도 이를 막을 수 없다. 

수면의 질과 양은 당신의 혈압이나 콜레스테롤 측정치같이 중요하다는 것을 명심하자.

참고> 외상후 스트레스 증후군이나 기타 정신과적인 기술에 관한 설명은 생략함

Cheating Ourselves of Sleep

By JANE E. BRODY

Christopher Silas Neal

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google+
• Save
• E-mail
• Share
• Print

Think you do just fine on five or six hours of shut-eye? Chances are, you are among the many millions who unwittingly shortchange themselves on sleep.

Research shows that most people require seven or eight hours of sleep to function optimally. Failing to get enough sleep night after night can compromise your health and may even shorten your life. From infancy to old age, the effects of inadequate sleep can profoundly affect memory, learning, creativity, productivity and emotional stability, as well as your physical health.

According to sleep specialists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, among others, a number of bodily systems are negatively affected by inadequate sleep: the heart, lungs and kidneys; appetite, metabolism and weight control; immune function and disease resistance; sensitivity to pain; reaction time; mood; and brain function.

Poor sleep is also a risk factor for depression and substance abuse, especially among people with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Anne Germain, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. People with PTSD tend to relive their trauma when they try to sleep, which keeps their brains in a heightened state of alertness.

Dr. Germain is studying what happens in the brains of sleeping veterans with PTSD in hopes of developing more effective treatments for them and for people with lesser degrees of stress that interfere with a good night’s sleep.

The elderly are especially vulnerable. Timothy H. Monk, who directs the Human Chronobiology Research Program at Western Psychiatric, heads a five-year federally funded study of circadian rhythms, sleep strength, stress reactivity, brain function and genetics among the elderly. “The circadian signal isn’t as strong as people get older,” he said.

He is finding that many are helped by standard behavioral treatments for insomnia, like maintaining a regular sleep schedule, avoiding late-in-day naps and caffeine, and reducing distractions from light, noise and pets.

It should come as no surprise that myriad bodily systems can be harmed by chronically shortened nights. “Sleep affects almost every tissue in our bodies,” said Dr. Michael J. Twery, a sleep specialist at the National Institutes of Health.

Several studies have linked insufficient sleep to weight gain. Not only do night owls with shortchanged sleep have more time to eat, drink and snack, but levels of the hormone leptin, which tells the brain enough food has been consumed, are lower in the sleep-deprived while levels of ghrelin, which stimulates appetite, are higher.

In addition, metabolism slows when one’s circadian rhythm and sleep are disrupted; if not counteracted by increased exercise or reduced caloric intake, this slowdown could add up to 10 extra pounds in a year.

The body’s ability to process glucose is also adversely affected, which may ultimately result in Type 2 diabetes. In one study, healthy young men prevented from sleeping more than four hours a night for six nights in a row ended up with insulin and blood sugar levels like those of people deemed prediabetic. The risks of cardiovascular diseases and stroke are higher in people who sleep less than six hours a night. Even a single night of inadequate sleep can cause daylong elevations in blood pressure in people with hypertension. Inadequate sleep is also associated with calcification of coronary arteries and raised levels of inflammatory factors linked to heart disease. (In terms of cardiovascular disease, sleeping too much may also be risky. Higher rates of heart disease have been found among women who sleep more than nine hours nightly.)

The risk of cancer may also be elevated in people who fail to get enough sleep. A Japanese study of nearly 24,000 women ages 40 to 79 found that those who slept less than six hours a night were more likely to develop breast cancer than women who slept longer. The increased risk may result from diminished secretion of the sleep hormone melatonin. Among participants in the Nurses Health Study, Eva S. Schernhammer of Harvard Medical School found a link between low melatonin levels and an increased risk of breast cancer.

A study of 1,240 people by researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland found an increased risk of potentially cancerous colorectal polyps in those who slept fewer than six hours nightly.

Children can also experience hormonal disruptions from inadequate sleep. Growth hormone is released during deep sleep; it not only stimulates growth in children, but also boosts muscle mass and repairs damaged cells and tissues in both children and adults.

Dr. Vatsal G. Thakkar, a psychiatrist affiliated with New York University, recently described evidence associating inadequate sleep with an erroneous diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children. In one study, 28 percent of children with sleep problems had symptoms of the disorder, but not the disorder.

During sleep, the body produces cytokines, cellular hormones that help fight infections. Thus, short sleepers may be more susceptible to everyday infections like colds and flu. In a study of 153 healthy men and women, Sheldon Cohen and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University found that those who slept less than seven hours a night were three times as likely to develop cold symptoms when exposed to a cold-causing virus than were people who slept eight or more hours.

Some of the most insidious effects of too little sleep involve mental processes like learning, memory, judgment and problem-solving. During sleep, new learning and memory pathways become encoded in the brain, and adequate sleep is necessary for those pathways to work optimally. People who are well rested are better able to learn a task and more likely to remember what they learned. The cognitive decline that so often accompanies aging may in part result from chronically poor sleep.

With insufficient sleep, thinking slows, it is harder to focus and pay attention, and people are more likely to make poor decisions and take undue risks. As you might guess, these effects can be disastrous when operating a motor vehicle or dangerous machine.

In driving tests, sleep-deprived people perform as if drunk, and no amount of caffeine or cold air can negate the ill effects.

At your next health checkup, tell your doctor how long and how well you sleep. Be honest: Sleep duration and quality can be as important to your health as your blood pressure and cholesterol level.

This is the first of two columns on inadequate sleep.

[안찬기]

해석하면서 모르는 단어 찾다보면 수면이 아니라 잠 못드는 여름밤이 될 것 같습니다. ㅎㅎㅎ

[신종철]

저절로 잠이 오네^^

[김동국]

바로 패스! ㅋㅋ

[구용운]

하도 위의 사람이 뭐라해서 번역합니다. 최근의 뉴욕타임지 기사입니다.
저도 하루에 8시간이상 자기로 마음 먹었습니다.오후 10시부터 아침 6시까지 ㅋ..
자는 동안에 여분의 에너지가 해독, 항균작용, 신진대사및 신체내에서 매일 형성되는 이형세포(암전기세포)의제거가 이루어 진다고 생각합니다.
특히 거의 잠 안자고 뛰었다고 등산했다고 자랑하는 회원이 걱정되어 올립니다.
잠이 최고의 보약입니다.
영어화화하다가 나온 글이라 소개합니다.

[김병호]

달리기가 최고의 보약이라고 마라톤회원들은 알고 있는데...효마클 회장님이 너무 약하시네요.

[김재환]

잠 잘자는 것 보약인데 나이들수록 힘들어지네요.

[강용철]

효마클도 점점 늙어가네요ㅎㅎ

[박지은]

지금도 잠이 옵니다.

[김광호]

날씨도 덥고해선지 언제 한번 안깨고 푹 자본지? 기억이 가물합니다. 나이가 들어간단 증거겠죠??

[김찬호]

잠 잠 잠. '밤을 잊은 그대에게'란 표현을 무색케 하네요. 잠을 줄여 무언가를 열심히 할때 따라오는 댓가?를 생각할때 하루 중 걍~ 보내는 시간을 줄여 수면부족에 따른 후유증을 최소화해야 윈윈할 수 있다는 결론에 다다릅니다. 시테크의 중요성을 다시 한번 생각하게 됩니다.^^