About the World Sleep Day!

Yemi Olakitan

Today is the World Sleep Day, a day set aside to remind people to sleep well. According to the World Sleep Society, this day is to emphasize the importance of sleep to our health and wellness. It is an annual event organized by the World Sleep Day Committee of the World Sleep Society, formerly World Association of Sleep Medicine since 2008.

The World Sleep Society says, ‘’the aim is to accentuate the benefits of good and healthy sleep and to draw society's attention to the burden of sleep problems and their medical, educational, and social aspects, and to promote the prevention and management of sleep disorders.’’

The Society raises responsiveness of sleep disorders so that society can better understand the phenomenon and prevent the problems associated with lack of sleep. According to this organization, inadequate sleep threatens the health or quality of life of as much as 45% of the world's population. ‘‘Sleep is one of the important activities of our life. A person every day should at least take seven to eight hours of sleep. World Sleep Day is a call to action on important issues related to sleep, including medicine, education, social aspects and driving.’’

World Sleep Day is celebrated annually as a global awareness event. It is hosted by the Society.  It was first co-chairs by Liborio Parrino, MD, Associate Professor of Neurology at Parma University, Italy and Antonio Culebras, MD, Professor of Neurology, Upstate Medical University, and Consultant, The Sleep Center, Community General Hospital, Syracuse, New York, USA. It was started by a group of dedicated healthcare providers and members of the medical community working and studying in the area of sleep medicine and research. It brings healthcare providers together to discuss the information related to sleep across the globe and distribute its importance. It is celebrated today on Friday 13 March, 2020.  

Why is sleep so important?  According to World Sleep Society, ‘sleep is so important to health, as lack of sleep can lead to sudden death, loss of memory and so on. In other words, anyone who wants to live long, must sleep more. This is why the slogan of World Sleep Day is ‘Better Sleep, Better Life, Better Planet.’ It highlights the importance of sleep that acts as a pillar of health, allows better decision making and generates a cognitive understanding. It also focuses on the quality of life that can be improved with healthy sleep. We can understand it like this that when sleep fails, health declines and on the other side decrease the quality of life. Sound sleep is a treasured function. The World Sleep Society (WSS) is a non-profit based organization based in the United States.

The World Sleep Society has provided 10 tips. These are as follows: Generate a regular bedtime and waking time. If you are habitual of taking siestas, then do not exceed 45 minutes of daytime sleep. Avoid taking excessive alcohol at least 4 hours before bedtime and also do not smoke.  Avoid taking caffeine 6 hours before going to bedtime. It includes coffee, tea, soda drinks, and chocolates. Take a light snack before going to bed at night. It will be better to avoid heavy, spicy or sugary foods 4 hours before bedtime. Do regular exercise but not going before bed at night. Use comfortable bedding. Before going to sleep, the room should be properly ventilated or maintain the proper comfortable sleep temperature setting. Discard or block all distracting noise before going to sleep and eliminate as much light as you can. Take time and reserve your night time for sleep and sex. Avoid work or general recreation during sleep time, sleep when you are sleeping. 

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