Why doesn't a person sleep? This is what happens to a person who doesn't sleep for a long time

Midnight. For some it is the end of the day, for others it is the beginning. I wonder why some people choose to stay awake at night? And what can you do during this time? What are the advantages of night over day? It turns out that staying up at night makes sense; there are at least ten reasons for this. Let's take a closer look, maybe this will make you try to stay awake tonight.

1. The night world is very different from the daytime world. If you don’t believe me, try getting up, getting dressed and going out for a walk at about four o’clock at night. It will be a completely different environment, familiar streets, courtyards, and houses will be completely transformed. Everything around will be mysterious and unfamiliar. This is especially pronounced when there is a lack of light. Where everything is brightly flooded with lights, there may not be that mystery, but a little away from the street lighting the dark side of the familiar world will open. Lonely passers-by will become frightening, windows will become mysterious. Why don’t they sleep, like you, what are they thinking about, what are they doing. Walk, think, reflect.

2. Do you know how incredibly much you can do in one night? Those who studied at universities know this very well. It is at night that a diploma or coursework is completed, it is at night that thoughts begin to flow smoothly, powerfully and continuously. There is quite a lot to this objective reason, at night the noises of the city fade away, the bustle of the day goes away, there are no calls, children and colleagues - everyone is sleeping. The muse, visiting the worker, will not be scared away. Enjoy your work sleep will come only in the morning.

3. It’s not for nothing that so many people are creative. active people by nature as an owl. The brain is the most powerful consumer vital energy. These are not empty words, these are naked physiology. A significant portion of the blood goes exclusively to the brain. At night, the body’s physiology slows down, side energy expenditures for digesting food and the like stop. As a result, there is a surge brain activity. Working at night is a kind of dream that comes true.

4. Let it not best use for night wakefulness, but the Internet works faster at night. There are two reasons here, the night tariff and low network congestion. There are problems with network games, at night they will leave without a trace. The world is big and of course there is someone to communicate with, play with, argue with, or criticize. Besides, night is only on this half globe, on back side It's the height of the day now.

5. The modern busy bustle of urban life has brought night trading to the market. Walking through a supermarket, huge and deserted, is a special pleasure. It's worth a try, there's something particularly satisfying about such a choice and the complete lack of fuss. And getting to the store at night without traffic jams is also a separate, long-forgotten pleasure.

6. When relatives and neighbors sleep peacefully, you can lead a life hidden from everyone. Such a secret, inaccessible to anyone. You don’t have to wear a mask and rob passers-by; you can quite harmlessly relax in the bath or practice a striptease, no one will know about it. The night will carefully hide you from prying eyes and ears.

7. It’s worth trying once, just once, to eat at night. It's hard to believe, but food tastes significantly better at night. This is a mystery of nature, but it does exist.

8. We are not in Africa, but at times it is still so hot that summer disappears completely during the day. At night it’s so nice to take a leisurely stroll under the cool night sky and breathe full breasts slightly humid, fragrant air. Free night air conditioning is available every day and in every city.

9. A little romance never hurts. Of course, it’s not so easy to force yourself to wake up your significant other and invite her for a walk. But both partners will like the end result. You should not abuse this, otherwise the night will cease to be romantic.

10. Cities offer plenty of opportunities to spend a busy night. These are not only nightclubs, there are night theaters, swimming pools, skating rinks, shops, etc. In general, you can fully relax, relieve the stress of the day, and it doesn’t matter that you’ll have to go to bed a little earlier the next day.

It is well known that the normal duration of sleep is eight hours. One third of a day or, if extended to all days, one third of life. The main reason why a person sleeps a lot is the need to restore strength. Lack of sleep and too much sleep are two extremes, each of which is harmful to health in its own way.

How much sleep should a person sleep?

Although most people sleep between 7 and 8 hours, there are exceptions. Some people, due to the characteristics of their bodies, need a little more time to regain strength, while others feel good after a short sleep.

The number of hours needed for rest decreases as a person grows. Newborns and babies sleep most of days - up to seventeen hours. Children 2-4 years old spend up to fourteen hours sleeping. Children who have reached school age, it is enough to sleep 9-11 hours. Teenagers and young men arrive at the “standard” eight o’clock. 7-8 hours of sleep is enough for a person throughout his life.

For an adult, daytime naps are allowed. He can sleep for 20 minutes until the body reaches the phase deep sleep, and return to reality invigorated and rested. If this state continues for at least an hour, the person who wakes up from nap will look broken and tired. The reason is that the body managed to reach the phase slow sleep, from which he was forcibly pulled out.

According to scientists, a person must develop sleep-related habits. Individually, waking up without an alarm clock, he determines the ideal amount of time he needs to recuperate.

Finding healthy sleep promotes correct mode nutrition and sufficient vitamins. Exercising and walking help tidy up the nervous system and get rid of insomnia. If possible, situations that provoke mental stress should be avoided. If these conditions are met, healthy person There should be no insomnia or excessive sleeping.

But physical training(exercises in gym and running) is best done not before bedtime. Often people complain that after training they cannot force themselves to fall asleep or wake up during the night. Between physical activities and going to bed should take several hours.

Before going to bed, you can take a short walk or do some stretching. These exercises help you calm down, reduce your heart rate, and cope with anxiety.

Long periods of sleep may have external reasons. Among them:

Recent research shows that diabetes mellitus leads not only to lack of sleep, but also to excessive sleep. People who sleep nine or ten hours a night to a greater extent susceptible excess weight than those who sleep seven to eight hours. According to recent research, people who are prone to sleepiness may live shorter lives.

Excessive sleep often results in a headache when waking up. Especially if a person got up late - closer to lunch or even evening. Another illness for sleep lovers is depression. Fight it mental disorder allows normal night sleep. About a fifth of those suffering from depression sleep a lot and have disrupted nighttime sleep patterns.

People who are prone to sleepiness are also susceptible to heart disease. A study involving 72 thousand women showed that sleep lovers were 38% more susceptible to this type of disease.

Long sleep can affect the male body:

• Decreased production of the hormone testosterone. Primarily concerns men.
• Production of the hormone cortisol, which is responsible for the accumulation of fat in the body.
• Decline intellectual abilities person.

Excessive sleep - possible symptom some kind of illness. The duration of a person’s unconscious state shows that the body does not have time to recover from daily stress. In this case normal mode will recover after eliminating the cause of drowsiness.

Sometimes older people become victims of excessive sleepiness. There may be reasons for this: overwork, violation mental state, experienced stress, influence of groups medicines. Drowsiness in older people can be caused by diseases: tumors, hematomas, pancreatic diseases, consequences of strokes.

Unfortunately, long sleep may be one of the symptoms of imminent death. Especially if it is combined with other factors - refusal of food, forgetfulness, numbness of the limbs, apathy. Drowsiness here is part of the process of the death of body functions.

If a person of any age sleeps more than fourteen hours a day, most likely he has hypersomnia. Except abnormal long sleep this disease is characterized by difficult morning awakening, lapses in sleep (of which they are often unaware) and general drowsiness in the middle of the day. Often hypersomnia is a symptom of a serious illness (encephalitis, microstroke, cancer). Hypersomnia can be triggered by prolonged lack of sleep in the past, experienced stress or mental stress.

Excessive sleep leads to decreased quality human life. A person's memory deteriorates, his head hurts, and his metabolism slows down. Those who fall asleep experience muscle weakness, which provokes “sleep paralysis.”

Our time is an era of chronically sleep-deprived people swallowing liters of cheap food. The rhythm of life, the Internet and the desire to find time for favorite activities force people to sacrifice hours that are so necessary for the restoration of the body. At the same time, many people begin to sleep a lot. General weakness and apathy should make people ask the question, why does a person sleep a lot, but cannot bring himself to a normal state?

Numerous studies of the human brain and abilities have proven that a person cannot go without sleep for more than 11 days in a row. Prolonged wakefulness leads to serious negative consequences to the body and can be fatal. Exceptions do exist; there is a person in the world who never sleeps. Scientists and doctors have not been able to explain this unique phenomenon for many years.

Why is sleep so important?

Experiments in the complex realm of human dreams have been carried out all over the world. Military specialists were especially interested in this topic. Serious research was aimed at creating an army in which soldiers could go many days without rest. Used various methods on the brain, but after 5-6 days the subjects still fell asleep. All attempts to artificially deprive a person of sleep have ended in failure. Each subsequent night spent awake affects the body in the following ways:

• one night – fatigue and decreased concentration;
• two nights – deterioration of vision and coordination of movements, nausea, irritability;
• three nights – speech impairment, weakness in the limbs;
• four nights or more – memory loss and hallucinations.

Prolonged lack of sleep ultimately leads to numbness and complete indifference to the world around us.

A person cannot live without sleep, which is why insomnia is one of the most painful diseases. People suffering from this disease age faster and have many health problems. During sleep, the work of all organs slows down, they get rest critical systems the body, and the process of cell renewal accelerates. The brain works in special regime, systematizing emotions and memories. Sleep is vital important process required for normal operation organism, however, there are unique examples in the world that prove the opposite. Science knows a person who never slept and people who lost this ability in the course of their lives.

Phenomenal people

There are many cases of long-term insomnia recorded around the world, but one of the most unusual is the story of Al Harpin, a resident of the USA . In the 50s of the twentieth century, researchers became interested in a ninety-year-old man living in the slums of New Jersey. For my long life he didn't sleep for a minute. In order to test this, many experiments and observations were carried out, the result of the study turned out to be incredible. Al Harpin really could go without sleep. After hard physical work, it was enough for him to sit for a while, deep in reading, and his strength would be restored. Intelligent and physical abilities unique old man were on the level ordinary person In addition, he had excellent health. Scientists have not been able to identify the cause unusual feature, however, the elder himself claimed that he was injured in the womb due to strong blow. Against all odds known facts, the man who never slept lived to a ripe old age, active, healthy and able to work.

More famous is h man-phenomenon from Minsk Yakov Tsiperovich , who lost the ability to sleep after a tragic accident. A jealous wife tried to poison him with a strong poison, as a result, Yakov survived clinical death. After a long course of rehabilitation, he returned to normal life and found that he could not sleep. All attempts to turn off consciousness and forget, even for a moment, ended in failure. Exhausting insomnia, according to Yakov, caused him inhuman suffering, but a year later everything changed. The lack of sleep stopped bothering him, and fantastic processes began to occur in his body:

• incredible physical strength and endurance appeared;
• the aging process has slowed down significantly;
• new knowledge about the world around us was discovered.

The ability to go without sleep, remarkable physical abilities and virtually unchanged appearance Jacob attracted the interest of scientists from all over the world. As a result of the examination, it turned out that his body temperature did not exceed 35 degrees, as if his body was in a state of suspended animation. In all other respects, Yakov is completely healthy. The man who doesn't sleep has become the hero of many films and television shows, and newspapers have written about him. Famous doctors conducted an examination of the phenomenon's brain, but its unique abilities.

They say that a person can only live 10-11 days without sleep. But there are exceptions to this rule. There are several dozen people in the world who do not sleep for years and even decades. Among them are a Vietnamese farmer, a British teacher and a resident of Minsk. For some of them it has become a curse, while others hardly suffer from a strange disease.

Disorder nervous system, leading to complete absence sleep, doctors call colestitis.

Ordinary people feel discomfort when going without sleep for even a day or two. The mood deteriorates, at times vision and hearing become dull or, on the contrary, become painfully sharpened, and performance falls catastrophically. Without coffee and other stimulants, it becomes impossible to concentrate. Every student preparing for the session experienced this state. On the third to fifth day of sleeplessness, more serious problems: hallucinations, waking nightmares, quite serious depression may develop. No doctor would recommend doing such experiments on yourself.

However, in nature there is a rare ailment that refutes all medical laws - lifelong insomnia, or, in scientific terms, rackets. Throughout the history of medicine, isolated cases have been known.

In 1940-1950 he lived in New Jersey old man named Al Harpin. The old man was about 90 years old and practically a beggar. Homeless people like him lived in huts made of leaves and tree branches. Al built the same one for himself, only in his shelter there was nothing like a bed or couch. He simply didn’t need these items: for as long as he could remember, Al Harpin couldn’t sleep. He simply didn't need it. There were legends about the wonderful old man, and doctors began to visit his hut. Neither of them could understand what the secret was of Harpin, who really did not sleep. For several hours he rested sitting or lying down - and thus regained his strength. The old man himself innocently believed that he acquired his peculiarity even before birth: his mother told him that during pregnancy she hit her stomach hard.

In an American newspaper late XIX century the following note was published. “David Jones aroused particular interest among local doctors, since several years ago he spent 90 days without sleep, a year later - 131 days, and is currently experiencing another wave of insomnia.” The author of the note said that the surprised doctors installed round-the-clock surveillance on Jones and were convinced that the man really was not sleeping. According to those around him, David did not complain and did not seem to experience any discomfort - on the contrary, in his free time he willingly took care of the affairs of his farm. He also could not find any reasons for his condition - except that he told the doctors that he smoked a lot in his youth. In the end, the doctors just left him alone.

Unfortunately, not everyone endures the car as easily as the American tramp Harpin and Farmer Jones. For 40-year-old teacher Joanna Moore, lack of sleep has become a real curse. In the evening of 1962, she returned home from school, where she was working at the time. Joanna was tired during the day. She felt drowsy, yawned... and then something happened that neither the woman herself nor the doctors still can explain. Joana says that at that moment she saw her late mother in reality, and then it was as if “something shifted” in her head. Miss Moore did not sleep that night or the next. She never slept again. Unfortunately, having managed to survive without sleep, she feels terrible. Joanna says that the desire to sleep now overcomes her both day and night. She constantly feels weak and cannot fall asleep, no matter how hard she tries. No sleeping pills or sedatives couldn't help her. Doctors who examined Joanna Moore concluded that part of her brain was damaged. Oddly enough, for the rest medical indicators Joan's health is normal. But psychologically each sleepless night becomes a test for her. “In silence and emptiness, I feel like the only living person on the whole Earth,” she complains.

Vietnamese Thai Ngoc has not slept for the 39th year in a row. Colestitis struck him after suffering a fever. For many years the Vietnamese remained healthy and efficient. But in an interview in 2006, Ty admitted that lack of sleep left him feeling “like a plant without water.”

Thai Ngoc's compatriot, peasant Nguyen Van Kha, has not closed his eyes a little less - for 27 years. According to Nguyen, the last time he slept properly was in 1979. Then something strange began to happen to them. One evening, closing his eyes, Kha felt strong burning sensation under his eyelids, and an image of a blazing fire arose in his mind. Since then, this happened every time I tried to doze off, and Van Kha could not sleep. Moreover, he stopped closing his eyes altogether. Over the past years, the phenomenon of the sleepless Vietnamese has not been found scientific explanation. Based on the recommendations of various doctors, Kha tried large number various European medicines and remedies oriental medicine, but it was all in vain. Fortunately, Kha, according to him, feels quite well and does not suffer from his bizarre illness.

One of the most famous “sleepless” is Yakov Tseperovich, a resident of Minsk. At the age of 26, he experienced clinical death. According to some reports, a jealous wife tried to poison him by adding something to his wine. The man became ill and was taken away in an ambulance. The doctors literally “brought” Yakov from the other world. True, he returned a different person.

Yakov took a long time to come to his senses, learned to talk again, corresponded with those around him on a piece of paper. But amazing changes were happening to his body: the young man felt an amazing surge of strength. He was visited by fresh thoughts and ideas, some of which were expressed in poetic form - although Tseperovich had never written poetry before.

The weirdness didn't end there. Having finally returned to normal life, Yakov discovered that he had lost the ability to sleep. At first it caused great pain. I really wanted to sleep, as happens during ordinary insomnia, but the man could not sleep. When trying to lie down, Yakov heard some kind of click in his head, and, according to his own description, he felt as if some outside force was forcing him to sit up in bed. “It was a real nightmare,” he recalls. “A continuous struggle for the opportunity to lose yourself in sleep even for a moment.”

After some time, a turning point occurred: Yakov’s body, apparently, learned to cope without sleep. Physical strength began to arrive as if by magic: Yakov could do push-ups for hours and lift weights without any fatigue. The most interesting thing is that, according to eyewitnesses, Tseperovich stopped aging. Photos of him at 40-43 years old are indistinguishable from photos taken at 25-26 years old.

“I have such a state as if there is no time at all,” says Yakov. “I don’t feel the years that have passed. It feels like the same day lasts endlessly without breaks or intervals. It seems to me that my life will continue endlessly.”

Soon doctors became interested in his condition. They determined that the man was indeed awake and found that his body temperature did not rise above 34 degrees. No more pathologies or changes were found in his body. Now Yakov Tseperovich lives with his second wife, they have a son. To “disconnect” from the outside world for a while without the help of sleep, he does yoga and meditates.

Despite his seemingly excellent health, Yakov yearns for the lost opportunity to sleep and does not consider the freed-up night hours a “gift.” “Oddly enough, I don’t use this time in any way,” he once said. “The Lord gave me life, and I just live. Besides, understand, for me this is not extra time, but just usual time, which every person has, and I fill it with ordinary activities. Of course, you won’t do any noisy things at night when everyone around you is sleeping. So at this time I read, write, think."

“Even now I still want to become a person who can sleep,” admits Tseperovich.

A person spends 1/3 of his life sleeping. People ignoring night rest, after a while they may suffer from various diseases. Therefore, a person must sleep daily. After all, a person can live without food for a month, without water for about a week, but without sleep a person will not live long.

A natural process in the body is sleep.

Why do people sleep? Because it's natural process for the body. Without sleep, a person feels overwhelmed, irritable and tired, and attention and reaction speed are dulled. Sometimes this is important, for example, when driving a car or working at a machine.

On the third day without sleep, a person may experience hallucinations.

Why do people sleep at night

It is at night that restoration processes occur in our body. A sleeping person replenishes energy within a certain period of time. While we sleep at night, the following happens in the body:

22 hours - the level of leukocytes increases, body temperature gradually decreases and the body asks for sleep.

23 hours - all muscles relax, but recovery processes start their mechanism.

At one in the morning, a sleeping person experiences a period. It is during this period that an untreated injury or tooth can make itself felt.

At 2 o'clock all body systems rest. Only our liver works, which is rid of toxins.

At 3 o'clock the body is fast asleep. There comes a complete calm: it goes down blood pressure, body temperature, breathing and pulse slow down.

At 4 o'clock, hearing becomes more acute, and a sleeping person can wake up at any minute.

At 5 o'clock the metabolism slows down. But the body of a sleeping person is already ready to wake up.

At 6 o'clock the heart rate increases and blood pressure rises. The adrenal glands begin to release norepinephrine and adrenaline into the blood.

At 7 o'clock it happens full recovery body. Immune system starts working in full force.

to get enough sleep

In order for the body to fully recover and a person to feel alert, you need to sleep at least 7-8 hours a day.

You need to go to bed at the same time. Optimal time bedtime is 10 pm. Be sure to turn off the lights and ventilate the room, regardless of the time of year. In summer you can sleep with the window open.

You cannot take a photo of a sleeping person. The camera flash may startle him and wake him up.

An important factor is the bed. It should not be too soft or hard. It is best that it is moderately hard and even, so that the sleeping person feels rested the next morning.

Before going to bed, you should not eat fatty foods or drink plenty of fluids.

If you can't sleep, take a drink warm milk with honey. It will relieve emotional stress and you will quickly fall asleep.

Why there may be sleep disorders

Sleep disturbance is a common phenomenon in the 21st century. Constant stress, unpleasant situations or, conversely, joyful excitement can disrupt sleep.

There are several types of sleep disorders:

1. Insomnia. This is a disorder in which a person cannot sleep. Often perform mental illness, taking medications, coffee or alcohol.

2. Hypersomnia. This is pathological drowsiness, which may be due to various factors. For example, taking medications respiratory disorders or illness.

3. Parasomnias. This type of sleep disorder includes the well-known sleepwalking, nocturnal enuresis, or night terrors.

4. Sleep alternation disturbance. This happens to people who are constantly impaired. For example, when working in shifts. Over time, this can lead to permanent sleep disturbances.

Be attentive to your health and go to bed on time!