All Humans Need Sleep Equally

Is there anyone who needs sleep more than the other – between young vs old, male vs female, rich vs poor, even the government vs people, and so on?

Folks, we are talking about what we all individually experience at some if not countless times in our lifetime.

By default, we should know what our needs are and how far do we need that. So the question of who among us needs the sleep more should be answered by all of us, as experienced sleepers who are not asleep as at the time of reading this article, unless we are sleep-reading.

What is a need and whom is for?

According to Oxford Language, a need is “a thing that is wanted or required; or a necessity”. As a necessity, need is “an indispensable thing”, that is something we cannot live without. Naturally and forcefully, we cannot live without sleep!

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The human body and brain are like machines doing various activities; if left to operate without pauses, they will explode and become useless. Whenever the brain and body are overworked, a natural fatigue alert in the brain is triggered, resulting in sleep to allow rest and resetting of the body and brain. Sleep forcefully shuts down the operations of the brain and body over a period of time to allow the body and brain to regenerate, get ready and restart their operations. Sleep does this whether one is willing or unwilling. Indeed, sleep is an oppressor, though a favourable oppressor!

The active adult who is in the prime of productive ages, and therefore toils and moils from dawn to dusk, sometimes with all-night duties, will certainly entertain body and brain exhaustion almost daily. This would trigger the sleep switch. For the office workers, the brain would suffer more than the body, while the field workers’ bodies would complain more.

Since the brain and body of the productive persons need the rest for regeneration and preparation for the next job period, the productive persons need sleep. Does this imply that children and elderly who are not productive do not need sleep? Even when someone is not in the productive age, the brain remains in continual message transmissions within the brain and to different parts of the body to effect control. This is a naturally ongoing and draining work by the brain which would call for a suitable rest period for recouping.

Children, in addition to the continual brain activities, engage in tireless body movement activities involved in games. Their bodies need rest time to re-energize for further activities. It has also been found that during sleep, as the body rests, the body rebuilds. This is a peculiar benefit which growing children should tap into. It thus appears that from the multiple needs for sleep in children, the children should sleep even more than the adults.

The case of the elderly is similar, but with a different formula. The elderly’s muscles have poor strength and stamina, weakened by degeneration. As the elderly’s brain does the control work continually, the elderly puts much more efforts into achieving relatively limited body movements due to the poor muscle strength. They thereby attain fatigue faster and call for the re-energizer, sleep, much sooner. With these narratives, the elderly also needs more sleep than adults and therefore should sleep more.

Should the amount of money one has determine if he/she needs sleep?

If one has money like the richest man of a country, the brain would be working widely to oversee and control the wealth. The brain has a lot of work in servicing the wealth, which requires intervals of restful breaks and resetting, he should sleep.

What about a low-income earner?

The person will surely also engage in wide work of the brain, and this time not for servicing but for searching for wealth. So, s/he needs the sleep-rest-reset from the wide work. Even in the average-income-earning whose brain has narrow money work, the brain does basic work for alertness, just like everyone, and encounters the natural night-day cycle.

Indeed, everyone needs sleep equally, though some need sleep more equally than others.

Do you need further information on this article?

Are you looking for the best way to maintain quality sleep for generally wellbeing and healthy living?

Are you currently facing any sleeping difficulty?

Remember, a doctor is an appropriate person to offer relevant advice for maintenance of quality sleep, solution and sleep difficulties.

Do you want to contact the Orthopaedic Sleep Consultant, Dr Charles Uzodimma, kindly send your request to sleepinfo@vitafoam.com.ng

Vitafoam is passionate about quality sleep, healthy living and general wellbeing of Nigerians. We are proudly Nigerian and constantly supports Nigerians with consistent quality products for comfort and wellbeing.

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