With the advent of the Internet, and other recreational avenues that entice you to sleep late, late rising becomes a habit. Besides, you also want to spend quality time with your family, pursue your hobbies, catch up with friends and read your favorite book… all these make your life complete and yet getting them done postpones your bedtime. As a natural consequence, you tend to get up late.
Various studies have shown that sleeping and rising late are the root causes for umpteen health hazards. It is difficult and stressful to rise early after sleeping late, because the body needs a minimum number of hours of sleep and rest.
Healthy sleep patterns keep the metabolism healthy. Keeping awake late in the night and getting up late lead to several health problems, including
- Soar eyes for being exposed to bright lights for a longer time
- Heart problems
- Back pain
- Digestive problems
Other health problems that may arise because of sleeping late and getting up late are
- People working late into the night have been found more vulnerable to colon and breast cancer
- The melatonin hormone, which manages sleep levels, functions best in darkness (it gets released around 10pm); exposing yourself to light while working at night reduces the efficacy of this hormone
- Students who sleep and rise late have poorer academic records than early risers
- Getting up late deprives you of the vital time you can spend taking a walk, meditation or running; after you return from your work/school you are tired and settle down in front of the TV, losing out on the essential health benefit of exercising
- More often than not, late risers skip breakfast, the healthiest and most important meal of the day, to make time for other tasks
- Sleeping late also plays havoc with the circadian rhythm of your body that results in poorer performance on all fronts
- Non-adherence to healthy sleep cycles may make a person stressed, moody, psychologically vulnerable or morbid, tired for no reason, less energized and unwilling to take initiative
- All this can snowball into issues that adversely affect the health, personality and work performance of the late riser
- Sleeping disorder is prevalent among 50% of the elderly and among 26% of younger adults. The inability to sleep at the right time and the consequent late rising leads to problems like tiredness, cognitive impairment, and increased intake prescribed sleeping drugs, among the elderly
- Small children tend to exhibit behavioral problems when they do not maintain normal sleeping hours
If you are up very late in the night the body’s reaction is release of much higher level of cortisol into the bloodstream. Cortisol raises the blood pressure level, retards cell renewal processes and its growth, and decreases serotonin (a neurotransmitter that helps sleep and memory management) levels.
The right amount of sleep at the right time therefore becomes significantly important to remain healthy, young, alert and fit.