Dr. Girish Nair, the lead Consultant Neurologist at Apollo Hospital – Navi Mumbai with a Practice in Vashi & Kharghar . Today he talks to you about something which is considered very boring and mundane may be sleep. Most of us think of Sleep as something which is passive which happens on its own when you are tired. but you people will still be surprised or may be treat to know that Sleep is an active process that are generated by the parts of brain but why do we need to sleep , how much do we need to sleep and what are the factors it effects the quality of sleep and what happens if you don’t sleep well .

Well a normal average functional adult human need to about 7 to 8 hours of sleep. Quality of sleep is a very important factor that decides how peaceful your sleep was and what benefits you enjoy from good night sleep. It is recommended that you rest from about 10pm / 10:30pm every evening till about 5:30am or 6am every morning, because that is the time when your sleeping is optimally synced with your body circadian cycle and the benefits of Good Quality sleep can then be enjoyed.

What happens if we not sleep well what a lot goes wrong? if your sleep disordered breathing meaning you snore at night, you will not get adequate oxygen into your system your brain suffers and the quality of your sleep is compromised and you increase the chances of getting several lifestyle diseases including high blood pressure, diabetes, high blood cholesterol, obesity , heart attack, strokes and cancer simply by having sleep disorder breathing.

One of the most interesting discoveries in the past couple of years about sleep has been the role of good quality sleep in preventing the accumulation of amyloid in the brain which is the most important reason for most common type of Dementia seen in the elderly namely Alzheimer dementia. even a single night of compromised sleep can increase the deposition of amyloid in the brain . so the bottom line is if you are not waking up rested in the morning, if you fall asleep in your pre-performing Monday task for Eg.: driving or during a presentation for example, you might have poor quality sleep or poor quantity of sleep both of which are important things that need to be addressed and you need to meet with the neurologist who then get the appropriate investigation to see where your problem might lie. For more information or any other queries log on to www.doctatoc.com.