Many cannot sleep properly, thinking that they have developed a problem related to insomnia! Experts often advise these people not to think much about untimely sleep, stressing that it is best not to get worried about how many hours of sleep one has had at night or whether s/he is having insomnia or sleep depravity. Recent studies carried out by researchers in Oslo, Toronto and the UK have backed this idea.

Insomnia is undoubtedly a complex disease, but not a dangerous one. It is basically a disorder of hyperarousal as one experiences disruptions in how s/he feels or functions because the person is not sleeping well or sleeping enough! Only 10% of the global population experience insomnia that qualifies as a medical condition. Instead, scientists have been more concerned about Paradoxical Insomnia over the past few decades. Paradoxical insomnia, also known as Sleep State Misperception or Subjective Insomnia, is a sleep disorder that causes people to feel awake while they are asleep.

In case of paradoxical insomnia, a person may feel tired all the time and also feel like they are not getting enough sleep or are waking up repeatedly during the night. Often, a doctor finds no medical problem in such a person! Usually, such patients suffer from Sleep deprivation psychosis or Insomnia delusions, which can lead to delusional thinking, hallucinations and anxiety! Paradoxical insomnia may also reduce sleep and disturb peace of mind. Hence, experts are of the opinion that the quality of sleep depends on one’s mental state which also has a huge impact on her/his physical fitness!

Nicole Tang, the Director of the Warwick Sleep and Pain Laboratory at the University of Warwick in the UK, has claimed in his latest research paper that how well one feels in the morning after a proper sleep depends on various factors, including her/his thoughts (or worries) about how long s/he slept, how tired s/he feels or what kind of work s/he has that day! In fact, one’s thoughts include how many hours s/he should sleep in a day. Not getting to sleep during one’s scheduled time makes a person anxious. According to medical practitioners, treatment of insomnia is certainly necessary. However, one may feel mentally and physically exhausted if anxiety related to insomnia haunts the person all the time! It can ultimately affect sleep.

Some researchers have claimed that the concept of proper sleep is somewhat a flawed one! In order to understand the issue in a better manner, the researchers, including David R Samson, the Director of the Sleep and Human Evolution Laboratory at the University of Toronto, conducted a study on the sleep quality among some hunter-gatherer communities in Namibia and Bolivia. Dr Samson found that people of this community sleep a little less than the prescribed duration. It is quite low compared to the sleep duration of residents of economically developed countries. However, they are quite satisfied with that duration! Furthermore, they have no idea about insomnia.

Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Oslo have raised some questions about the epidemic of sleep deprivation in this context. They are of the opinion that as the lifestyle of every person is different, the duration of sleep depends on the surrounding events. Therefore, there cannot be any prescribed duration or enough sleep.

Experts have advised people not to think about proper sleep, but to keep the mind calm before going to bed.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das