Is sleeping aways a complicated problem?<\/p>\n
Text and photos by P.J. Leo<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): How long must a person sleep? There is no single
\nand definite answer about this mystery of life. Some people need
\nonly a few hours of it while others need a much longer time.<\/p>\n
According to medical experts, one needs an average of seven to
\neight hours of sleep per day. However, they remind us that we
\nneed not worry about how long we should sleep because what
\nmatters is whether or not we can rest enough during our sleep.<\/p>\n
A sleeping pattern is highly individual. If we are in a
\nstressful situation, our sleep is usually shorter than usual and
\nis not a sound sleep. So, having enough sleep during a stressful
\nsituation may not necessarily guarantee that your body and mind
\nwill be fresh again.<\/p>\n
An individual needs sleep in accordance with his job and also
\nwith the needs of his body. According to D. Thom in his book,
\nEveryday problems of the everyday child, a baby in its first
\nmonth sleeps about 20 hours but then the period of sleep gets
\nshorter and shorter to about 12 hours when a child is under five
\nyears old. An adolescent sleeps nine hours a day and in adulthood
\none needs only seven to eight hours a day.<\/p>\n
There is of course a personal difference between one child and
\nanother with regard to sleeping. Likewise in the case of adults.
\nIt is not possible, therefore, to establish a standard about
\nsleeping hours and sleeping conditions in an exact manner.<\/p>\n
You may want to know why children need more sleep than adults?
\nA child's physical growth requires a lot of energy, which is used
\nfor growth as well as the replacement of the body's tissues. All
\nthis takes place during a child's sleeping hours.<\/p>\n
Someone who has just recovered from a disease or an accident
\nalso needs a lot of sleep, for the same reasons, as do people of
\nadvanced age, who need extra hours of sleep.<\/p>\n
A quality sleep is not determined by the length of sleep
\nproper. A few hours of sleep cannot hamper the productivity of a
\nperson as revealed by psychologist Dr. Yul Iskandar, in the
\ncolumn Science and Technology in Kompas daily. \"Bung Karno
\n(Sukarno), Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Margaret Thatcher
\ngenerally slept only two or three hours, yet they were
\nproductive,\" Iskandar said.<\/p>\n
The criterion which you may use to find out whether you have
\nhad enough sleep or not is the quality of your physical and
\nmental ability the next morning. If the next morning you can move
\naround agilely, think clearly and have bright eyes, this means
\nthat your sleep is adequate.<\/p>\n
One knows from experience what lack of sleep is. Staying awake
\novernight can be overcome but if we continue to stay awake for
\nthe second or third night, the entire body will feel the effects.<\/p>\n
Lack of sleep will reveal itself in drooping eyes, pale skin
\nand an unstable walk. It will lead to a physically weak
\ncondition: feelings akin to a hangover, cold hands and feet and
\npins and needles in your hands or feet. Lack of sleep also makes
\nyou vulnerable to illnesses.<\/p>\n
Some of us can sleep easily just about anywhere and anytime,
\nparticularly during the day. If we look around us, in public
\nplaces for example, people will close their eyes when the urge to
\nsleep becomes unbearable. One will then become oblivious to all
\nthe noises around. Many people benefit from a nap, though. Close
\nyour eyes and have a nap and you will regain the freshness you
\nneed to proceed with your activities.<\/p>\n
As you can see from the accompanying photographs, vendors,
\nworkers carrying goods, land diggers and scavengers are fast
\nasleep (during the day) just anywhere and in any position.<\/p>\n
So, sleeping is a complicated problem. According to the
\nresults of research conducted by Claparade, disclosed in his book
\nAbnormal Psychology, sleep is not the consequence of the
\nsettlement of fatigue, but a vital function that a living
\ncreature performs to avoid continuous fatigue. Therefore sleep is
\na mechanism of defense.<\/p>",
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