Why gum before bedtime'' is effective for good quality sleep

People who don't have free time during the day stay up late to gain free time...We'll show you how to get out of the habit of "revenge staying up late" and focus on sleep (Photo: Prana/PIXTA)

``I couldn't watch the drama I wanted to watch because I had to work overtime for so long.'' ``I had to check my social media before going to bed.'' ``I couldn't do what I wanted to do during the day because I was busy raising my children.''

I'm sure everyone has had the experience of cutting back on their sleep time to use their smartphones in bed because of this thought. In this way, when people who do not have free time during the day stay up late to gain free time, it is called ``revenge night owl'', and it can cause various physical and mental health problems such as a decline in concentration the next day. It is viewed as a problem as an act that has a negative impact.

How can I stop? Some excerpts and re-edits from the book `` Concentration Switch Taught by a Famous Autonomic Nervous Physician '' by Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Professor of Juntendo University School of Medicine, who is known as a leading authority on autonomic nerve research. I'll show you how to break out of the habit of staying up late.

The big cost brought about by the modern disease of “smartphone addiction”

The first and foremost basic of health is sleep. Lack of quality sleep can have a variety of negative effects on your mind and body.

Staying up late is the source of all sorts of illnesses - it's no exaggeration to say that.

If staying up late becomes a habit, your body clock will become a night owl, making it harder to wake up in the morning. It is obvious that this leads to fatigue, fatigue, lethargy, etc. Lack of sleep reduces brain activity, which has a significant impact on mental health, such as lack of concentration and attention, emotional instability, and impaired judgment.

There are many reasons for sleep deprivation. These include stress, lack of exercise, drinking, smoking, and poor lifestyle habits. Recently, I get the impression that ``revenge night owl'', which stems from smartphone addiction, has been added to this trend.

This can be considered a modern disease, and I often see and hear about it in the news, and in fact, I receive many inquiries about it.

Revenge staying up late is the act of staying up late at night to gain free time when someone who didn't have free time during the day feels like ``I wanted to do XX but couldn't do it.'' It means trying to relieve the frustration and stress that arises before going to bed (usually after getting under the covers).

People who were busy studying or working during the day and couldn't make time for themselves come home and do all the ``things that need to be done'' such as housework, meals, and bathing, and when they can be alone, they turn to SNS and the Internet. They enjoy checking the news, watching videos, shopping online, reading, listening to music, etc.

At that moment, your heart will probably be full. However, if you think about it not in terms of one day (dots) but in terms of the long span (line) of daily life, staying up late as revenge is not a welcome behavior. This is because you will have to pay a huge price the next day.

As a result, students are experiencing lower grades, truancy, repeating a grade, etc., and working adults are experiencing increased tardiness and absenteeism , which is now becoming a social problem.

Even if you think positively, the result is negative.

An online survey of 766 university students and the general public in Poland found that women were more likely to stay up late than men, young people more than older people, working people more than non-workers, and students more likely to stay up late than non-students. It seems that it is small.

If you stay up late as revenge, the quality of your performance the next day will drop dramatically. If this happens, you will find yourself saying, ``I couldn't do what I wanted to do during the day,'' and you'll end up staying up late again, making it easy to fall into a negative spiral.

In the worst case scenario, it can even lead to depression, and it is also known that lack of sleep increases the risk of all sorts of diseases, including high blood pressure, diabetes, myocardial infarction, cerebral infarction, and cancer.

Revenge refers to the act of getting revenge for being hurt or treated unfairly by an opponent, but in Japan, it is the act of winning the next match against the opponent who lost in a sports match, There are also notable cases where it is used in a positive sense, such as when trying again and succeeding at something that failed or didn't go well.

The term "revenge night owl" does not have a negative connotation, such as retaliation or revenge, but I get the impression that it is used to refer to actions that are born from positive thinking, such as regaining what has been lost through one's own efforts.

However, even if an action is born from positive thinking, the consequences are clearly negative. There is nothing good about it.

If you are aware of this, first of all, focus on sleeping, make sure you get enough sleep time, and try to live a regular life.

What do you like to eat to relax?

Even if you are told not to stay up late to get revenge, it will be difficult to stop immediately of your own volition. For busy modern people, the only precious time they can spend alone is often before going to bed.

Many people are worried about giving up their smartphones. There are many young people who can be described as severely addicted, saying, ``I can't sleep until I reply to all the comments and messages on social media.''

That's why I recommend "concentrating on sleep." Consciously put your body in a state where you can't stay up late for revenge.

Even if you think, ``I want to do this, I want to do that,'' if you fall asleep without realizing it, revenge won't come true.

First, once you've finished everything you need to do for the day, turn on the switch that says ``I'm going to go into rest mode.'' Even if you tell yourself, ``I'm going to take a break now,'' or someone tells you to ``take a break,'' it can be difficult to change your mind, but if you create an opportunity to do so, you can do it.

We recommend drinking decaffeinated tea or coffee and chewing gum. These send signals to the body to switch modes, and also make the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for relaxing the body, dominant, and regulate the autonomic nervous system. It must be said that in order to get good quality sleep, it is essential that the autonomic nervous system is in good condition.

Chewing gum is considered to be particularly effective . It has also been found that rhythmic movements such as chewing promote the secretion of serotonin, which is known as the happy hormone, and produce alpha waves, which are produced when we are in a relaxed state.

Serotonin is a raw material for the sleep hormone melatonin, which causes the body to become more sleepy.

Fragrance can also be cited as one of the elements that regulates the autonomic nervous system and induces a relaxed state of mind and body.

We recommend burning aromatherapy or incense. It is believed that when humans smell a pleasant scent, the action of the sympathetic nervous system is suppressed and the parasympathetic nervous system becomes dominant. If you create a relaxing atmosphere by playing soft-toned music, you can expect even better results.

In addition to aromas and incense, you can also smell the scent of herbal tea or coffee. It is also effective to chew gum and feel the scent directly through your nostrils.

Another trick to focus on sleep

To be on the safe side, let's take one more step. In order to prevent staying up late for revenge to become a habit, you should cover all possible areas.

``Concentration switch taught by a famous autonomic nerve doctor'' (Ascom). Click on the book image to jump to Amazon's site

As mentioned earlier, in order to get a good night's sleep, it is ideal to have a well-organized autonomic nervous system, and bathing strongly supports this.

The best thing to do is to take a bath about 1 hour and 30 minutes before going to bed. We recommend soaking in slightly lukewarm water at around 40 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes, as this will raise your core body temperature.

Core body temperature is the temperature inside the body, including organs. When this changes from a high state to a low state, humans begin to feel sleepy.

Immediately after getting out of the bath, your core body temperature is still high. Of course, you won't feel drowsy. However, over the next 1 to 2 hours, your core body temperature drops rapidly. Then comes the peak of sleepiness.

By using this system and counting backwards when taking a bath, you can get a good quality sleep. In conjunction with this, the autonomic nervous system is also adjusted.

In this way, if you effectively practice how to concentrate on sleep, even if you go to bed with your smartphone in hand, your eyes will soon become glazed over and you will no longer be able to focus on social media.

Revenge To get rid of your lifestyle of staying up late and improve your daily performance, try actively working on it in combination with the methods introduced earlier, such as chewing gum.