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When you wake up, have you ever felt in a state of helplessness or even woke up feeling irritated. It could be that you have experienced sleep inertia. What is that? Let's look at the following explanation.
What is that sleep inertia?
Source: Waido
The first stage is light sleep, when the body and mind are between reality and the subconscious. Entering the second stage of sleep, your heart rate and breathing will slow down and you fall deeper and deeper into your sleep.
Only then, do you sleep soundly in the third stage of sleep. Then, the last phase is the REM phase where you will have dreams.
During the third stage, the brain will produce higher delta waves than the previous stage. These delta waves make you unresponsive to your surroundings. If you suddenly wake up at this stage, you are likely to experience it sleep inertia.
Other than that, sleep inertia it can also be caused by slower activation of some parts of the brain after waking up such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which functions as a decision maker and motor control of the body.
The PFC portion of the brain can take 30 minutes longer to catch up with the rest of the body.
Is this phenomenon dangerous?
Most of them sleep inertia what happens does not cause harm, because this phenomenon is actually the body's process of going from a state of sleep to being awake.
It's just that, this condition makes you less focused so that if you are forced to do something immediately afterward, chances are you are not careful. It can also cause minor problems such as bumping into nearby objects while walking.
Does not mean sleep inertia poses no risk at all. Especially if you have a job that always requires making important decisions at critical times such as health workers, pilots, and jobs in the legal arena.
You also shouldn't drive after experiencing sleep inertia to avoid the risk of experiencing unwanted things such as accidents.
Then, how to prevent sleep inertia?
Fortunately, there are several ways you can do to minimize the possibility of this condition.
Keeping your sleep schedule and needs met properly is the most important way. Most of them sleep inertia occurs after you wake up from a short sleep. Getting a more regular night's sleep will reduce your chances of falling asleep in the middle of the day.
Also, it's best to allow your body to wake up on its own. Woke up by force as if due to an alarm or other sounds will make you sleepy, because at that time the levels of melatonin which encourage you to sleep are still high.
However, of course there are some of you who need a wake-up alarm, especially if you have to get up early to go to work or school. Therefore, try to sleep according to the length of time needed.
For example, you need 7-8 hours of sleep per day. You're going to bed at 10 p.m., set it alarm at 5 or 6 in the morning. Always try to be organized alarm at the same time to make the body more accustomed to getting up at that time.
After waking up, you should not immediately do activities. Use 15-30 minutes first to let your body slowly active.
If using an alarm, avoid the snooze button (snooze)for wake-up time. If you keep doing this, it will encourage your brain to pick up the signal to fall asleep again afterward.
Furthermore, you can immediately wash your face with cold water. Although it has not been scientifically proven, washing your face with cold water is believed to be effective in reducing drowsiness. Reduce consumption of caffeine before bed and move it when you wake up with a sufficient portion.
