The Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) called for the need of following a healthy and safe lifestyle and ensuring adequate sleep during the day and at regular times, warning that not getting enough sleep makes a person more vulnerable to obesity, diabetes and mental disorders, particularly in children, in addition to problems in attention and behavior.

Dr. Hana Khudair Saleh, Community Medicine and Healthy Lifestyle Specialist at PHCC, stressed that early and healthy sleep greatly helps students to wake up active in the morning to exert their maximum effort on academic tasks, as it helps activate the brain and memory and increases the students’ energy and vitality. Stressing on the importance of getting enough healthy sleep for students, Dr. Khudair warned that children and adolescents who do not get enough sleep are more likely to develop obesity, diabetes, injuries, poor mental health and attention and behavior problems.

She also explained that the regular hours of sleep per day should be between (9-12) hours for children aged between (6-12) years, and between (8-10) hours for adolescents aged between (13-18) years, and between (7-8) hours for adults. She, similarly, advised sleeping and waking up at the same time every day, noting that there should not be a difference in sleep times between the weekdays and the weekend, as she emphasized that this inconsistency in sleep timings negatively affects the quality of healthy sleep and leads to a failure to maintain the body's biological clock.

In addition, Dr. Khudair recommended getting daily exposure to sunlight during the day, as well as increasing exercising and physical activities, particularly in the afternoon, and turning off all unnecessary lighting at night or reducing it at least an hour before bedtime, especially screens’ blue light, such as TV or mobile screens, while reducing lighting and noise in the room such as the phone charger’s simple light, and keeping the alarm clock out of vision.

Dr. Khudair revealed that there is a significant impact of food on sleep quality, and advised reducing stimulant drinks, such as coffee and tea in the morning in general, and, in particular, in the evening, and also recommended eating dinner early without eating snacks after, and drinking adequate quantities of water and natural juices during the day, in particular, in the afternoon, while reducing their intake at the dinner time. She also endorsed  avoiding anxiety and stress and trying to relax at least an hour before bedtime, by taking a nice bath and wearing socks to warm the legs, while practicing meditation and preparing for sleep by avoiding all work and activities at least an hour and a half before bedtime.