A 23-year-old IT man had a stroke, and a 17-year-old boy was on the verge of death due to multiple illnesses... This habit really needs to be changed, and its harm is greater than you think

Due to the sudden change in temperature, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine has continuously admitted many patients with sudden cerebral infarction, with up to 7 cases admitted in one day, the youngest of whom were two guys aged 23 and 24...

So young! A 23-year-old IT man suffered a stroke after staying up late to finish a project

Wang Chao (pseudonym), a young man from Shaanxi, has lost count of how many times he has gotten home after 11 o'clock at night. At 23, it is the age to work hard. Like all IT practitioners, he will work overtime to complete projects. After working all night for several consecutive nights, he can finally take a breath.

As a result, he fell to the ground while taking a shower in the bathroom that night. After waking up, he was unable to speak and his right side was out of control. At 12:00 midnight, he was rushed to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine by his roommate.

After a series of examinations, experts from the Emergency Trauma Center confirmed that Wang Chao had "acute cerebral infarction". The expert team immediately gave Wang Chao symptomatic treatment such as intravenous thrombolysis, improving cerebral circulation and rehydration. A few hours after thrombolysis, his condition gradually improved. The green channel opened by the doctor helped him escape the risk of hemiplegia in the fastest time. Wang Chao was transferred to the neurology ward for further treatment.

In fact, as early as two months ago, Wang Chao had symptoms of physical discomfort - repeated dizziness, blurred vision from time to time, sudden blacking and blindness for a short time, but he was busy with work and never took it seriously.

"Fortunately, the young man was rescued in time and was lucky enough to escape!" Yang Xiaofeng, director of the Emergency Trauma Center, said that cerebral infarction is a type of stroke (i.e. "brain stroke"), also known as ischemic stroke, accounting for 80-90% of all strokes. Cerebral infarction refers to a syndrome of ischemic and hypoxic necrosis of local brain tissue caused by various reasons, resulting in corresponding neurological deficits.

The disability rate of stroke is as high as 75%, and the mortality rate is over 20%. Therefore, for stroke patients, time is brain and time is life during rescue. The earlier the discovery and the earlier the treatment, the better the effect.

In clinical practice, Director Yang Xiaofeng encountered many patients who missed the best time for treatment because of their insensitive physical condition when the disease occurred, or their family members did not intervene in time when they found symptoms. Instead, they chose to "take a break" and rest, and waited until the disease became serious before seeking treatment, which often led to serious sequelae such as limb paralysis, speech disorders, swallowing disorders, and cognitive disorders.

Don’t underestimate these important causes of cerebral infarction

In fact, Wang Chao, who is 1.73 meters tall, weighs only 120 kilograms, does not smoke or drink, and has no congenital cerebral vascular malformations. How could he suddenly have a cerebral infarction? The abnormal blood pressure index allowed experts to find the "source" of the cerebral infarction.

When Wang Chao was sent for emergency treatment, his blood pressure was 154/90 mmHg (normal blood pressure is systolic pressure <140 mmHg, diastolic pressure <80 mmHg), which was significantly higher than normal. After he was out of danger, Wang Jianwen, deputy chief physician of the Department of Neurology who participated in the consultation, asked Wang Chao in depth and learned that his IT work required him to sit in front of the computer every day and rarely exercise. During this period of time, he was busy with projects, often working until two or three in the middle of the night, sometimes even staying up all night, and taking a short nap for one or two hours during the day to make up for his sleep.

Experts analyzed that the tight work pace, highly tense mental state, plus staying up late and sitting for long periods of time can easily cause the body to release a large amount of norepinephrine, adrenaline, etc., causing vasoconstriction and increased blood pressure; and now is the season change, the temperature difference is large, and the stimulation of temperature changes causes the blood system, which is already in a hypercoagulable state, to induce thrombosis due to a series of comprehensive factors, causing blood vessel blockage, and ultimately causing Wang Chao's acute cerebral infarction.

Don't stay up late! In addition to cerebral infarction, these symptoms will also appear

According to mobtech big data, more than 500 million people in the country go to bed later than 24:00, and the average sleep time of Chinese residents has been reduced to 6.9 hours, a decrease of 14.8% compared with 2018. Sleeping for 8 hours has become a luxury.

In 2021, a media outlet released the "2021 Report on Staying Up Late for Contemporary Young People" through a survey of 1,857 respondents. The report showed that more than 40% of young people said they stayed up late almost every day. In the list of "most favorite industries to stay up late", freelancers ranked first, and the Internet and financial industries ranked second and third.

So, what do young people who go to bed so late usually do? Data shows that the majority of young people choose to watch TV series and videos, accounting for 71.61%; 51.16% of respondents like to browse social platforms such as Weibo and Zhihu; more than 30% of respondents choose to stay up late to play games. In addition, thinking about life, chatting online and working are also reasons for young people to stay up late.

Image source: "2021 Report on Contemporary Young People Staying Up Late"

What are the harms of staying up late? A reporter from Chengshi Interactive found through Weibo that many young people have health problems due to staying up late:

According to CCTV News, due to unhealthy lifestyle habits such as staying up late, 21-year-old Xiao Pu went to the emergency department for a sudden heart attack. During the subsequent operation, it was found that a large number of blood clots caused his blood vessels to be blocked. The doctor finally used a catheter to suck out a total of 10 blood clots;

According to People's Daily Online, 17-year-old Xiaopeng was on the verge of life and death due to staying up late. He suffered from multiple diseases, including fulminant myocarditis, cardiogenic shock, severe pneumonia, severe acute respiratory distress syndrome, and septic cardiomyopathy...

According to Jiangsu News, Mr. Zhang, 40, suffered from periodontitis due to long-term staying up late. As early as four or five years ago, he had almost lost all his teeth.

Chengshi Interactive also reported:

The man started working, and due to the sudden increase in work pressure and staying up late because of his youth, he suffered from frequent oral ulcers.

Mr. Li, 35, worked very hard this year to get a promotion, often staying up late, which led to lymphoma.

Due to irregular work and rest, unhealthy diet and other factors, the 21-year-old young man got stomach cancer...

As for how long to sleep, in most research literature, the following are recommended for sleep time:

Normal sleep time: 7~8 hours

Sleep time is too short: ≤5 hours or <6 hours

Sleeping too long: ≥8 hours or >9 hours

Overall, about 8 hours is enough. It is best to go to bed before 11 o'clock and get up around 7 o'clock in the morning.

Why is it recommended to go to bed at 11 o'clock and sleep for 8 hours a day? According to Health Times, there is a scientific basis for this.

Go to bed at 11pm: From an endocrine perspective, going to bed after 11pm is considered staying up late. Since the body's self-repair activities are mostly carried out before 3am, the quality of sleep between 11pm and 3am is particularly critical. Chinese medicine believes that the yin energy is at its peak between 11pm and 1am, and falling asleep can best nourish yin, and the quality of sleep is also the best, and the chances of many lifestyle diseases such as high blood lipids or sub-health status are very small.

Get enough sleep for 8 hours a day: People's sleep time varies with age, and most adults only need 7 to 8 hours. Research published at the 2020 European Cardiology Society Annual Meeting showed that long sleep time of more than 8 hours is associated with a higher incidence of adverse cardiovascular events, ischemic stroke, and adverse cardiovascular events combined with heart failure. Therefore, experts recommend 8 hours of sleep at night.

Ensure regular sleep: Some people stay up late and stay in bed every weekend. This will disrupt the circadian rhythm and disrupt the original sleep pattern. Instead of restoring energy, it may make you feel weak, dizzy, and listless.

Comprehensive report by Pan Li, a reporter from Chengshi Interactive