Posts Tagged ‘Thoongathaey Thambi Thoongathaey’


March 19, 2009

I have recently read in a newspaper about a scientific study presented at American Heart Association’s Annual conference on cardio vascular diseases, on the effect of short sleep on the diabetics.According to the study people who slept less than 6 hours a day are likely to develop Type –II Diabetes Mellitus over a six year period.

We all know the sleeper will be sleeping normally lying down,with closed eyes,and blissfully unaware of the surroundings,and breathing in rhythmic pattern and relaxed.

The study has shown that short sleepers are prone to develop abnormal fasting blood sugar levels. which leads to Diabetes. Inadequate sleep results in adverse health issues.

Why people are supposed to short sleep. In a day of 24 hourss can’t they afford at least 6 to 7 hrs of sleep. What is the reason. Generally the infants sleep for a long time.They sleep thorough the day and become wide awake in the nights. Children who play very well sleep very well. Those who do hard labour get automatic and undisturbed sleep.

There are some persons who can catch up with some sleep irrespective of the surroundings they are in..There are some people who will not wink an eye even if they curl themselves on KURL ON beds.

Those who rise from bed early are forced by the body to go to sleep in the early hours of the night and they get up early. The biological clock in the body makes this possible.After the body gets the needed rest,it gets ready for the next day with fresh mind.

We all know that every waking up in the morning from sleep is GOD’s GIFT to mankind. The Asthmatics whose disease doesnot allow them to sleep ,keep awake throughout the night and they get very good sleep in the early mornings.

Some people want to become achievers by sacrificing their sleep.For example,they feel that sacrificing their sleep and doing work in that time will help them in achieving their goals. For some people twenty four hous in a day are not enough. There aresome people who require the 25th Hour in a day to have their own ay of life.In the Hollywood movie,

the 25th Hour depicts the last day of freedom for the Hero who , before beginning to serving a seven-year jail term for drug dealin prowls through the city until dawn with his two close male friends and his girlfriend.The 25th hour forces him to re-examine his life..

I remember having seen another hilarious Hollywood Movie “THE SLEEPER” acted, produced and directed by the famous Hollywood Director Woody Allen plays his role as Miles the hero. In this movie the hero was cryogenically frozen to sleep in the year 1973 and and awakes after two hundred years in the year 2173. When he wakes up like Rip Van Winkle he finds that the America of 2173 is a totalitarian state ruled by an oppressive dictator, and Miles has been reanimated by a group of rebels fighting to overthrow the government.The story line goes how he helps the rebsl to overthrow the oppressor.A nice movie to watch.

People on night shift are not supposed to sleep. They tend to sleep in the day to make up for the loss of sleep. In the busy cities like Chennai and Mumbai where the working folks reside at a minimum distance of atleast 50 KMs from their work place, have to start early to catch bus,train ,rickshaws to reach their offices/factories in time and they sacrifice their sleep. The call centre folks are often found sleeping in their transports when they commute to and fro office.

In the hospitals where patients are made to sleep with sleeping pills and doses so that rtheir body gets the much needed rest to recuperate. I remember an anectdote in which one patient complained to the night duty doctor that he was not getting sleep.The doctor advised him to start counting 1,2,…3 etc and that he will automatically fall sleep.and the patient implicitly obeyed. When the night shift doctor was on his rounds in small hours he heard some murmur and he went near the patients’s bed and guess what he heard. 12002,12003,12004…..The patient was wide awake and counting.. it seemed that the doctor’s ‘oral’ medicine(advice) did not work.

In our household, the youngsters (of Youngistaan’s) are lured by the Action Movie Channels to keep awake to watch the action movie they are going to telecast “Just after the 9 PM Movie.” This means the movie wil start at about 11 PM and will take atleast

2 hours to complete including the commercials they are forced to watch. You are deprived of the sleep till 1 AM Hope the youngsters see through this ploy and avoid falling for it and give priority to sleep.

Sleep is commons among reptiles, birds and mammals. Different animals sleep in different ways. The elephants and horses sleep in standing position. . Giraffes sleep less than two hours a day, while pythons snooze through three-fourths of the day.

If you lose your sleep you tend to lose enthusiasm and energy, memory and concentration.

To get better sleep,one should try practicing fixed hours of sleep,trey to do some exercises.and generally be active.Avoid sleep during the day and you will compensate in the night, Self – deprivation of sleep is among the people who lead high paced lifestyle. Such people should forget their goal at least for 6 hours a day to have healthy sleep everyday.

If you get sufficient sleep,say atleast 7 to 8 hours a day your mind gets sharper and you become efficient.

When we discuss the sleep, I am reminded of the waking up.For short sleepers who suffer from insufficient sleep, the alarm clocks is their first adversary of the day. You can wake up the person who is actually sleeping,but you cannot wake up the person who pretend to be asleep. I am reminded of the lyrics of famous Cine Poet Kannadasan which reads as follows :

Thookkam Un Kangalai Thazhuvattumae

Amaidhi Un Nenjinil Nilavattumae.

(Let Sleep embrace your eyes and Peace prevail, in your heart.) This clearly shows that sleeps bring peace. When the human beings are finally ‘at peace’,they look as if they are sleeping.

I have seen in one Movie titled Beautiful people,in which people from a particular tribal community in Africa donot rest their head on the floor while they are sleeping,Instead when they sleep .they have their heads raised atleast three quarter of a feet above ground level with palms supporting their heads. I think short sleepers may be following the advice Actor turned Chief Minister of Tamil nadu , Late MG Ramachandran affectionately called as MGR by his ardent fans, in the lyrics of Pattukkottai Kalyanasundaram in a Tamil Movie Naadodi Mannan,which goes like this:

Thoongathaey Thambi Thoongathaey Nee Soamberi Enra Peyar Vaangathaey (Don’t sleep younger brother, Don’t get the name as a Lazy fellow’)

I am updating this  post  on 20th March 2009  after coming to know that   this day is being observed as “WORLD SLEEP DAY”.

WORLD SLEEP DAY 2009  —  MARCH 20, 2009

World Sleep Day is an international annual event, intended to be a celebration of sleep and a call to action on important issues related to sleep, including medicine, education, social aspects and driving. It aims to lessen the burden of sleep problems on society through better prevention and management of sleep disorders. World Sleep Day 2009 is being held on March 20th, under the slogan ‘Drive alert, arrive safe’. This year’s theme is transportation, focussing on safety, travel and driving alertness.

The first World Sleep Day was launched on March 14th 2008. Events involving local groups took place in public settings around the world and online with the unveiling of a declaration, presentation of educational materials, and exhibition of videos.

The World Sleep Day declaration is as follows:




  • The event is sponsored by the World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM)