How much sleep do you REALLY need? 10/26/2009
 Sleep is an important part of your life, you spend one thirds of your life sleeping! So, exactly how much sleep a day do you need? Adults are recommended 7.5-8.5 hours of sleep a day. Does this hold true for everyone? Can you get away with less sleep without adversely affecting your health? If so, how? Depriving your body of its minimum sleep requirement can cause several health problems. How do you know your sleep deprived? If you start experiencing:
How can I get away with less sleep? Albeit, sleep is a personal matter and its minimum requirement varies from one individual to another. Some people may only need 4-6 hours of sleep a night to function optimally. The extraneous factors that come into play with getting away with less sleep here are: 1. Amount of stress in your lifestyle 2. Quality of sleep People with fewer obligations and living a generally relaxed lifestyle may actually get away with 6 hours or sleep and feel great day-after-day and lead an overall healthy life. However, as you take on more responsibilities and make your life hectic, your body is going to command a certain number of hours greater than just six… Unless, you become an efficient sleeper and get what you need from sleep in a short duration of time. This efficiency is realized by maximizing Deep Sleep. See, when you enter sleep, you go through different sleep stages – Deep Sleep being one of the last and most important stages. You know you are in deep sleep when you are difficult to awaken and if awakened, you can’t adjust immediately and so feel groggy and disoriented for several minutes. What essentially happens in deep sleep is that blood flow to the brain decreases and redirects itself towards muscles, restoring physical energy. It is also the stage where the body begins to recover when sleep deprived. How do I maximize deep sleep and become an efficient sleeper? Make sure your sleep environment is comfortable and outside noise is minimized. Any excess noise or excessive light can disrupt you from maximizing deep sleep and leave you in disruptive sleep. In addition, avoid alcohol and nicotine as these are also factors that disrupt deep sleep. So how much sleep do I really need? To establish this, you would first need to eradicate your sleep ‘debt’. Sleep debt is accrued by consecutively depriving your body of the required amount of sleep. Thus, you would first need to set aside a week or two, free of any disruptions so that you can focus on your sleep schedule. Allow yourself to sleep in for as long as you want and wake up naturally without an alarm clock. Once your sleep debt is paid off, it will be easier for you to determine the average amount of sleep needed by your body. This could be determined by evaluating how you feel after getting x number of sleep hours. If you still experience any grogginess, daytime sleepiness, fatigue, trouble concentrating or poor motor skill, you may have to increase the amount of sleep. Try setting a typical bedtime that you could stick to effectively and one that allows you the sleep you need. Please note, it is a common misnomer that by paying off your sleep debt, you would have eradicated any effects of sleep deprivation. Keep in mind, by allowing yourself to catch up on lost sleep hours you can eliminate some of the negative signs of sleep deprivation; however, the effects from long term sleep deprivation will not be eradicated. The damage has already been done! Commentsdolly s. Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:08:43 I am finding myself more tired as each day passes. I used to sleep 3-6hrs a night and sometimes 8-10hrs depending on my activities and work load; however, now even 7-8hrs do not seem enough. I am tired daily. I need to pay off my sleep debt! Thank YOu! Zoya Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:34:00 Yea, I pull a lot of all nighters for school, and because of that my sleep cycle is all messed up and I barely get any sleep :( Leave a Reply |
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