Healthy sleep - how and how much to sleep to be refreshed?
Do you ever feel tired despite the fact that you sleep 7-8 hours a day regularly? On the other hand, sometimes after sleeping up to 6 hours, you wake up in a great mood with the willingness to do any activities? So how much sleep does a person need and how to sleep to be rested? Let's debunk the myths on this topic and find out what factors influence our healthy sleep.
At the very beginning, it's important to know that our sleep is not really a homogeneous state. In fact, it consists of several stages that follow one another, and waking up in the wrong phase can have a significant impact on our later well-being and activity. Although there is no rule for a healthy sleep and it is actually an individual matter for each person, there are still some common features that we should know about. In addition to the time itself, the quality of our healthy sleep is also influenced by how we prepare for it and what conditions we will have for it.
Healthy sleep - how many hours do we need to get enough sleep?
This is a basic question to which, unfortunately, there is no clear answer. Human sleep consists of three stages of NREM and the REM stage. The entire cycle usually lasts about 1.5 hours and is repeated several times during our sleep. Two phases (N1 and N2) are extremely shallow and prepare us properly for deep sleep (N3), which enables biological rest. The proper REM sleep, which is responsible, among other things, for information processing and dreams, appears at the very end. It is therefore not very revealing that the most important for our body are the N3 and REM phases. However, we must remember that they are not sequential and are separated by N1 and N2 phases. Such a 1.5-hour cycle in one night should be repeated at least four times - that is, we should sleep about 6 hours. The optimal state of healthy sleep is when we can repeat this cycle five times, which means 7.5 hours of sleep. However, it is worth remembering that if we wake up at night (in any phase of sleep) and fall asleep again, our sleep always starts again (from phase N1).
7.5 hours of sleep is a recipe for success? Not!
So is it enough to follow the advice on a healthy sleep time of exactly 7.5 hours to be energized and refreshed? Well no. Each organism is different and one person may be satisfied with 4.5 hours of sleep, while for another, even 9 hours will not guarantee adequate rest. Our genetic makeup is to blame for everything, as is often the case. The standard time of 1.5 hours to complete all phases of the healthy sleep cycle is indicative only and may be for example 70 minutes for some and 120 minutes for others. Moreover, some will feel good after completing the three phases, and some will only be satisfied after completing the three phases. sleeping five. It is therefore not difficult to calculate that one person may need less time to achieve a similar state, and some more time.
The depth of sleep affects its quality
It is a fairly simple relationship. The more deep sleep, the greater the regeneration of the body, which is what sleep is all about. It is not always the case that a very busy day causes a deep and good sleep. Sometimes stressful situations or the lack of proper activity make our sleep shallow and, regardless of its time, we do not gain as much from it as we could if it was properly carried out. In short - the shorter and less calm N3 phases, the worse it is for our body. Whether we are refreshed is influenced not only by the time of sleeping, but also by its quality.
Healthy sleep - what else is important?
In addition to the purely technical tips we mentioned earlier, there are also some more mundane ones that will allow us to sleep better. Among them, our preparation just before falling asleep is very important. Several dozen minutes before bedtime, it should be calm and relaxing. It's a good idea for this time to read a book or turn on some relaxing music. During this time, refrain from watching TV or staring at the screen of your phone or tablet. Take care of comfortable and fragrant bedding, and ventilate your bedroom a few minutes before going to bed. Get rid of ticking watches and limit the number of electronic devices to eliminate all glowing lights. Diet is also important - if you want to sleep well, do not eat anything heavy before going to bed, and drink a glass of water a few minutes before going to bed - it will help to keep your body properly hydrated, so you will not wake up.
How good to get up?
In order for sleep to give us as much as we would like, in addition to preparation and subsequent sleep, the moment of awakening is also important. Try to make you wake up with a nice sound - your favorite song or recording. Don't jump up. Try to stretch, take a few gentle breaths, and have a few sips of water. This will allow you to slowly introduce your body to all-day work. Provide enough daylight and fresh air in your bedroom as soon as you get up. Before going to the bathroom, try to tune in positively and approach the next day as a new challenge.
Healthy sleep is a very important issue in our everyday life. Apart from our work, where we spend a lot of time, another thing we spend the most time on is sleeping. So let's make the relationship between one thing and another harmonious and use them in a way that will suit our body.
