Benefits of Restful Sleep, and How to Get It

We’ve all been told different things about sleep and how it affects our ability to function daily. Since youth, we’ve been told:

• 7-8 hours is the magic number
• It’s imperative to our longevity
• We need good sleep to function
• Practice good sleep hygiene

The list goes on. However, we also live in a society that prides and almost celebrates people for their lack of sleep. What’s the truth?

Here are some facts about sleep, and how to practice better sleep hygiene.

Sleep Improves Cognitive Function

The brain forms connections while you sleep which improves your memory and cognitive function. If you don’t get the right amount of sleep, you’re impairing the body’s ability to react as intended. Your memory gets worse, and you can’t concentrate as well at work. Depriving yourself of consistently good sleep can also lead to mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, mood swings, quick tempers, and irritability.

Sleep Improves Health and Weight

Getting less than five hours of sleep puts you at higher risk of high blood pressure. It also weakens your immune system and makes you more susceptible to things like the flu and common cold. When the body is at rest, it’s also digesting a lot of food and calories you’ve consumed throughout the day. So, if you cut down on sleep, your body isn’t processing those sugars and fats correctly, and you may end up actually gaining weight.

How to Sleep Better?

1. Have a Routine – Having a routine before you go to bed is the best thing you can do to wind down and let your brain know it’s time to shut down:

• Stay off of electronics for 30 mintues-1 hour before bed.
• Keep the room as dark as possible and reduce noise (use earplugs and an eye mask if necessary).
• Keep the room cold, between 60-68 degrees.
• Lock pets outside of the bedroom.
• Don’t eat anything heavy 3-4 hours before bed.
• Exercise at least 3 times a week to really wear your body out, but don’t exercise within 3 hours before bed as this will keep you awake.

2. Get the Right Number of Hours – Our college days has us thinking that we can thrive with 3-5 hours of sleep a night. However, an amount of sleep this low actually puts us at critical sleep deprivation. Every adult differs with how much sleep they need, but the interval falls between 7-9 hours a night. Even 6 hours a night for a consecutive period of time is considered sleep deprivation.

• Download a sleep app to track how many hours you’re actually sleeping at night, vs. how many hours you’re lying in bed, and let that tell you what your perfect number is!
• If you constantly feel like you’re not getting good sleep even though you allot the right number of hours, you may want to look into sleep apnea diagnosis and treatment to get to the bottom of the issue.

3. Practice Good Sleep Hygiene – Lots of things we do throughout our day can affect our sleep without us even realizing it.

1. Using bright screens up to 1 hour before bed can throw off your circadian rhythm – this means that the brain thinks it is still daytime and keeps you awake for longer.
2. Consuming caffeine up to 6 hours before bed can keep you awake as well.
3. Allowing pets to sleep in the bed with you can also be detrimental: pets move and walk around on you during the evening which can cause you to wake up several times in the middle of the night without you realizing it.

These issues make it impossible to get into REM sleep and leaves you feeling sluggish.