We’ve all been told different things about sleep and how it affects our ability to function daily. Since youth, we’ve been told:
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
3. Practice Good Sleep Hygiene – Lots of things we do throughout our day can affect our sleep without us even realizing it.
These issues make it impossible to get into REM sleep and leaves you feeling sluggish.