Sleep Duration – Are you getting enough sleep?

There’s a lot of confusion about exactly how much sleep you actually need. Some people swear by 8 hours and others boast about being able to get by on 5 hours. The fact is everyone has unique sleep needs and preferences. Official recommendations for sleep duration for adults 18–64 years is 7–9 hours and 7–8 hours for adults 65+ —recommendations do indeed leave the majority of adults feeling their best. However, there is no one-size-fits-all answer; some people might need more or less sleep than is generally recommended. Finding the perfect amount of sleep for you depends on many factors including your age, your body’s base or innate need for sleep, your sleep quality, genetics, if you’re pregnant or not, and your sleep debt. Of these factors, genetics, and sleep quality play key roles.

• Genetic Makeup – Did you know that certain genetic mutations affect how long you need to sleep, the time of day you prefer to sleep, and your response to sleep deprivation? There is a specific genetic mutation that allows people to get by fine on around six hours of sleep and another that allows people to experience deeper sleep, and another that causes people to be more negatively affected by sleep deprivation. Unfortunately, you can’t change your genetic makeup and there is not currently a practical way to find out if you carry one of these mutations.

• Sleep Quality – Not surprisingly, the quality of your sleep can also impact how much you need. The better your sleep quality, the better your chances are of being able to function well on less. Conversely, the poorer your sleep quality is, the more sleep you may feel that you need so you don’t feel tired. Therefore, it’s just as important to focus on the quality of sleep you get as it is on sleeping long enough.

What causes sleep deprivation?

Not getting the amount of sleep you need is caused by a variety of factors including things like sleep problems, work demands, caregiving duties, travel schedules, stress, and mental health issues. It’s important to keep in mind that there is a big difference between the amount of sleep you need to function optimally and the amount of sleep you can get by on. It’s also important to remember that not all sleep is of equal quality. You may not be spending enough time in the different stages of sleep, particularly the deep sleep and REM sleep stages to function optimally.

Possible solutions

To improve your sleep duration, start by assessing your personal sleep needs and habits.

Improving Your Sleep Hygiene

Getting the right amount of sleep starts with having good sleep hygiene. You can optimize your bedtime by creating good habits following these simple yet effective sleep hygiene tips:

• Don’t eat sugary foods or heavy meals too close to bedtime
• Evaluate your bedroom to ensure its dark, quiet, and cool
• Get regular exercise
• Learn to manage your stress
• Limit the use of alcohol and caffeine before bed
• Postpone worrying
• Practice a relaxing bedtime ritual
• Rule out any medical causes for your sleep problems
• Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows
• Stick to a sleep schedule, even on weekends
• Turn off electronics before bed

Next, see how you respond to different amounts of sleep.

Determining How Much Sleep You Need

Figuring out how much sleep you need starts with paying attention to how you feel during the day compared to how much sleep you had. If you are getting a sufficient amount of sleep, you should feel awake and energized throughout the day. If you feel sluggish or sleepy, you may need to sleep more.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Does it take me more than 15-20 minutes to fall asleep? If you tend to fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow, you might not be getting enough sleep. If it takes you an hour or more to fall asleep, you might be trying to sleep too much.
• Do I awaken during the night? In addition to the many serious sleep conditions that can disrupt sleep, trying to sleep too much can also result in numerous awakenings.
• Do I wake up before my alarm goes off typically? If you’re waking up within a reasonable amount of time, it might be your brain’s way of telling you that you’ve had enough sleep. See if getting up when you first wake up leads to you feeling better throughout the day instead of giving in to the habit of trying to go back to sleep.
• How do I feel during the day? Am I productive and feeling happy and healthy on seven hours of sleep? Or do I feel better on nine hours of quality sleep? Do I depend on caffeine to get me through the day? Try to ignore feelings of body fatigue or low body energy when trying to determine how you feel. Instead focus on things like how likely you are to fall asleep sitting and reading or working after lunch if you feel sleepy when driving, and whether or not you feel driven to sleep.

Although it’s pretty rare, there are people who actually get too much sleep, and it negatively impacts their day. If you’re one of these unique people, try moving your bedtime later by 15-minute increments. On the other hand, if you’re one of the many people getting too little sleep, do the opposite— move your bedtime up by 15-minute increments. Try this for a few weeks and if you don’t feel positive results, make an appointment with your physician to see if they can recommend another solution for determining how much sleep you need.

Prioritize Sleep

Most importantly, make sleep a priority. When life gets busy, it’s easy to sacrifice or neglect your sleep.  This is unfortunate because good sleep is just as vital to good health as eating healthy foods or getting enough exercise.

Put sleep on your daily schedule like any other important appointment and set a reminder for 30-60 minutes before bedtime. It’s important to wrap up doing other things in time to make your appointment with your pillow!

Why get treatment?

Sleep is essential for the maintenance of your good health. In fact, it is a vital indicator of overall health and well-being. While you’re asleep, your body is hard at work doing important “housekeeping” tasks like processing and responding to emotions and experiences from the day and committing them to memory, rebuilding muscles you’ve worn down during the day, and cleaning away harmful plaques and waste produced in your brain. It also plays an important role regulating your emotions, appetite,  immune system, and metabolic function.

Not getting enough good-quality sleep results in more negative outcomes than simply feeling tired. You may be less creative and less capable of making good decisions due to the decreased mental performance that results from sleep deprivation. In fact, you might even feel more negative, less productive, and be more likely to act less ethically when you are sleep deprived. Plus, there are a myriad of negative health consequence associated with a lack of sleep.

Because good sleep is necessary to so many aspects of good health and associated with so many negative outcomes, you should make getting enough each night a high priority.

If you or a family member are sleeping less than 5 hours or more than 9 hours a night, you should consult your primary care physician or talk with a sleep professional to determine the underlying cause.