Cutting back on sleep may be tempting when you’ve got deadlines to meet and a social life to squeeze in to your already jam-packed day, but it isn’t really the best answer long-term. The truth is that you can’t afford to cut back on sleep all the time – even a small loss can affect your mood, energy and your ability to handle stress. In order to know how much is good for you, you need to learn how to determine your nightly sleep needs – then you will know how much you need each night to stay on top of things. But what can sleep really do for your health, and what are the various stages of sleep that you need to know about in order to get good quality shut-eye at night. Though we may not realise it, the majority of us try to get as little sleep as we can, in order to avoid missing out on nights with friends or to meet those deadlines of an evening. There are always things which seem more important that your sleep, but this isn’t true – sleep is as important as your diet and exercise regime for a healthy body.
Though it may seem like it, sleep isn’t a time when your body and mind switch off for eight hours. You brain stays busy even when you’re sleeping, making sure that a range of biological processes take place during this vital stage. Without enough hours of restorative, good quality sleep, your body won’t be able to work properly, learn, create or even communicate when you wake up. In other words, you will be missing out on your true potential – all through missing sleep. Of course, you don’t need to choose between your health and being productive. The moment you start getting enough sleep, you’ll notice a vast improvement in the levels of energy and your general wellbeing. There are a number of myths around sleep. For example, people believe that getting one hour less of sleep each night won’t affect your functioning during the day – this isn’t true. While you may not notice feeling sleepy, your ability to think properly and respond quickly does decrease after just one hour less of sleep. It also, more worryingly, affects your cardiovascular health, energy balance and ability to fight infections. Likewise, people think that your body adjusts to varying sleep schedules quickly – the truth is that it can take over a week to a change in your sleep pattern, even just switching to the night shift or travelling across time zones.
Obviously, the amount of sleep we need varies from person to person – however, most healthy adults need between seven and a half to nine hours of good quality sleep each night. Children and teenagers need even more in order to function at their best. The best way to see if you’re getting enough is to monitor how you feel in the mornings – if you’re feeling energetic and alert all day, you’re probably getting enough. If you’re lethargic and struggling to focus, you may need to increase your hours. Just because you can function on seven hours, doesn’t mean that it’s the right amount for you – there is a good chance you would operate a lot better on a couple of hours more each night. It’s possible that many of us are sleep deprived and don’t realise – the signs are fairly subtle, so most people don’t spot them. If you struggle to wake up in the mornings, feel sluggish in the afternoon, get sleepy in warm rooms or in meetings, or get drowsy when driving or eating meals, you may be sleep deprived.
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