Sleep 101: The Importance Of Sleep And How You Can Improve Yours Today!
“Happiness is waking up, looking at the clock and finding that you still have two hours of sleep left.” - Charles M. Schiltz
When we think of health & fitness, we tend to think about our diet and exercise regime. But is it time we focused more on sleep?
One-third of our life is spent sleeping, yet we often overlook good quality sleep. It was previously perceived thathaving the ability to survive on a small amount of sleep equated to strength and productivity; sleep was viewed as ‘wasted’ time. However, research proves that sleep is a crucial performance indicator and is required for physical, mental and emotional well-being.
Approximately 60 million US citizens suffer from difficulty sleeping. In the UK, it is 1 in 7 people.
Why is sleep so important?
Sleep plays an essential role in maintaining good health throughout your life. In children and adolescents, sleep helps to support growth and development. During sleep, your body helps to support healthy brain function and maintain your physical health. Quality sleep is proven to enhance memory and learning, enhance cognitive processing and reduce fear and anxiety. On the mornings when you have not had enough sleep, you can undeniably feel the difference. You will often feel sleepy throughout the day, more hungry, irritable and find your memory and cognition is negatively affected. More concerningly, on a long-term basis, inadequate sleep can increase your risks of chronic physical and mental diseases. It will also affect how well you work, learn, and interact socially.
Research has clearly demonstrated that disrupted or inadequate sleep can significantly impact health and well-being. Looking firstly at physical health: impaired sleep quality can lead to elevated blood pressure, high cholesterol, increased risk of myocardial infarction (heart attacks) and cardiovascular related mortality. Additionally, poor sleep results in higher levels of night time cortisol, which is our stress hormone. It also increases your glucose levels whilst reducing your insulin sensitivity. Consequently, inadequate sleep correlates with obesity, higher BMI (body mass index) and Type 2 Diabetes. In fact, recent research also highlights that poor sleep can increase the risk of developing cancer. Healthy sleep allows for DNA repair and the apoptosis (killing) of defective cells. If sleep is disturbed, the body’s ability to repair DNA reduces, which in turn may increase the risk of certain cancers. Furthermore, inadequate sleep has been proven to correlate with depression, seasonal affective disorder, premenstrual syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
How much sleep should I get per day?
There is no recognised objective test to recommend how much sleep an individual requires; however, general sleep recommendations for adults are 7-9 hours per day. For adolescents and children, this will vary depending on their age. Below you can find the recommended hours of sleep, including naps, for different ages.
For new-borns younger than 4 months, sleep patterns vary widely.
Babies 4 months to 1 year old should sleep between 12 and 16 hours per day.
Children 1 to 2 years old should sleep between 11 and 14 hours per day.
Children 3 to 5 years old should sleep between 10 and 13 hours per day.
Children 6 to 12 years old should sleep between 9 and 12 hours per day.
Teens 13 to 18 years old should sleep between 8 and 10 hours per day.
Sleep fitness regime
Take a look at our sleep fitness regime. Try and stick to all the advice in order to commence and maintain a healthy sleep agenda.
Stress
Only use the bedroom for sleep and sex; avoid working or using your laptop in your bedroom.
Stop working or doing any stimulating activities 90 minutes before bed.
Start settling down an hour before bed and include active relaxation. For example, have a bath/shower, try meditation or listen to relaxing music. Try and create a wind-down routine.
Establish a regular bedtime and waking time where possible.
Exercise and Environment
Keeping physically active throughout the day will improve sleep. Try and move at least every hour throughout the day, especially if your work is office-based.
Increase physical activity in the morning, late afternoon and early evening. However, you should avoid late evening exercise.
During the day, increase daytime exposure to sunlight – ideally outdoors.
Turn off or dim lights at least one hour before bed, especially blue light! Computer and laptop screens, flat-screen televisions, cell phones, and tablets all use LED technologies with high amounts of blue light.
Keeping comfortably warm increases peripheral vasodilatation which will aid in sleep. For instance, you can try warm bedding, night socks or even taking a bath or shower before you go to sleep.
Minimise noise and lights, even the digital display of alarm clocks and phones.
Dietary
Avoid high sodium (salt) food items, particularly at dinner.
Keep hydrated throughout the day.
Avoid alcohol within 3 hours of bed.
Avoid after dinner/late night snacking.
Eliminate night time caffeinated beverages.
If struggling with sleep, also limit daytime caffeinated beverages.
Try and see if you can improve your sleep by following some of the above tips and keep a record to see how you do! If you struggle with sleep, it is important to go and see your doctor as there may be other causes that need to be reviewed.
References
Kelly. J & Clayton, J.S. (2021) Foundations of Lifestyle Medicine, Board Review Manual, 3rd Edition, American College of Lifestyle Medicine.
Worley S.L. (2018) The Extraordinary Importance of Sleep. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6281147/
Suni. E & Vyas. N. (2022) How Much Sleep Do Babies and Kids Need? The Sleep Foundation. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/children-and-sleep/how-much-sleep-do-kids-need
