You might wonder, exactly how much sleep should you be getting each night. The standard is 7-9 hours, but how do you know where you personally fall in that range? Watch this video.
Video by Better Than Yesterday
Key Takeaways
Recently I went for a cup of coffee with an old friend. And an interesting topic about sleep came up. I said that I sleep for almost 9 hours every single night.
My friend was shocked. He proudly said that he only gets 7 hours of sleep. I told him that if I don’t get enough rest, I feel sub-optimal throughout the day. He agreed that it’s important to get enough sleep and that he would never get less than he currently does.
However that got me thinking; “Could it be that I’m actually sleeping too much? Maybe he’s the one who’s sleeping too little? Or is it possible that we’re actually both sleeping enough?
You probably already know that sleep is good for you. If you don’t get enough of it on a daily basis, you face a massive amount of bad consequences.
- Ranging from mood swings, memory problems, poor concentration, weight gain, slow reaction time, feeling tired… The list goes on and on.
The funny thing is that most people are actually sleep deprived and already possess all these negative qualities. They just don’t know that they come from their lack of sleep.
One of the problems in today’s society is that we’re purposely getting less sleep than our bodies need. Usually it’s because we have to go to work, or go to school.
And this is bad, as we’re sacrificing our health in return. Because of that, getting enough sleep can be a huge hidden advantage for you.
Imagine having your brain function more efficiently than of those around you. That’s what the right amount of sleep will get you. Better mood, better focus, ability to think clearly etc.
But getting sufficient sleep for just one night isn’t enough. You need to get enough sleep every single night to reap these benefits.
Now you might be wondering, exactly how much sleep should you be getting. The standard prescription is 7-9 hours, but how do you know where exactly you personally fall in that range?
First you need to understand that you, as an individual, are completely unique. And the amount of sleep your body requires also depends on many different external factors. That means there isn’t an exact amount of sleep you should be getting, as the amount actually changes from day to day.
- You have probably been ill before. Did you get your recommended 7-9 hours of sleep during that time? Of course you did, but you also probably got more than that.
- When you’re ill, you let your body rest for however long it needs, so you can recover as soon as possible. You don’t let some arbitrary number dictate how much sleep or rest you need. You let your body determine that for you.
- We know that a human body needs more sleep after physical stress to fully recover. That means that if you’re exercising, playing any kind of sport or in general moving a lot, you need more sleep.
- We can clearly see that with professional athletes. Lebron James, a professional basketball player, has reported getting 12 hours of sleep. Roger Federer, a very successful tennis player, is also getting 11-12 hours. They understand that sleep is critical for their performance.
- Does the recommended 7-9 hours apply to them? Sure it does, but since they’re pushing their bodies to their limit, they need more than that to fully recover.
- But during their off season, when these athletes are not training as hard, they obviously don’t require 12 hours of sleep, and they get less than that amount.
7-9 hours is just a recommendation, not a personal prescription.
How do you find out how much sleep your body needs?
Sadly it’s impossible to know ahead of time. But there is one way to let your body get its optimal rest. And that is by waking up naturally without
an alarm clock.
No alarms. Being suddenly woken up by noise is not good for you.
- It causes high heart rate and high blood pressure. Also, your adrenaline comes rushing, making you stressed first thing in the morning. That’s not good and you don’t want that.
There are also 2 other issues that make alarm clocks horrible:
1. The amount of sleep you need is never exactly the same.
- If you don’t have any mental or physical stress during the day, your body requires a normal amount of sleep. About 7-9 hours.
- But let’s say if you had a stressful day at work, had an intense workout at the gym and ate a heavy carbohydrate meal a few hours before bed, your body will obviously require more rest. However your alarm doesn’t know that and will wake you up regardless, resulting in less sleep than your body requires.
2. The second issue with alarms is that: Your sleep is made out of sleep cycles.
- The average sleep cycle is around 90 minutes long and consists of REM and non-REM sleep. REM sleep is light sleep. This is where dreams occur and we usually toss and turn a bit.
- Non-REM sleep is basically deep sleep and you don’t want to be woken up during this period.
- When you let your body naturally wake up, you’ll be coming right out of REM sleep. If the alarm rings at this time, you’re lucky and you won’t feel as sluggish during the day.
- However if you’re woken up during non REM, you’ll definitely feel like garbage for the rest of the day, or until you mask your bad sleep with coffee or energy drinks.
- Your alarm doesn’t know whether you’re in REM or non-REM sleep. It will ring no matter what. So yeah, alarms suck.
One good substitute for a standard alarm is an app you can download on your phone called Sleep Cycle.
- It uses your smartphone’s microphone to detect your movement which helps determine which sleep stage you’re in. It will then try to wake you up softly when you are in the lightest possible sleep aka REM sleep.
- However just because you’re woken up in the REM stage, it still doesn’t mean you got enough sleep. Those are two completely different things. Still, this app is a much better alternative to a standard alarm.
- Try waking up without any kind of alarm for at least one week. See how it makes you feel. You’ll probably find out that you need more sleep than you’ve been getting. This is normal.
Sleep is more important to our health than exercise and diet, so you don’t want to sacrifice it for anything.
- Remember, you’re not lazy if you sleep more. No, it just means your body needs it.