How Much Sleep Is Healthy?
By Carolin
Welcome back!
Maybe you like to watch TV until late at night. But you should think twice before you stay up late on a regular basis since getting enough sleep is crucial for a healthy life.
Only a small percentage of the population can live healthy lives on 5-6 hours of sleep in the long run.
Almost all humans need 7,5 – 8 hours of sleep each night. If you get less sleep one night you need to fill up another.
Most people are standard sleepers they sleep best from about 10:30 pm or 11:30 pm to 6:30 am or 7:30 am.
A small percentage of us are larks. They have an inborn tendency to go to bed early and wake up early. Larks feel comfortable going to between 9 and 10 pm and waking up between 5 and 6 am.
Some people are owls who prefer to go to bed late and sleep late. Most teens fall in this category.
Teens go through very rapid changes in their growth and development. Despite what we might think teens actually have a sleep/wake rhythm which promotes going to bed around midnight and waking up at 9 am or later.
Sufficient sleep promotes:
- alertness and performance
- memory
- concentration
- creativity
- good health
And sleep deprivation does the opposite..
Some people need 9-10 hours of sleep on a regular basis. But the need for this much sleep can be a sign that something is wrong. Many people with sleep apnea or depression are long sleepers.
Image by obo-bobolina.
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I always go to sleep between 1 – 4 AM. I think i need to sort it out. Will be interesting to see if sleeping earlier causes and changes.
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Getting a good night’s sleep is beneficial to how you feel on your average day.
If you think that you are not getting enough sleep to function then you should try going to bed earlier and see if you feel any better.
When I sleep at least 8 hours per night I feel healthy, but if I’m eating before to go to bed, I can sleep only 5-6 hours and I feel healthy and full of energy.
That’s interesting!
What do you eat then?
Hi Carolin,
Usually I’m eating fruits with high content of carbohydrates such as apples, pears, bananas or grapes, and yogurt. This combination give me good results.
Hi Robert,
The calcium and magnesium is yoghurt and banana can help your body relax and fall asleep faster. I regular eat a banana before going to bed. I never noticed that it let me sleep less.
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But I have small kids so I’m continously sleep deprived
I strongly feel 8 hours of sleep is the standard time to be healthy.
Sleep quality is quite an important factor to our overall health, which is known by all of us. While seldom anyone follows the suggested lifestyle in the modern city now. The night life seems more vivid than the days and we don’t leave enought time for our body to have a good rest for the next day’s work or study. I have shared my views on sleeping quality in my own blog titled: the less time you sleep, the shorter you live with the link: http://www.garden-mind.com/2009/05/the-less-time-you-sleep-the-shorter-you-live/
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[...] Always get enough sleep. Most of the time, dark circles appear when you weren’t able to get sufficient rest or [...]