How to sleep less and live more

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

They say that you need to sleep at least eight hours. Otherwise, you ruin your health, turn into a twitchy psycho and lose touch with reality. We are ready to present an alternative point of view: you can sleep less and spend the free time on a happy and healthy life. How do you learn to do this?

You need to sleep at least eight hours - we have learned this axiom by heart. This is talked about from all sides and it is advised to adhere to this magic figure. But personally, such recommendations have always seemed a little strange to me. I am an owl, I love strong coffee, it is best to fall asleep late at night and wake up vigorous not at seven, but at ten in the morning. I sincerely tried to stick to a strict schedule, sleep eight hours and get up early. But as a result, I felt like a somnambulist and suffered unbearably.

It became clear to me that the eight-hour rule does not work for everyone. Seven hours is enough for me to sleep and feel great.

The vast majority of studies and articles insist on eight hours of sleep. But, perhaps, this figure is the influence of the development of civilization, and not biology. For example, if you study the data on the sleep of those who lived in the pre-industrial era, it turns out that the average duration of sleep is 5, 7-7, 1 hours a day.

Researchers are still trying to figure out how much time we need to spend sleeping. But it’s clear that it’s better not getting enough sleep than sleeping too long.

Less is Better

Professor Franco Cappuccio analyzed 16 sleep studies involving more than 1 million people. As a result, he found out: those who sleep for a long time die earlier than those who are always sleep deprived.

However, it is impossible to rely on this conclusion entirely. After all, it is quite difficult to track the effect of sleep on a person. Diseases and problems hidden from the eyes of doctors make themselves felt. For example, long sleep is associated with depression, and short sleep is associated with stress. But when Professor Shawn Youngstedt, realizing the disadvantages of experimenting with large groups, conducted his own study with 14 volunteers, he got the same results as Cappuccio.

Apparently, prolonged sleep in the long term has the same effect on a person as an inactive lifestyle.

Of course, someone will live happily ever after despite spending 12 hours at their desk. And someone needs a lot and often to train and engage in physical labor. To each his own.

If you are between 18 and 64 years old, you will most likely need about 6-11 hours of sleep. But even these recommendations based on scientific research should be secondary to you. Margaret Thatcher ruled the country, getting enough sleep in four hours, and some teens won't remember their names if they didn't get 10 hours of sleep without a break.

How much sleep do I need?

The sleep cycle has five stages: four stages of slow wave sleep and REM sleep. We rapidly go through the first stage, stay for a short time in the second, while the binaural beats slow down, move into the third and fourth stages of slow waves and, finally, reach the fifth stage - the phase of REM sleep.

It is believed that this cycle repeats every 90 minutes. But, apparently, its duration can vary from 70 to 120 minutes. In the same way as with the required amount of daily sleep, the duration of this cycle is unique and different for everyone.

But we know for sure that we need 4-5 such cycles to get enough sleep. Due to the fact that their durations vary, it is difficult to predict exactly when you will be, say, between the fourth and fifth cycles and when the ideal time for awakening will come.

But even that is not all: throughout the night, the duration of the cycles changes. It rises towards the middle of the night and falls towards the morning.

So what do you do with this knowledge?

1. Don't believe statements like "You need to sleep N hours a day." Unless it's a recommendation from a specialist who just gave you an electroencephalogram.
2. Get a minimal technique that tracks your sleep cycles and wakes you up at the perfect time in the morning.

Technology is the only surefire way to track, control, and understand your sleep cycles. But before you learn how to do this, you need to figure out why it is needed at all.

Listen to your inner rhythms

Modern technology is one of the main reasons why we stop feeling our own internal clock. Gadgets, electronics, street lighting and all other objects that give off light disrupt our circadian rhythms and sync with dusk and dawn.

Circadian rhythms are controlled by a group of cells that stimulate the body's response to light signals. They send a message to the brain and cause the body to wake up, raise the temperature, release necessary hormones (such as cortisol), and reduce the production of unnecessary ones (such as melatonin).

The problem is that we also react to artificial lighting. When you look at the bright screen of your smartphone at night, your body receives a signal: wake up and sing!

This is, of course, not only technology to blame. Other factors, such as noise, hormones, exercise, and stimulants, also have a similar effect and disrupt circadian rhythms.

But there is good news as well. For over 6 million years, our ancestors learned to get up at dawn and fall asleep at sunset. This means that in order to restore the disturbed circadian rhythms, we need very little effort. You just need to avoid annoying factors. Electric lighting, for example, or light from a monitor.

Take care of this. Do not exercise before bed, stop drinking coffee at night. Buy good earplugs and an eye mask. Finally, turn your bedroom into a place to relax, namely - for a deep, restful sleep.

Monitor your sleep

Finding a sleep monitoring gadget is easy. The market is filled with similar devices for almost any budget.

Or you don't have to buy a new device, but install a good sleep tracking app. We liked the Sleep Cycle program. It uses a smartphone accelerometer and microphone to track your sleep, movement and breathing.

Of course, you can try other apps or gadgets as well. The main thing you need to do is understand how you sleep and how long sleep cycles last.

Abstract advice in the spirit of "sleep more" and "get enough sleep" have no basis. After all, no one knows exactly how much time you need to recover. Only you know how your body works.