There are no identical people, so the requirements for the quality and quantity of sleep vary considerably. Contrary to the generally accepted beliefs, there is no common for all and suitable for each “ideal” of its duration. Most adults sleep an average of seven to eight hours per night. However, some of them are able to feel able to work, having slept only four hours (according to the Lochboro University Sleep Center, only 1% of the population belongs to such lucky ones), while others need nine or ten hours of sleep. There can be no talk of general agreement or the golden rule. Sleep is absolutely – and supremely – individual. Maybe you need to sleep at night for six hours, and for someone else – the same sex, age, height and weight – you need eight hours. It is impossible to formulate or predict how the body finds a balance between the necessary and the actual duration of sleep. That is why you need to check how you really feel – physically and mentally – and not think about how you should feel. If you, having slept at night for five hours, feel exhausted (oh), this is reliable evidence that this is not enough. The body will not lie.
The way in which lack of sleep affects you is also individual. For ethical reasons relating to this area, sleep loss experiments were rarely performed. In the 50s and 60s of the last century, separate studies were carried out (which caused a lot of discontent regarding the risk to which the subjects were exposed), which illustrated how important sleep is. After a long sleep deprivation, the experiment participants experienced severe physical and emotional consequences – which is why a person’s sleep deprivation is considered to be a particularly sophisticated form of torture. To survive, we must sleep.
WHAT IS UNDERWATER?
Insomnia becomes a chronic problem if you do not sleep at least three times a week for a month. Body and mind are irritated at the moment when you are trying to fall asleep, which leads to cyclical lack of sleep, pessimistic thoughts and negative behavioral patterns.
The most common symptoms of insomnia are:
♦ The inability to fall asleep immediately, which is also known as “violation of sleep.” This is the most common problem associated with sleep. Some take a long time to fall asleep, but then they sleep soundly.
♦ Intermittent sleep, otherwise known as “midnight insomnia,” is the second common problem. Its characteristic feature is that a person often wakes up in the middle of the night and then hardly falls asleep again.
♦ Early waking in the morning and inability to fall asleep again.
♦ Poor sleep quality.
Some people sleep poorly, not resting – restlessly and impermanently. They feel irritated and tired, which makes it difficult to work normally the next day.
It is very important to exclude cases when these symptoms may be the result of taking any medications or diseases (for example, narcolepsy or general anxiety disorders).
Fortunately, you can take proactive steps to conquer everything: starting with regular, but sporadic, poor sleep – and ending with real insomnia.
Age, lifestyle, attitude to sleep – everything plays a role and affects how much time you should spend in bed.
Changing your own thoughts and feelings about sleep is the key to better sleep, regardless of whether sleepless nights happen occasionally, spend you sleepless week after week, or suffer from severe insomnia.