Do you get enough sleep? Is the sleep that you get good quality?

Quality versus Quantity

When considering the amount of time that you spend sleeping, you have to consider both the QUALITY and QUANTITY.

The QUANTITY of the time that you spend sleeping is pretty self-explanatory; it refers to how many hours you actually spend sleeping.   The National Sleep Foundation suggests that the average adult get seven to nine hours of “shut eye.”   On the other hand, the average teenager has a higher recommendation, at eight to 10 hours.   Seniors need a little less, with a recommended quantity of seven to eight hours spent sleeping.

The QUALITY of the time that you spend sleeping pertains to the caliber of the “shut eye” that you are experiencing.   The QUALITY of our sleeping hours is just as, or maybe even more important, than the QUANTITY of the time that we spend sleeping because low quality, interrupted sleep doesn’t provide sufficient benefits.  

Quality of sleep can be impacted by many factors, some of which you can control and some that you can’t control.   For instance, interruptions such as a barking dog, police siren, or child may wake you in the middle of the night and disrupt your slumber.

High quality, uninterrupted time asleep is the most beneficial.

 

Lack of sleep can have IMPORTANT consequences.   Some of the FIVE most noteworthy effects are…

1.  Impact on Weight Loss

An article published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (Chaput & Tremblay, 2012) and by the National Institute for Health (Knutson, 2012) found that insufficient time asleep can stimulate the brain’s desire for food.   As a result, a tired person may desire more food than a person who has spent an adequate time sleeping.  

2.  Impact on Learning Capacity

Other studies, published in the Sleep Medicine Reviews Journal (Curcio, Ferrara, & De Gennaro, 2006) found that both inadequate quality and quantity of sleep can impact both learning capacity and academic performance. Their studies showed that poor outcomes occurred in students who had disconnected rest, later bedtimes, and earlier wake-ups.  Specifically, these students had poor academic performance and decreased neurological functioning.

Another study (Arzi, et al, 2012) published in Nature Neuroscience even found we may actually be able to learn new information while asleep.

3.  Impact on Motor Skills

A study published in the Journal of SleepMedicine showed that sleeping helps a person learn a new fine-motor skill or perform better at a previously learned motor skill.

4.  Impact on Memory

Adequate sleep has been shown to contribute to the plasticity of the brain (Marquet, 2001).  As a result, a person who spends sufficient time sleeping can benefit from improved memory retention.  For instance, one study conducted by the Harvard Medical School showed sleeping is vital for memory. In fact, it showed that sleep may actually strengthen your memory.

5.  Impact on Creativity

A study published in the Journal of Sleep Research found that participants with adequate sleep were more creative and even better able to select their most creative idea.

 

Sean Stephenson and Sleep

Sometimes, the QUALITY of our slumber is interrupted because of our own habits and behaviors.

Shawn Stephenson, author of the book Sleep Smarter: 21 Proven Tips to Sleep Your Way to a Better Body, Better Health and Bigger Success and host of the highly acclaimed Model Health Show Podcast, identified many self-inflicted causes of low quality sleeping in his book.   They include:

• Having caffeine late in the day
• Staying up too late
• Sleeping in a room that is the incorrect temperature
• Sleeping in a lit, or partially lit, room
• Consuming alcohol before bed
• Watching the screen at night

I highly recommend reading Stephenson’s book  if you are interested.   It is a short, yet informative, read.

 

Blue light?  What’s the big deal?

Personally, I found Stephenson’s discussion on the negative impact blue light has on sleep fascinating.   In his book, he explains that the blue light emitted by our electronic devices triggers our bodies to produce more daytime hormones (like cortisol).  He also points out that this blue light disrupts our body’s natural preparation for sleeping.

Ideally, we should avoid exposure to the blue light about an hour before bed time.   In addition, we should try to keep electronics out of the bedroom entirely since their existence can have an impact even if you think that they don’t.  (Stephenson suggests going back to an old-fashioned alarm clock or an alarm clock with red light.)

However, there are technologies available to reduce the negative impact of blue light if you insist on using the devices until you are ready to go to sleep, or still want to use your phone as your alarm clock,   They include:

• Blue light blocking eyeglasses or mobile device screens
• Using a program like f.lux (Mac and iOS), NightShift (iOS) or Twilight (Android) app to change the blue light to red  (I have a friend who uses Twilight because she likes to read ebooks before bed.)

 

Inadequate Sleep Can Prevent You from Achieving many of Your Goals

Whatever your goal, sleep have IMPORTANT consequences that can impact your achieving your goals.   After all, insufficient time asleep has been shown to negatively impact weight loss, learning, motor skills, memory, and creativity.

In other words, GET ADEQUATE SLEEP if you want to meet your goal.  It can directly or indirectly help you to:

• lose weight
• go back to school or finish school
• start a business
• improve your relationship
• find a job that you love
• improve your health
• etc..

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Arzi, A., Shedlesky, L., Ben-Shaul, M., Nasser, K., Oksenberg, A., Hairston, I. S., & Sobel, N. (2012). Humans can learn new information during sleep.Nature neuroscience, 15(10), 1460-1465.

Chaput, J. P., & Tremblay, A. (2012). Adequate sleep to improve the treatment of obesity. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 184(18), 1975-1976.

Curcio, G., Ferrara, M., & De Gennaro, L. (2006). Sleep loss, learning capacity and academic performance. Sleep medicine reviews, 10(5), 323-337.

Knutson, K. L. (2012). Does inadequate sleep play a role in vulnerability to obesity?. American Journal of Human Biology, 24(3), 361-371.

Laureys, S., Peigneux, P., Perrin, F., & Maquet, P. (2002). Sleep and motor skill learning. Neuron, 35(1), 5-7.