What do you envision a good night’s sleep?
Often when people come to our sleep clinic for treatment, they share thoughts about healthy sleep.
Many people think that as soon as their head hits the pillow, they should fall into a deep and restful sleep, and wake up feeling refreshed about eight hours later. They’re in good company – many Australians believe the same.
In fact, healthy sleep is cyclical throughout the night, as you go in and out of different stages of sleep, often waking up multiple times. Some people remember one or more of these awakenings, others do not. Let’s consider what a healthy night’s sleep looks like.
Adults typically go through five or six sleep cycles a night, and it’s completely normal to wake up briefly at the end of each. This means we may wake up five times during the night. This can increase with increasing age and still remain healthy. It’s okay if you don’t remember these awakenings – they can be quite brief.
What does it really mean to get ‘good’ sleep?
You may often hear that adults need seven to nine hours of sleep per night. But good sleep is about more than the number of hours — it’s also about the quality.
For most people, good sleep means falling asleep soon after going to bed (within about 30 minutes), sleeping without waking up for long periods of time, and waking up feeling rested and ready for the day.
You shouldn’t feel excessively sleepy during the day, especially if you’re regularly getting at least seven hours of refreshing sleep at night (this is a general rule).
But are you finding that you are feeling physically tired, needing to take regular naps and still not feeling refreshed? It may be worthwhile to contact your general practitioner, as there are several possible causes.
general issues
Sleep disorders are common. Up to 25% of adults have insomnia, a sleep disorder where it may be difficult to fall or stay asleep, or you may wake up earlier in the morning than you’d like.
Rates of common sleep disorders like insomnia and sleep apnea — where your breathing may partially or completely stop several times during the night — also increase with age, reaching 20% in early adulthood and 40% in middle age. Are affected. Effective treatments exist, so it is important to seek help.
In addition to sleep disorders, our sleep can also be disrupted by chronic health conditions – such as pain – and certain medications.
There may be other reasons why we do not sleep well. Some of us are woken up during the night by noises from children, pets or traffic. These “forced wakings” mean we may find it harder to wake up in the morning, take longer to get out of bed and may feel less satisfied with our sleep. For some people, there may be no apparent reason for night awakenings.
A good way to tell if these awakenings are a problem for you is to think about how they affect you. When they create feelings of frustration or anxiety, or are impacting how we feel and function during the day, it may be a sign to seek some help.
We may also have difficulty getting up in the morning. This can happen for a number of reasons, including not sleeping long enough, going to bed or waking up at irregular times — or even your own internal clock, which changes the time your body prefers to sleep. Can affect.
If you’re struggling to get up regularly for work or family needs, it may be a sign that you may need to seek help. If some of these factors are causing concern, you may want to consult a sleep psychologist.
Can my smart watch help?
It’s important to remember that sleep-tracking devices can vary in accuracy for seeing different stages of sleep. Although they can give a rough estimate, they are not a perfect measurement.
In-laboratory polysomnography, or PSG, is the best standard measure to check your sleep levels. The PSG measures breathing, oxygen saturation, brain waves, and heart rate during sleep.
Rather than closely examining nightly data (including sleep stages) from a sleep tracker, it may be more helpful to look at your sleep patterns (times to sleep and wake up) over time.
Understanding your sleep patterns can help you identify and adjust behaviors that negatively impact your sleep, such as your bedtime routine and sleep environment.
And if you find that looking at your sleep data is making you feel anxious about your sleep, it may not be useful for you. Most importantly, if you are concerned it is important to discuss it with your GP who can refer you to an appropriate specialist sleep health provider.
Amy Reynolds, Associate Professor in Clinical Sleep Health, Flinders University; Claire Dunbar, Research Associate, Sleep Health, Flinders University; Gorica Micic, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Clinical Psychologist, Flinders University; Hannah Scott, Research Fellow in Sleep Health, Flinders University, and Nicole Lovato, Associate Professor, Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health, Flinders University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
