Sleeping Facts
- Get an adequate amount of sleep each night. Most adults need about 8 hours.
- Establish a regular sleep schedule. Going to bed and getting up at the same time every night is important to settling and stabilizing your internal clock. People with regular sleep schedule are more likely to avoid low levels of alertness and mood swings.
- Make up for lost sleep. Losing 1 hour of sleep per night for a week produces the same effect as staying awake for 24 hours and put you in “Sleep debt.” Sleep debt is cumulative, and needs to be paid back. Add a couple of hours of sleep each day until you have made up for lost sleep and try to do it by going to bed earlier rather than sleeping later so you’re able to wake up at the same time. If you are paying back your sleep take a nap everyday and don’t nap too long.
- Get a continuous sleep. To wake up feeling refreshed, you need to get a continuous and uninterrupted night sleep. Disruptive sleep won’t leave you feeling restored because your body won’t go through all the stages of sleep it needs, particularly, delta wave or R E M sleep. 6 hours of continuous sleep is actually better than 8 hours of fragmented sleep. Make sure your mattress is comfortable and provides proper support for you and your partner in order to limit tossing and turning and reduce sleep interruptions.
