How to Sleep at Night Part III

Photo by sfllaw

This post is a continuation of How to Improve Your Sleep.  It is the third in a 3 part series.  Here I will explore optimum sleep time, waking, and sleep debt.

How Long You Sleep is Important

I have spent my entire life going to bed when I feel like it and waking up when I need to be up.  I never gave much thought to how long I should sleep.  8 hours is the suggested average, and I strive for between 6-8 hours most of the time.  Getting a solid 8 hours isn’t actually wrong, but it isn’t necessarily optimal either.  You see, you body sleeps in 90 minute cycles.  This is the time it takes for your brain to cycle through the different brainwave patterns and return to it’s original early sleep state.

Because you sleep in 90 minute cycles, 8 hours of sleep isn’t actually optimal.  An optimal night of sleep would be one where you sleep through entire 90 minute cycles, as it is much easier to wake from the light sleep at the beginning and end of a cycle.  Studies have shown that just waking in the middle of a sleep cycle can create massive daytime drowsiness and that sluggish feeling we often feel when we wake up in the morning.

It is for this reason, it’s best to set your alarm t0 buzz around the end of a sleep cycle.  Since a sleep cycle ends every hour and a half, you would want to allow yourself 6, 7.5 or 9 hours of sleep to wake between cycles feeling rested and ready for the day.  I personally prefer to get between 6 and 7.5 hours of sleep each night.  I didn’t used to use an alarm, rather I would fall asleep at around midnight to 1:30 and wake up around 7:30 am naturally.  This is the time my bio rhythm is used to, and even still I feel best if I follow this schedule.  Remember when you set your alarm to allow yourself time to fall asleep.  This way you make sure that the alarm goes off at the break between sleep cycles.

Alarm Clocks

As I mentioned a moment ago, I rarely used an alarm until recently.  That being said, I have found that I hate the sound of an alarm waking me up in the morning.  In Fact, studies have shown that waking to a buzzing alarm can cause daytime drowsiness and lead to feeling sluggish in the morning.  One thing I would suggest is to get a CD or MP3 alarm clock and wake to soft music that you enjoy.  This wakes you up easier, and if you enjoy the music, starts the day off much more joyfully.  I personally like to start the day with something smooth and Jazzy, I usually use Keiko Matsui or some rock that I really love if I want to start the day out fast.  Choose some of your favorite music, put it in the player and try it out.  Set a regular alarm to go off 5 minutes later as a back up.  This way if you sleep through the music, you’ll still get that annoying buzzing to get you out of bed.

Sleep Debt

I used to talk about sleep debt to my friends, I especially mentioned it while working nights and taking care of my kids, but people continuously told me it doesn’t exist.  Anybody who has pulled all nighters or stayed up late with a crying baby, or stayed up late for any reason can attest that sleep debt is very real, and it can and will take its toll on your body very quickly.  The more sleep debt you wrack up, the more your body feels it, and the sicker and more tired you will get.

That being said, there are still going to be occasions where you will be required to burn the midnight oil.  When you do this, it’s a good idea to add an extra cycle to your sleep schedule for a few days until you feel rested again.  Not only will this help you recover sleep debt, but it will help your mental clarity, creativity and increase your physical energy.  I have found that when recovering sleep debt, I often find myself at my most creative because of the extra rest I’m getting each night.  So if you are forced to cut hours of sleep from your schedule, make sure you make up for that lost time as quickly as possible.

In our society, it seems that not sleeping well is the norm and losing sleep is rewarded, but you owe it to yourself to get a good night sleep.  You will be much more useful to yourself, your employer, your family and everybody you come into contact with each day.  You deserve to sleep well each night, so make some changes so that you assure that you will.

For more information on how you can sleep better every night, check out Kacper Postawski’s Powerful Sleep.

I hope this finds you well,

Ryan M Hall

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