One in three Americans report not getting enough sleep each night. Daily stress, social media scrolling and sacrificing sleep in pursuit of free time are significant sources of sleep deprivation. While getting enough rest is important to your health, sleep quality is just as vital.
By learning about the differences between sleep quality and quantity, you can take control of your evening routine and make the changes necessary for a good night's sleep.
Is Sleep Quantity or Quality More Important?
Most adults between the ages of 18 and 64 need between seven to nine hours of sleep a night. Adults who get less than this amount of sleep a night generally have more health problems than those who get enough sleep. As you can see quantity is important. But, getting high-quality sleep quality is equally essential.
Measuring Sleep Quality: What It Means To Sleep Well
The amount of time you spend lying in bed means very little if your sleep quality is poor. It's relatively easy to measure sleep quantity but more challenging to assess sleep quality. Generally, when studying sleep quality, you are measuring the following:
- Sleep latency - How many minutes it takes for you to fall asleep after settling into bed. Normal sleep latency for most people is about ten to twenty minutes.
- Wakefulness - How long you spend awake throughout the night after first falling asleep.
- Sleep efficiency - More time in bed is spent sleeping instead of trying to sleep.
- Sleep quantity - How long you spend sleeping.
Sleep timing - How well your sleep patterns reflect your natural internal clock. - Alertness during waking hours - You feel well-rested and have the cognitive capacity to tackle your daily tasks.
- Sleep satisfaction - Your level of satisfaction with how much sleep you get
Poor sleep contributes to many preventable health problems, including depression, obesity, diabetes, stroke, hypertension, and heart attack. Some people have a hard time prioritizing sleep, but inadequate sleep can negatively impact your health, safety and work performance.
Understanding the Stages of Sleep
Your sleep is broken into several stages every night, and you cycle through them at least four to six times. Each stage is important in determining how refreshed you feel the next day. The stages are organized into two types of sleep: non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
- Stage 1 (NREM) - During the first stage, your brain slows down, your body relaxes and you enter sleep. This should only take a few minutes.
- Stage 2 (NREM) - You spend half your night in this deeper stage. During stage 2, your heart rate and body temperature drop while your brain restores neural networks and consolidates memories.
- Stage 3 (NREM) - This is the deepest stage of sleep, during which your brain gets to work repairing damaged tissue. Your body also conducts necessary repairs to muscles or bones.
- Stage 4 (REM) - This stage is when REM (rapid eye movement) sleep takes place. Your brain activity increases, producing vivid memories while facilitating memory and learning processes.
Each stage of sleep is vital for maintaining your physical and cognitive health. Without cycling through them enough times, your memory and problem-solving skills are impacted. To improve cognitive function and overall health, you must receive the right amount of high-quality sleep overall (7-9 hours for adults) and spend adequate time in each stage of sleep.
How a Poor Night's Sleep Impacts Your Health
While most people experience a restless night or two, what happens if you are continuously sleep-deprived? Not getting enough sleep on a regular basis can significantly impact your well-being. Following are some of the consequences associated with lack of quality sleep:
- Increased daytime fatigue, which impacts both productivity and your safety (increases the risk of accidents).
- Diminished cognitive function makes it harder to focus, concentrate and remember things.
- Emotional regulation becomes difficult, increasing feelings of frustration, irritability, anger or stress.
- Your immune system doesn't function as well as it should, increasing your susceptibility to viruses and colds.
- Lack of sleep negatively impacts your skin and hair health.
- Over time, you may suffer long-term impacts on your heart, increasing your risk of hypertension, heart disease and stroke.
- When you don't get enough sleep, there is a disruption in leptin and ghrelin hormone production, making it difficult to regulate hunger. This can lead to weight gain and obesity.
Quality and quantity of sleep directly impact your quality of life. A good night's sleep sets the foundation for mental and physical well-being and can mean the difference between staying healthy and dealing with potential long-term health consequences.
Making Better Sleep Your New Reality
Sleep hygiene consists of several things you can do to ease yourself into the evening and set yourself up for success. When creating your sleep hygiene schedule, you can include the following habits:
- Make a plan to wake up and go to sleep at the same time every day, even on the weekends. This helps keeps your circadian rhythm in check.
- Prepare for bed by following the same routine each night. Your routine can include brushing your teeth, following your skincare regimen and reading or journaling.
- Sleeping in a dark room is best for rest, but keeping a small nightlight on is okay.
If you've made a habit of endlessly scrolling through your phone at night, stop. Put it down and read or journal instead. - Ensure your thermostat is set to a cool, comfortable temperature, your bedsheets are comfortable and your mattress is supportive.
- If outside noise is a factor, consider getting a sound machine.
A sleep tracker like Pillow can also provide measurable sleep analysis data to determine how well you sleep at night. This information can help you decide whether your routine is working or you need to make adjustments.
For many people, making a few changes to their bedtime routine and managing stress levels is all they need to improve their sleep quality. If you continue having trouble sleeping, follow up with your doctor. They can help you determine if another underlying condition is the source of your sleep disruption and provide you with the right treatments or refer you to a sleep specialist so you can start sleeping better soon.
