What constitutes a "good" sleep?

I know I promised to share some tips on how to improve sleep, but first what constitutes a good sleep? 🤷‍♀️

Sleep definitely falls into the “quality versus quantity” basket. 

Without diving in too deep – there are 4 main phases of sleep which our body cycles through several times during a night. The most relevant of these for the purposes of this discussion, is deep sleep and REM sleep. 🧠

Deep sleep is the most restorative phase of our sleep cycle. It is when our body repairs and grows. Our brain undergoes a “deep clean”, flushing out toxins built up during the day. Not surprisingly then deep sleep is seen as a key driver of how refreshed you feel upon waking. This phase tends to occur for longer periods during the first half of the night. 

REM sleep is also very important. It stimulates learning, and together with deep sleep, is associated with memory consolidation and recall. It also tends to be when most of our dreaming occurs. As we age, REM sleep often becomes shorter.

Ok so this is all good, but still confused on how much you need? 🤔

In terms of overall sleep - adults should ideally aim for around seven to nine hours per night. Whilst children and teenagers will naturally require longer. In respect to deep and REM sleep, it varies a lot individually. However, as a gauge – we want to aim for around 1.5-2 hours of both deep and REM sleep a night. Many things impact this part of our sleep – which is what I will share later with you all.

Lastly, here are some quick questions you can use daily to help you assess whether you had a good night’s sleep? 

o   Did you fall asleep within 30 minutes?

o   Did you wake up no more than two times during the night?

o   If you did wake, did you fall back to sleep easily within 20 minutes?

o   Did you sleep for longer than 7 hours?

o   Did you wake up feeling refreshed?

o   Did you find it easy to apply yourself mentally and stay alert during the day?

 If yes to most of these, then you don’t need me 😂... you are totally on the right track! 👍

 More to follow!

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352721816301309?via%3Dihub