Ahh, sleep. We spend a third of our lives in bed, and yet we know surprisingly little about what goes on once our heads touch the pillow and we slide into slumber for (ideally) the next eight hours.
Not that there aren’t plenty of myths around it. From the importance of repaying our ‘sleep debt’ to the pernicious tale that cheese causes nightmares, the internet (and old wives’ tales) abound with false wisdom about how to optimise your down-time.
With World Sleep Day upon us, what better time to debunk some of the most pernicious sleep myths, once and for all?
We all need eight hours
Surprisingly, not all of us do. Eight hours is just an average: some people need seven, and some people need closer to nine. Margaret Thatcher famously got by on four (though this is not recommended). Pay attention to your body - the amount of sleep needed to feel your best varies wildly per person.
What’s most important is how many hours you get
You got eight hours of sleep – so why are you still so tired? Well, it’s not just how many z’s you catch that matters, it’s also about the quality of that sleep. People who wake up and stay awake multiple times over the course of the night suffer may end up being more tired than somebody who got an uninterrupted five hours.
You can train yourself to need sleep less
Sadly for parents, the answer to this is no. Though it’s possible to get used to sleeping fewer hours a night, the brain and body need just as much sleep as they always did – and in fact, studies have down that routine sleep deprivation can cause lasting harm can cause significant health risks, including a weakened immune system, depression and anxiety.
A warm room is key for nodding off
It makes sense when you hear it - it’s nice to be warm at night time, all snuggled up in bed, so surely the room should be warm too? Far from it: the optimal sleeping temperature is actually around 18 degrees, so make sure to prep your room ahead of bedtime to avoid waking up sweating in the middle of the night. Turn off the heating, close the windows and let the room cool down before snuggling under the blankets.
In fact, heat regulation is key whatever the season. In warmer weather, consider investing in some good quality linen bedding, which is good at adjusting to body temperature: cooling you down if you’re too hot, and doing the opposite when it gets colder.
Cheese gives you nightmares
It’s time to restore the reputation of the humble cheddar block: cheese will not give you nightmares. However, it’s important to note that eating a lot before bed will. That’s because, in the hours after you have a meal, your body will be working hard and diverting a lot of its energy resources into digesting food, which interferes with the sleep cycle and could keep you awake and restless. Plus, that uncomfortably full sensation always makes it hard to drop off.
You need to catch up on all the sleep you’ve missed
Good news for those who regularly miss out on catching all their z’s: sleep debt is actually less extortionate than one might expect. We don’t actually need to repay our lost sleep on an hour-for-hour basis; in fact, according to studies on sleep deprivation, it’s estimated that we actually only need to make up about a third of our lost hours. Even better, when we do fall into an exhausted sleep, the sleep tends to be deeper and better quality than on an average night. Though of course, getting the full eight is still preferable.
