Night rest is a vital necessity for every person. People may not sleep for very long; after only five to seven days, harmful processes begin to occur in the body, which can even cause death. Resting at night is even more important than eating. How many hours should an adult sleep? How to prepare for bed? What are the consequences of lack of sleep? The answers to all these questions can be obtained by reading this article.

Sleep standards with a table of age-specific sleep norms

How much sleep do you need? Each age category of people has its own norm. Surely many people know that an adult’s nightly rest time is approximately 8 hours a day. Many scientists confirm that children need much more time to rest properly, while older people need approximately 7 hours or less to wake up refreshed. Many studies have been conducted to answer the question: how much sleep do adults and children need? Here is a table that shows the number of hours of sleep per day for each category of people:

1. Infants – about 15-16 hours.
2. Children under one year old – 13-14 hours.
3. Children 1-2 years old – 12-13 hours.
4. Children under 5 years old – 10-12 hours.
5. Schoolchildren – 9-11 a.m.
6. Boys and girls 14-17 years old – 8-10 hours.
7. Youth 18-25 years old – 8-9 hours.
8. People 26-65 years old – 7-9 hours.
9. Elderly people over 65 years old – 7-8 hours or less.

These are just approximate figures showing what the standard sleep norm is for an adult and a child. However, in each individual case and each individual person may have their own characteristics of the body that affect sleep time, so the above norm may not be indicative for different people. For example, Napoleon slept only 4 hours, and Einstein spent more than 10 hours every day on night rest.

Sleep phases

There are different phases of falling asleep and sleep phases. Each cycle usually takes approximately one and a half hours. Being in one cycle, a person alternates between slow and fast sleep phases. And before you fall into deep sleep, there is also a phase of falling asleep. For each of us, the slow-wave sleep phase takes much longer than the fast sleep phase. Typically, the slow-wave sleep phase takes about 1.5 hours, and while in the REM sleep phase, a person spends from 2 to 30 minutes. Thanks to modern technologies, doctors and scientists have divided the nighttime rest of adults into 5 separate phases, in each of which the brain is in a certain state:

1. Drowsiness phase or zero phase.
2. Falling asleep phase.
3. Not very deep sleep when the brain is affected by sigma waves.
4. and 5. Phases of slow sleep, when a person is in the slow sleep phase, he sleeps the deepest; in these two phases delta waves are called to appear. NREM sleep cycles account for approximately 75% of the total night's rest. In this phase, a person begins to breathe less often, his heartbeat decreases, there is practically no eye movement, and the muscles completely relax. It is in the slow-wave sleep cycle that a person becomes healthier, his cells and tissues are rehabilitated, and the energy spent during the working day is restored.

Research on how sleep affects humans

Scientists have conducted many different studies on the impact of rest at night on human health and well-being; as a result of these studies, the following conclusions were obtained:

• A lack of sleep time leads to a person’s memory being impaired and deteriorating. Experiments were carried out with bees; their rest period was deliberately violated; as a result, they began to get lost in space; none of the bees was able to repeat the flight route that the bees had studied the previous day. Therefore, non-compliance with the norm of sleep time causes mental retardation, slow reaction and deterioration in the perception of the surrounding world and various events;
• As a result of lack of sleep, appetite increases. Many scientists have confirmed this fact, studies have shown that if you don’t sleep enough, stress arises, very similar to that which appears in an overtired or under-rested person, and because of stress, people begin to eat more, obesity occurs;
• A lack of adequate sleep, when there is not enough normal, proper rest, reduces creative abilities. Often, in a dream, people come to understand some problems or resolve difficult life situations. For example, Mendeleev saw a system of chemical elements in a dream;
• If you turn on a bright light in the room in the evening, then because of this a person falls asleep later, his sleep phases become shorter, and this often causes early awakening.

Scientists have found that lack of sleep causes irritability and stress, and due to constant stress, a person gradually develops depression - a dangerous disease that must be treated.

Sleep deficiency – how does it accumulate?

If a person does not comply with age-specific sleep standards and sleeps less than required, then a sleep deficit accumulates in the body, leading to a decrease in performance. If you sleep little every day during the week, and sleep on the weekends, spending a couple more hours resting at night, then your strength will not be fully restored. A person will want to sleep, he will be tired and overwhelmed, because the lack of sleep will only decrease for a couple of hours, and will not disappear completely.
An adult should rest at night 8 hours a day, and he sleeps for 6 hours, then every day the lack of sleep accumulates for 2 hours. After 5 days, this deficit will be 10 hours, and this debt must be paid back to your body, either immediately or gradually. If you do not compensate for this time, then it is impossible to feel completely rested, alert and full of energy.

How to get ready for bed

In many ways, the duration of sleep depends on how a person prepares for it. To fall asleep quickly and sleep soundly, you need to adhere to the following recommendations:

• Before going to bed, don't eat too much. Dinner should be three to four hours before the night's rest. In addition, it is better not to eat fatty and high-calorie foods at night;
• when it’s time to sleep, it is advisable to take a contrast shower, thanks to which you can relieve the tension and fatigue that has accumulated during the working day;
• there is no need to watch disturbing news; it is advisable to turn off the TV, computer and Internet at night;
• before going to bed, for some time (15-20 minutes) you need to open the windows wide in the bedroom to ventilate it; thanks to the fresh air, you can fall asleep very quickly, sleep soundly and wake up refreshed;
• so that there is no shortage of night rest, you need to sleep in a dark and quiet room;
• You can fall asleep faster thanks to a relaxing massage of the cervical and lumbar spine, and you can also massage your feet;
• It is better to sleep without clothes, naked;
• You should not allow yourself to worry or worry in the evening, because worries greatly interfere with falling asleep and cause insomnia;
• At night you can drink a soothing herbal tea based on valerian, mint, lemon balm and motherwort.

What to eat before bed

Sleep deficiency often occurs due to the fact that a person takes the wrong food at night. During the day, you need to properly plan your diet and leave light, low-calorie foods for the evening meal. It is worth remembering that you should not go to bed hungry, because this can be harmful to your health and will cause you to wake up early.
At night, it is advisable to eat dishes and foods that do not burden the stomach and intestines. Nutritionists and doctors advise eating vegetable salads, various seafood, egg dishes, chicken dishes at night, and fermented milk products are also an excellent option.

How much sleep do you need to wake up refreshed?

Many people sleep long enough but do not get enough sleep. How much sleep to wake up refreshed? If an adult gets 8 hours of rest at night, he gets a good night's sleep. But if rest is interrupted, for example, because the alarm clock rings very early, then most likely the person will be lethargic and tired. The best time for a healthy awakening is the rapid phase of sleep, when a person dreams.
How much sleep does an adult need? In order to wake up refreshed, and also to avoid a lack of rest, you need to correctly calculate the norm. You need to aim for 4.5 hours, 6 or 7.5 hours of night rest. That is, for example, if a person went to bed and fell asleep at 23:00, in order to feel cheerful during the day, he needs to wake up either at 3:30 in the morning, or at 5 in the morning, or at 6:30 in the morning. Often, even if you don’t set an alarm for this time, the body wakes up on its own during these hours, when the REM sleep phase comes to an end.

What often leads to lack of sleep?

If a person's sleep duration is insufficient for a long time, this will certainly affect his health and well-being. Chronic lack of sleep leads to:

• weakened immunity;
• the appearance of heart diseases;
• low performance;
• weight gain;
• chronic insomnia;
• frequent depression;
• decreased concentration, vision, and memory.

When a man sleeps less than normal, he produces insufficient testosterone. Because of this, a man loses stamina and strength, his fat deposits increase, and prostatitis appears. When a person has little time left for night rest, and rarely gets to sleep during the day, irritability, groundless outbursts of anger arise, blood pressure increases, and the functioning of the digestive system is disrupted. Sleep deficiency is a very dangerous problem, leading to disruption of biological rhythms, swelling and severe fatigue, which requires the help of a specialist doctor.

Is long sleep beneficial?

Long-term sleep, when a person sleeps several hours more than normal, leads to various problems, such as:

• headaches, pain in the spine;
• obesity;
• weakness, depression;
• cardiovascular diseases.

Is it harmful for an adult to sleep a lot? Yes, because because of this he will be tired all the time, the body’s biorhythms will be disrupted. Scientists say that prolonged sleep (9-10 hours a day or more) leads to hormonal imbalances and even reduces life expectancy!

How to learn to wake up early?

There can be many reasons for waking up early; if you wake up early, you can have time to do a lot more things. In addition, performance is much better in the morning than in the evening. How to wake up early? Necessary:

• do not go to bed too late in the evening, preferably at 22:00, a little later is possible;
• sleep in a room that is neither cold nor hot, the temperature should be about 20-22 degrees;
• It is advisable to set the alarm clock at a certain distance from yourself, which must be overcome to turn it off;
• ask friends or relatives to call early;
• after waking up early, you need to take a shower, drink coffee, and preferably do exercises;
• In order for early rising to become a habit, you need to wake up in the morning at the same time for 10-15 days.

Should you sleep during the day?

Is sleeping during the day beneficial for an adult? This is directly related to night rashes. If you go to bed very late, it will be useful to take a short nap during the day. Daytime rest should be light and not very long, 15-20 minutes is enough for the body to switch off and reboot, but not have time to go into a period of slow-wave sleep. You should not sleep during the day longer than this time.
Should you sleep during the day? It is necessary, but such rest should be additional rest. Waking up during the day will be quick and easy, only when the body has not had time to understand that it is sleeping. But if a person sleeps for 40 minutes or more during the daytime, it will be much more difficult for him to get up, he will be broken and tired, because the body will have time to go into the slow-wave sleep phase.
If you can afford to sleep longer during the day, then you need to go through a period of slow rest, after which you can easily wake up. To go through this phase, you need to sleep for about an hour and a half during the day. However, this is not a rule for everyone, because each body is individual, and besides, the duration of night rest has a significant impact on daytime rest.

How much sleep do you need?

Each of us is a unique personality, so each of us has our own night's rest. Everyone needs to determine this norm through trial and error and then adhere to it. How much sleep do you need per day? You need to rest at night as much as your body requires in order to wake up well-rested. The average statistical norm is 2-9 hours a day. However, if you want to sleep more than 12 hours a day, you need to consult a doctor.
How much time does a person need to sleep? There are experts who believe that a person wants to sleep more than is actually necessary; it is enough to sleep about five hours a day and feel great. But whether to listen to the opinion of these experts or not is a personal matter for everyone. Lack of sleep can negatively affect health and even human life expectancy. Therefore, it is better not to cut down on your night's rest.

For many years, doctors and scientists have been debating what the normal duration of sleep is for a person. For a long time it was believed that it was an eight-hour rest that maximally restored strength in the body. But in recent years, not everyone agrees with this.

Sleep is a very complex phenomenon. And the duration of sleep is far from the only factor that affects a person’s well-being. Continuity of sleep, the presence of sleep phases, and the emotional state with which a person falls asleep are very important.

Nature of sleep

Sleep is considered to be the mechanism that is capable of translating all the events that happened to a person during the day or simply experienced in life into a form convenient for analysis. This is a peculiar function of the brain, with the help of which the body tries to build all experiences and emotions into a single correct chain. And at the same time, physical strength is restored.

Scientists have proven that if we sleep less than 8 hours, a special protein accumulates in the blood - amyloid, which destroys the walls of blood vessels and affects connective tissue, causing heart disease.

As a rule, in a dream a person is disturbed by those moments that the subconscious considers most important for the emotional state and life of a person. Sometimes a person himself does not understand why he dreams of some people or events that he does not think about at all and does not even remember. But the fact is that here the subconscious itself decides what is really important for a person.

Each of us needs to develop for ourselves the optimal duration and mode of rest. If a person is deprived of sleep, he will develop sleep deprivation psychosis, against the background of which pathologies develop in the form of hallucinations. Sometimes a person falls into a coma. In other words, the body simply begins to sleep in reality.

Duration of rest for people of different ages

As a rule, the more experiences and emotions a person experiences during the day, the more sleep he needs at night. This is the reason why babies and very young children sleep so much. But still, scientists have calculated the average number of hours of sleep for people of different ages. Let us consider all this in more detail, based on descriptions of such time periods.

The amount of sleep you need varies because the brain needs different amounts of time to recover at different ages.

Babies who are still breastfed should sleep approximately 14 to 16 hours a day. In this case, all sleep time is considered in total, since it is often not possible to put the child to sleep so that he sleeps continuously for many hours in a row. This is explained by the need for periodic, frequent feeding of the baby.

The average duration of night sleep for children aged one to two years is 10-11 hours. Long sleep times are explained by the fact that the child experiences many emotions throughout the day as he begins to explore the world around him. At the same time, he perceives everything new emotionally at first, so the rest should be appropriate.

When the baby gets a little older, he should sleep 12-13 hours. This applies to all children aged 2 to 6 years. This slight decrease in sleep duration is explained by the fact that the child learns about the world, but reacts to all new things less emotionally.

From 7 to 14 years, the duration of night sleep should be reduced even more - to 10 hours. Despite the fact that this age is characterized by increased physical activity of children, this time is quite enough for the body to fully rest and regain its strength.

From the age of 15, a child is already considered old enough, so scientists note that nighttime rest should be 7-8 hours a day. This also applies to all other people who have not yet turned 50 years old. The exception is for people who are sick. For them, the rest time should be increased so that the body can recover as much as possible in a short period.

For people over 50 years of age, the norm for healthy sleep is 5-8 hours a day. The reduction in sleep duration occurs due to the fact that in older age, processing the decreasing amount of new information no longer requires as many resources as before.

Rules for healthy sleep

In order not only to choose the optimal length of rest at night, but also to ensure healthy sleep, you need to adhere to a few simple rules.

They are absolutely the same for everyone, but if you do not forget about them, your health will always be normal.

First of all, you should learn to correctly determine for yourself the actual duration of sleep. In an adult, it consists solely of the number of hours of continuous sleep at night. Therefore, if a person believes that sleep begins from the moment he goes to bed, despite the fact that he can then read a book or watch TV, then this is wrong. Only the actual dream needs to be taken into account.

It is very important to determine how much sleep a person currently needs. Here we propose to conduct a small safe experiment. You should try for several days to go to bed when the body itself requires it. But at the same time, do not get up on the alarm clock, but when the body wakes up on its own. As practice shows, for most people after this experience, it is observed that the time of sleep required for complete rest of the body is approximately 1.5-2 hours more than the actual daily one.

If this is really the case, then you need to seriously think about increasing your actual sleep time on weekdays to the minimum required by the body. After all, a person’s performance usually increases by 30% if he sleeps as much as needed.

Don't lie in bed answering calls or emails. Also, don't watch TV in bed. The bed should be associated with sleep, not wakefulness.

Next, you should develop a rough schedule for yourself, according to which on weekdays you should try to go to bed and wake up at the same time. In the first two months, this may seem quite a difficult task, but after a while the body will completely synchronize with the new biological clock. As a result, your sleep will become healthier and more complete, it will be easy to fall asleep at the right time, and in the morning it will be easy to get up when you need to, even without an alarm clock.

It is important to ensure that you get uninterrupted sleep. After all, if a person constantly sleeps restlessly, then he will no longer be able to feel good throughout the day. This usually happens to older people who wake up many times during the night. And then during the day they are constantly in a half-asleep state.

But this can often be noticed in young people who are busy with nervous work or who have certain serious problems in their lives that cause strong feelings. To prevent this, you need to drink herbal teas and natural sedatives. This will help ensure healthy sleep.

Individual sleep duration

It is especially important to choose for yourself the individual optimal duration of rest. To do this, for 10-14 days you need to go to bed when your body requires it, and get up in the same way. You should record your clean sleep time every day.

After completing such a simple experiment, you should sum up the daily hours of sleep, and then divide it all by the number of days. This will create a constant that will show how much sleep is needed to feel normal during this particular period of life.

At a young age, it’s not even as important to go to bed at the same time as just to get proper rest. It may also happen that a person only needs 4 hours to rest. However, sleeping so little every day is also harmful. This must be compensated for by other days, such as weekends.

So, what should be the normal total sleep duration for an adult has now become quite clear. As for daytime, the duration of daytime sleep can be independently regulated by a person. But this only applies to those cases when the body simply requires a little extra rest.

It's no secret that the modern life rhythm of an ordinary person does not fit into a standard 24 hours. That is why, trying to accomplish everything planned in a day, we are constantly faced with a lack of time to sleep.

As a result, our body does not have time to restore its strength and properly rest. And then gradually various diseases, chronic illnesses, depressive states and other deviations from the normal functioning of all systems of the human body suddenly remind themselves of themselves.

If you are interested in the question of how little to sleep and get enough sleep, there are two options for getting out of the situation. You can find some time during the day for extra sleep. At the same time, it doesn’t matter what’s outside the window: morning or noon. Or try to replace quantity with quality, getting enough sleep during a short nap.

How much time should you spend sleeping?

Everyone is probably wondering how much sleep you need to get enough sleep. Thus, most doctors agree that the average person should sleep about 7-8 hours a day to regain strength.

Naturally, if it so happens that you only have five hours to sleep, everything will be, as they say, written in capital letters on your face. After all, hiding a lack of strength is simply unrealistic. But what can we say when the sleep lasted more than 10 hours, and you feel as if you never went to bed? The reason for the above was that the sleep was not deep enough, the body was not able to truly relax and restore its strength for the new day. In order to organize a proper holiday, you need to learn a few little tricks.

The correct daily routine and its positive effect on sleep

Following a proper daily routine and sleep pattern will answer the question of how to get enough sleep and feel great. In order for you to fall asleep quickly and have time to relax thoroughly, you need to go to bed and get up at the same time. At the same time, your body will adapt to this daily routine, and you will not waste extra hours on useless turning over in bed in dreams of quickly plunging into the arms of sleep. Moreover, when you go to bed, you can adjust to the time when it is easiest for you to wake up. We'll look at how to do this later.

Main phases of sleep

Even a schoolchild knows that human sleep goes through two main phases - fast and slow. For the first hour and a half we are in the fast phase. At this time, the person slowly falls asleep, the body gradually begins to relax, the body temperature drops and vital processes slow down. Then comes the phase of deep and slow sleep. It is at this time that you can regain your strength and truly relax. After all, all processes of brain activity freeze at this stage of sleep. It will last about 3 hours. And then everything will be repeated in a cyclical alternation of phases.

Based on this, you can find the answer to the question: “Why don’t I get enough sleep after 10 hours of sleep?” The dream was interrupted in the slow phase. And it’s best to wake up quickly, when it’s easier to wake up. So, doctors recommend getting six hours of sleep at night, and then taking a nap for an hour at lunchtime. It is then that you will always be full of strength and energy to implement all your daily plans.

Daily sleep biorhythms and daily routine

All people are unique, and that is why we are talking only about average studies and recommendations. But you should understand that there are always exceptions to the rules. As a result, not all people should take the words “get enough sleep at night” as a guide to action. In order to determine the optimal time for your biorhythm, you can conduct a small experiment.

You just need to try not to sleep for a long time. Then your body itself will begin to “pass out”, and what will be surprising is that this process is typical for a certain time of day. This moment is worth remembering, because this period of time is the best for your sleep.

Necessary conditions for quality sleep

Doctors recommend creating the necessary conditions to organize quality rest. For example, 3-4 hours before bedtime you should not drink black tea and coffee. If you wish, it is better to choose tea with lemon balm, mint and other herbal infusions. Active physical activity should be avoided. It is best to pay attention to relaxation and take a relaxing bath. Don't waste time watching TV, because you can plunge into the world of artistic art of a book in silence.

If you didn't sleep at night, what should you do?

It often happens that at night it was not possible to devote enough time to sleep. Consequently, you will really want to sleep during the day. This should not be done; it is better to rest at night. But in order to “kill” the influence of the hormone melanin, you need to breathe more fresh air outside and organize a bright and rich stream of daylight around you. Sleep will vanish as if by hand.

Doctors also recommend going for a walk in the park or jogging after work. All this is necessary to keep the brain active for as long as possible, until the evening. Then you can immediately fall asleep after touching your head to the pillow. The body will instantly relax, and the brain will go to “reboot”.

Is it possible to get enough sleep in an hour?

Modern scientists are trying to solve the problem of how to get enough sleep in an hour. And, surprisingly, they came to the conclusion that this is possible even without harming human health. If you look a little into the past, then in the world you can find many examples of great people who did not sleep that much and managed to accomplish a large number of historically important things. Thus, Napoleon Bonaparte devoted only five hours to his daily sleep.

Now it can be argued that the duration of sleep should be reduced to small volumes, but at the same time it is necessary to create good conditions for its quality implementation in the remaining time. Because you won’t be able to get enough sleep any other way. After all, it is necessary to understand that the quality and quantity of sleep play an important role for a person.

Rules for quality sleep

By following some rules, you can learn how to get enough sleep quickly and feel good:

• Before going to bed, the room needs to be well ventilated. Thanks to the presence of a large volume of oxygen in the air, sleep can quickly move into the slow and deep phase.
• As you get ready to go to bed, the best thing to do is try to free yourself from the burden of your life's problems. Only in a relaxed and calm state can we talk about quality sleep.
• Don't forget about the comfort of your vacation. So, a pillow, blanket and other attributes should help relax the body.
• Before going to bed, you should avoid drinking alcoholic beverages, as well as unnecessary meals.
• It is best to fall asleep during the individual and optimal period of the day for you in terms of biological rhythm.

It is also worth understanding that in the process of preparing for a vacation, a person’s overall positive attitude is very important. You need to mentally prepare yourself for the fact that your sleep will be sound, calm and allow you to truly relax and restore your strength to implement your plans for the coming day.

It is also worth mentally setting yourself up for the fact that you yourself will wake up at the most suitable time for this. You can even imagine a watch. Mentally pay attention to the arrow on the dial and imagine yourself waking up. This will help the body tune in to the right mood and feel how to get enough sleep and have time to gain strength.

Skeptics can try setting their alarm clock a few minutes later than the time at which they have programmed their body to wake up. In most cases, the clock rings after the person has woken up. That is, sleep programming really works. After all, your brain will always help you complete your tasks. He is ready to accompany you in the implementation of your plans, you just have to enlist his support. And you will always wake up at the right time and feel invigorated and full of strength for new endeavors.

I want to get enough sleep quickly - what should I do?

Probably every person would like to know how to get enough sleep quickly. To do this, it is worth considering a few additional recommendations for proper preparation for bed.

A warm shower before bed gives a good relaxing effect. This way, you not only follow hygienic guidelines for caring for your body, but also begin to relax, thanks to which your brain is tuned in the right way. All dirt and fatigue are washed away with water, which burdens not only the body, but also the soul. If you wish, you can soak in a relaxing bath with aromatic oils for a while. You can add healing herbal infusions to the water. And at the same time, it is absolutely not necessary to buy them at the pharmacy and spend money; you can collect them in the open spaces of fields and meadows in the summer.

Modern doctors have already proven that there is a simple answer to the question of how to get enough sleep. It is necessary to postpone sleep until later. This means that on your legal day off, you can sleep more than nine hours if you wish. After all, in this way you compensate for all the lack of sleep over the previous days at a time convenient for you.

Some more options for improving sleep quality

When you go to bed, you can put a small one with herbs next to your regular pillow. It is best to select their composition individually, taking into account aromatic preferences, the need to treat existing diseases and eliminate problems with the body. So, for example, you can make a bouquet of herbs from crushed chamomile, hop cones, hazel, cornflowers, pine needles and other medicinal plants. After all, the above gifts of nature contain a large number of essential oils that help the human body relax and quickly fall into a good sleep.

It is also advisable not to get into the habit of reading for a long time in bed. After all, it should evoke clear associations with sleep, and not wakefulness. In this case, bedding should be chosen from materials of natural origin, for example, cotton or linen. After all, it is necessary to ensure the possibility of air circulation through the fabric so that the body can breathe freely.

Do you fall asleep at work again, feel tired, are you mentally and physically exhausted? You definitely didn’t get enough sleep last night, and now your body is having troubles. And this is all because you don’t have a proper sleep schedule! Today you went to bed at 11, tomorrow at 2, and the day after tomorrow you didn’t sleep at all all night. The poor body cannot understand what you need. You simply shock it. As a result, you suffer from various symptoms of lack of sleep and have low productivity all day long. You definitely won’t become successful that way!

What is sleep for?

Can you imagine if a person didn’t need to sleep at all! That was great. You have a whole 24 hours a day. So many things could have been redone. But why are we sleeping? Is it not for nothing that all this was invented by nature? Not in vain!

Sleep performs a very important function - restorative. During sleep, the body recovers and systematizes the information received during the day.

Scientists have found that sleep has 2 phases that constantly alternate. These are the stages of rapid and slow sleep.

When we fall asleep, the slow-wave sleep phase begins. At this time, our body temperature drops, and all metabolic processes slow down, and the brain begins to scan all our organs. Those. our brain acts as a mechanic for the body: it identifies and corrects “problems.”

Then comes the REM sleep phase. We begin to dream. The most interesting thing here is that if our brain finds “problems” in the body, then it lets us know about it through sleep. If you dream that there is not enough air, then you may have problems with your lungs. If someone is strangling, then there is a problem with the heart.

So pay attention to your dreams. They can tell you a lot about your body.

A patient comes to a psychoanalyst and says:
- Doctor, I had a strange dream that you were treating me to a banana. What could this mean?
- Well, you know, dear, sometimes it happens that a banana is just a banana.

During sleep, the body produces a very important hormone - cortisol. It performs an invigorating, restorative and tonic function for the body. That is why, if a person does not get enough sleep, then he feels lethargic and tired all day long.

Fact: a person who constantly does not get enough sleep lives on average 10-15 years less!

How much sleep do you need?

Here, even the experiments of scientists do not give us an unambiguous answer.

According to Eckart Rueter, a professor at the University of Göttingen, there is no general norm at all.

Napoleon slept 4-5 hours, Einstein slept 12 hours, and there are people who need even 14 hours. One thing is clear - you can’t sleep less than 5 hours. During this time, your body will definitely not recover.

Most examples of individual sleep norms show that normal sleep should last 7-8 hours!

Therefore, we can conclude that this issue must be approached individually.

When should you sleep?

The best time to sleep is before midnight. Why? And because...

Up to 24 hours, your nervous system is fully restored, and after midnight your body is restored.

From 9 to 11 pm your mind and intelligence rest. From 11 pm to 1 am, your physical recovery occurs.

A person who gets up at 4-5 o'clock in the morning can lead people, gaining success. Such people acquire positive thinking. At this time, the Earth is in a state of optimism.

People who get up at 5-6 am are energized all day long and are less susceptible to various diseases.

If you get up from 7 to 8 in the morning, then you are guaranteed to have decreased mental and physical tone.

— I went to bed early yesterday.
- Yes? At what time?
- It doesn't matter. I went to bed YESTERDAY!..

That. It turns out that it is best to sleep from 9 pm to 5 am (the required 8 hours).

I wonder if anyone follows this sleep schedule? I think only a few, and you are unlikely to be one of them!

Individual approach

Therefore, your task is to create the right sleep schedule for yourself, i.e. individual. To do this you need to experiment a little. Go to bed and get up at different times for two weeks. See how you feel throughout the day. Choose the optimal time and stick to it!

Conclusions:

1. Sleep – performs a restorative function of the body.

2. The most important period for sleep is before midnight.

3. Sleep norm – 7-8 hours.

4. Create your own individual sleep schedule.

5. Observe and adjust your sleep schedule.

Now you understand that proper sleep patterns are very important for our body. We can say that sleep is the key to your health, and as a result, success! The choice, as always, is yours!

The importance of sleep in a person’s life is invaluable: if you can live without food for about a month and then return to duty, then 10 days without sleep can break the human psyche. For centuries, the forcible deprivation of this most important psychophysiological need was considered the most sophisticated and painful torture.

Sleep is a special state of the nervous system in which consciousness turns off, metabolic processes slow down, sensitivity dulls and motor activity stops.

Sleep is necessary to restore the functioning of nerve centers and renew physical strength in order to effectively adapt to internal and external changes in living conditions.

Sleeping too little is harmful to the body: the greater the deficit, the less efficient a person is. All areas of his life suffer from this: work, communication with family, leisure.

If you don't get enough sleep regularly, a person develops so-called “sleep deficiency.”: a condition accompanied by chronic fatigue and. The deficit accumulated over a long time cannot be filled by getting enough sleep on the weekend.

For example: if you regularly do not get 2 hours of sleep, but on a day off you sleep 2 hours longer, the deficit will not be replenished, it will simply decrease by 2 hours. To feel good, a person will have to change his lifestyle. If you get up early in the morning, you need to go to bed on time, excluding any activities that come at the expense of rest. You will have to get enough sleep for at least a week, and then the deficit will be replenished.

Sleep phases

Sleep is not just a state of rest, but a complex physiological process characterized by cyclicity. The duration of one cycle is about one and a half hours. In one night a person goes through 4-6 cycles.

Within one cycle, there are 2 phases - deep (1.5 hours) and fast (from 2-3 to 25 minutes) sleep. These 2 states can be clearly observed on the electroencephalogram: by amplitude and frequency fluctuations of brain activity. According to EEG, depending on brain activity at a particular moment, an adult’s sleep can be divided into the following stages:

• Sleepy state;
• Falling asleep;
• Superficial sleep (sigma waves);
• The stage of alternating slow and fast sleep.

How many hours should sleep last?

The duration of sleep is correlated with a person’s age: the younger he is, the more sleep he needs. So, for a child aged 0 to 3 months, it can take 2 thirds of the day, and for people aged 60 and above, 7 hours are enough for rest. In addition, it hurts more often.

Somnologists have not formulated a clear explanation to the question of how long healthy sleep should last for an adult. According to one point of view, people only need to sleep 5 hours a day; according to another, they need to get plenty of sleep.

The average value of 6-8 hours is considered normal. If a person is constantly drawn to sleep up to 16 hours a day, it is worth undergoing a medical examination to determine the presence of pathologies.

How to sleep more efficiently

People sacrifice proper rest in favor of working, watching their favorite TV series, and “surfing” on the Internet. Such erratic sleep behavior is usually motivated by lack of time. Accordingly, the question arises of how to get enough sleep in the shortest possible time. To answer this, we must again turn to the phases of sleep.

The fast phase is the ideal time to wake up, setting a good mood for the whole day.

During this phase, blood flows intensely to the area of ​​the brain responsible for emotions and memory. While a sleeping person is inert, the cortical layer of his brain works at half capacity, analyzing the information accumulated during the day. Blood pressure fluctuates, adrenal hormones (adrenaline, norepinephrine, etc.) are released into the blood and an erection appears (more important for men than for women).

In the slow phase, a person experiences the most sound sleep: the cerebral cortex is inactive, only the functions of the internal organs are active. This is not the best time to interrupt your sleep.

To program yourself at the right moment of awakening, you need to set the alarm clock for a long time in multiples of 1 and a half hours. A time of 4.5, 7.5 hours will do.

That is, in order to ensure yourself a full sleep, you need to force yourself to fall asleep so that you wake up at the very end of the phase, having overslept your physiological norm. If you follow this rule regularly, your body will learn to wake up at the right time on its own, without an alarm clock.

Daytime sleep: benefit or harm

Daytime naps definitely have health benefits. It is not for nothing that in many southern countries it is supported at the state level. In Portugal, Italy, Spain and other countries it is called “siesta” - midday rest. After a short break, the person’s brain reboots, and the person can work more efficiently.

The main thing is not to exceed the norm for daytime sleep: in total it should be 20-25 minutes. The thing is that during this time, the body is still in the REM sleep phase, so waking up will be easy.

If you sleep for more than 40 minutes, a person will plunge into a slow phase, and then when he wakes up, he is guaranteed to feel tired, have a headache, and become apathetic. In this case, it is better to set yourself an alarm clock and completely go through all phases of the cycle, waking up at the very end.

During the day you can take a nap for 20 minutes or 1.5-3 hours: it all depends on how well the person slept at night.

The following tips for falling asleep will help you achieve healthy sleep:

• You need to go to bed on time: the period from 22.00 to 23.00 is the best time for this.
• It is necessary to follow a daily routine and consistently fall asleep at a set time.
• The last meal should be light. Don't go to bed feeling hungry: a light snack with a glass of kefir or fermented baked milk will not cause problems for the stomach.
• If a person is tormented, he should drink milk and honey before going to bed. Herbal preparations based on mint, motherwort, and valerian also have a good therapeutic effect.
• Do not consume psychoactive substances, tonics or drinks before going to bed. Prohibited: coffee and caffeine-containing drinks, alcohol, tinctures of eleutherococcus, lemongrass and ginseng, chocolate, etc.
• You should prepare for falling asleep progressively: about half an hour before you need to devote time to your own relaxation. Any calming activity is suitable for this: aromatherapy, listening to music, reading. The goal is to develop a reflexive habit of falling asleep after a relaxation session.
• It is necessary to create the most comfortable conditions: purchase natural bedding and underwear, a comfortable orthopedic pillow. It ensures the correct curvature of the spine in the cervical region, so it must have a suitable shape and size.
• Nothing should disturb the sleeper's peace. It is worth turning off the lights in the room (melatonin, a pineal gland hormone that regulates circadian rhythms, is better produced in the dark). Flashes of light, sharp sounds, screams of children, disrupt the natural alternation of phases. As a result, a person wakes up in a lethargic, irritable state.
• A constant supply of oxygen is necessary for comfortable sleep.. In the warm season, you can set the window to ventilate all night. The optimal air temperature for falling asleep is 18-20 degrees.

So that all these measures to change your lifestyle are not carried out in vain, it is worth learning how to properly awaken. When you wake up, you should not lie in bed for a long time. It is better to overcome yourself and get up than to fall asleep again and get up feeling weak and lethargic.