How much rem sleep should you get a night

What is REM Sleep? How Much Do You Need?

What is REM Sleep? How Much Do You Need? | WHOOP

Sleep

November 19, 2021

Everything you want to know about REM sleep.

By WHOOP

REM sleep, which means “rapid eye movement sleep,” is one of the 4 stages of sleep (along with light, deep and wake) that your body’s sleep cycles consist of. It is known as the “mentally restorative” stage of sleep when the brain converts short-term memories into long-term ones. Your brain is very active during REM sleep and it is when the most vivid dreams occur.

The Sleep Stages

Something many people don’t realize is that REM sleep and deep sleep (also referred to as slow wave sleep) are very different stages of sleep. Deep sleep is the “physically restorative” stage when muscles repair themselves and cells regenerate. It follows light sleep and precedes REM sleep in a normal sleep cycle, and unlike REM when your heart and respiratory rate speed up, during deep sleep they both slow down.

Why is REM Sleep Important?

REM sleep is the time when new learnings from the day are committed to long-term memory. Beyond the obvious value this has for anyone, it’s significant to athletes from the perspective of technical skills worked on or practiced that day–they are retained during REM sleep, so failing to get the proper amount at night can prevent you from seeing the benefits of your practice that day.

More generally speaking, there’s been research to suggest that when people are deprived of REM sleep they have trouble recollecting things they are taught before falling asleep.

The following physiological changes occur during the REM stage of sleep:

Eyes move rapidly back and forth behind closed eyelids
Heart rate and blood pressure rise to levels nearly as high as when you’re awake
Respiratory rate speeds up and becomes erratic
Brain consumes more oxygen and its activity increases significantly
Face and limbs may twitch

Below is a chart representing brain waves measured by an EEG when a person is awake, in REM sleep, and in non-REM sleep:

Brain waves from an EEG are similar when a person is awake and in REM sleep.

Your brain is almost as active in rapid eye movement sleep as when it’s awake, which is why most dreaming happens during this time. As a precautionary measure, part of the brain also sends signals to immobilize your arms and legs in order to prevent you from acting out your dreams (REM sleep behavior disorder). For these reasons, REM sleep is sometimes called paradoxical sleep.

How Much REM Sleep Do You Need?

You first enter REM sleep each usually within 90 minutes of falling asleep, and this period of REM only lasts about 10 minutes. On average you’ll go through 3-5 REM cycles per night, with each episode getting longer as the night progresses. The final one may last roughly an hour.

For healthy adults, spending 20-25% of your time asleep in the REM stage is a good goal. If you get 7-8 hours of sleep, around 90 minutes of that should be REM.

The normal amount of REM sleep also declines with age, beginning with infancy (when it may be greater than 50% of total sleep time) and extending all the way through adulthood.

Learn More:

How Much REM Sleep Should You Get a Night?

How Much Time Should You Spend in Each Stage of Sleep?

Effects of Lack of REM Sleep

As mentioned above, not getting enough REM sleep can negatively impact your brain’s ability to learn and create new memories.

Additionally, because the majority of your REM sleep tends to come towards the end of your night in bed (and after deep sleep, which your brain and body prioritize when you need to catch up on sleep), a lack of REM is often a sign of sleep deprivation. Chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to greater risk of obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, dementia, depression, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

There has also been research to show that insufficient REM sleep may cause migraines, and some medical conditions (sleep apnea for example) can have adverse effects on it.

How to Get More REM Sleep

Overall, whatever you can do to improve your sleep habits and behaviors will also help you get more REM sleep. This begins with simply making an effort to spend more time in bed. Here are 45 tips to help you sleep better.

There are also two other things in particular that stand out with how to increase REM sleep. The first is a concept we refer to as sleep consistency–going to bed and waking up at the same time each day (or a sleep schedule as close to that as possible). Your body functions more efficiently when it is on a regular schedule, and this applies to sleep as well. We ran an analysis of sleep data from 25,000 WHOOP members, and the results showed a significant rise in the nightly amount of REM sleep as the percentage of sleep consistency over a 4-day span increased:

Better sleep consistency allows for more REM sleep.

The second big thing is to stay away from alcohol before bed. When your body is forced to process alcohol during sleep, it has difficulty getting past light sleep and into the deeper stages.

Learn More: Tips to Increase REM Sleep

WHOOP TRacks How Much REM Sleep You’re Getting

With WHOOP, you can monitor your night’s sleep in detail and learn exactly how much time you spend in each stage of sleep. The app also features a Sleep Coach that uses your own circadian rhythm to recommend daily bed and wake times to optimize the quality of your sleep.

WHOOP will let you know how much REM sleep you’re getting and help give you a better understanding of what you can do to get more of it.

The WHOOP app displays how much time you spend in REM sleep each night.

How Much Deep Sleep Do You Need?

If you are getting the recommended amount of slumber — seven to nine hours a night — you’re spending about one-third of your life asleep.

Although that may seem like a lot of time, your mind and body are very busy during that time, so that you can be productive, energetic, and healthy when you’re awake.

There are five stages of sleep that rotate between non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) and include drowsiness, light sleep, moderate to deep sleep, deepest sleep, and dreaming.

Experts have recommended that adults gets about 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. New research aims to identify not just how much total sleep you need — but also how much of each stage of sleep you need.

Sleep stages 1, 2, and REM consist of light sleep, while 3 and 4 comprise deep sleep.

Stage 1

During stage 1, you drift from being awake to being asleep. This is a light, NREM sleep that doesn’t last very long. You may start to relax and dream, but may also twitch as you transition into stage 2.

Stage 2

Stage 2 of the sleep cycle is still a light sleep, but you are drifting into a steadier sleep. Your breathing and heartbeat slow down, and your muscles relax. Your body temperature decreases, and your brain waves are less active.

Stages 3 and 4

In stage 3, you enter deep sleep, and stage 4 is the deepest sleep stage. During deep sleep, your breathing, heartbeat, body temperature, and brain waves reach their lowest levels. Your muscles are extremely relaxed, and you are most difficult to rouse.

Stage 4 is known as the healing stage, when tissue growth and repair take place, important hormones are released to do their jobs, and cellular energy is restored.

REM sleep

Your first REM cycle of the night begins about 90 minutes after you fall asleep and recurs every 90 minutes. Your eyes move around quickly behind your eyelids and your brainwaves look similar to those of someone who is awake. Your breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure rise to near-waking levels.

REM sleep, often referred to as stage 5, is when you are most likely to dream.

Your arms and legs become temporarily paralyzed during this stage to prevent you from physically acting out your dreams.

In healthy adults, about 13 to 23 percent of your sleep is deep sleep. So if you sleep for 8 hours a night, that’s roughly 62 to 110 minutes.

However, as you get older you require less deep sleep.

During deep sleep, a variety of functions take place in the mind and body:

memories are consolidated
learning and emotions process
physical recovery occurs
blood sugar levels and metabolism balance out
the immune system is energized
the brain detoxifies

Without deep sleep, these functions cannot take place and the symptoms of sleep deprivation kick in.

On the other hand, there doesn’t seem to be any such thing as too much deep sleep.

How much REM sleep should you get

Although there’s no official consensus on how much REM sleep you should get, dreaming is most common during this stage. Experts believe that dreaming helps you process emotions and solidify certain memories.

For most adults, REM takes up about 20 to 25 percent of sleep, and this seems to be healthy during average sleep cycles. However, sleep research is raising some interesting questions. One recent study suggested that higher amounts of REM sleep may be associated with depression. But don’t go making sudden changes in your sleep habits — it is not clear which is the cause and which is the effect.

How much light sleep do you need?

Although sleep scientists believe that light sleep is good for you, there is no minimum to strive for. Light sleep is usually the default stage, one that is nearly impossible to avoid if you are asleep at all.

Too much overall sleep on a regular basis, however, is linked to obesity, depression, pain, heart disease, and even increased risk of death.

How much deep and light sleep do children need?

Babies and children need more sleep than adults. Babies need the most, spending about 16 of every 24 hours asleep. Approximately 50 percent of their slumber is spent in the REM stage, while the other 50 percent is divided between stages 1 through 4 and NREM sleep that cycles between light and deep.

As children grow older, the amount of sleep they need varies:

toddlers: 11 to 14 hours
preschoolers: 10 to 13 hours
school-aged children: 9 to 12 hours
teens: 8 to 10 hours

With enough sleep that appears to be restful, it’s likely that the light, deep, and REM ratio is exactly where it should be in young people.

If they’re having trouble with falling asleep, staying asleep, or sleeping well, or if they are sleeping way too much for their age, children may be irritable, could have learning and memory problems, or may be more susceptible to illness.

If you sleep 8 hours but toss and turn all night, you may not be getting enough deep sleep.

It’s impossible to force your brain to go into deep sleep, but there are a number of strategies that have shown some promise in terms of increasing your percentage of deep sleep. These include:

reducing stress
establishing sleep rituals and routines
using an eye mask to block out light
sleeping in a cool room
exercising
eating a healthy diet
listening to white or pink noise
brainwave entrainment
meditation

Although the science is still new, a number of sleep trackers are available that may help you track your sleep patterns and see how much light, REM, and deep sleep you are getting.

For more sleep support, check out our sleep shop.

According to the American Sleep Apnea Association, you should feel fresh and alert when you wake up, but many people don’t.

If you’re sleeping for 7 to 9 hours each night, but only 10 percent of that is deep sleep, you’re not getting the 90 minutes you need and might still be tired each day. A sleep study may help you figure out what is going on.

There are a number of possible causes that you might want to discuss with a doctor, including:

general sleep disorder
obstructive sleep apnea
not getting enough sleep
getting too much sleep
other health conditions that cause fatigue

Scientists say that quality sleep is as important to health as food and water are. It helps you to survive and thrive. Some of the side effects of sleep deprivation include:

memory troubles
mood changes
weakened immunity
trouble concentrating
poor response time and increased risk of accidents
high blood pressure
weight gain
risk for diabetes
low sex drive
risk of heart disease
poor balance
early aging

Scientists agree that sleep is essential to health, and while stages 1 to 4 and REM sleep are all important, deep sleep is the most essential of all for feeling rested and staying healthy.

The average healthy adult gets roughly 1 to 2 hours of deep sleep per 8 hours of nightly sleep. There are various ways to gauge whether you are, from personal trackers to a sleep study.

If you’re waking up tired on a regular basis, it’s a good idea to talk to a healthcare provider.

How many hours does a person need to sleep to get enough sleep

How many hours a day does an adult need to sleep to get enough sleep? What are sleep phases and what do their characteristics tell us? How does the duration of sleep depend on the age of a person, what is the danger of lack of sleep and is it possible to cope with insomnia without medication? We answer these and other questions in the material Forbes Life

The science of sleep

Mankind has always been interested in sleep. The starting point of the scientific study of the process of dreams can be considered 1928, when the German physiologist and psychiatrist Hans Berger first recorded an electroencephalogram (EEG) in a person during sleep and wakefulness. In the 1950s and 1960s, the phases of sleep were discovered, which became an impetus for the development of somnology.

In 2010, scientists from the UK and Italy conducted a large-scale study that covered 1.5 million people. Thus, a statistical pattern was established: in people who sleep less than six hours a day, the risk of premature death due to health problems increases by 12% compared to those who sleep eight hours. However, those who like to sleep more than nine hours a day, such risks increase to 30%. Experts noted that when a person sleeps for more than eight to nine hours, this is an occasion to pay attention to the state of the cardiovascular system.

At the same time, experts consider the assertion that all people need to sleep the same number of hours and go to bed strictly at a certain time, erroneous. “Some people need more sleep, some less. Someone is used to going to bed at 21:00, and someone at 0:00, - says a neurologist, assistant of the Department of Nervous Diseases and Neurosurgery of the First Moscow State Medical University named after I. M. Sechenova Polina Pchelina. - It's determined genetically. On average, adults need seven to nine hours of sleep at night, although there are those in this age group who need six to six and a half hours of rest, or, conversely, 10. In people over 65, the need for sleep varies between seven and eight o'clock." And the older a person becomes, the less sleep he needs, says Pchelina. “If a newborn needs to sleep until 17:00, then a student does not need more than 10-13. By the age of 18, sleep is normal for an adult: seven to nine hours, ”says the doctor.

Related material

The dangers of lack of sleep and excessive sleep

During sleep, the brain is cleared of toxins and accumulated metabolic waste, the excess of which can lead to Alzheimer's disease - a type of dementia (acquired dementia), a condition in which the brain ceases to perform its functions properly. “However, oversleeping can also affect our condition: when a person sleeps more than his norm, this may not guarantee him good health for the day. Many studies have shown that lack of sleep and oversleeping led to the risk of arterial hypertension, myocardial infarction, chronic heart failure and diabetes, ”says Pchelina.

If we talk about what time you need to fall asleep, then rather you need to follow an individual biorhythm. “The same bedtime for everyone is a harmful myth, because in the morning everyone needs to get up at different times,” says Pchelina. “It’s much better to find a time that works for you and stick to it regularly.” In other words, it is necessary to develop your own regimen, the doctor notes. “First of all, it will depend on how many hours you need to sleep before getting up for work or on business, as well as on the degree of your workload,” the neurologist believes.

At the same time, there is evidence that the ideal time to go to bed is 22:00-23:00. At this time, the level of the stress hormone cortisol decreases, and the level of melatonin (the sleep hormone), on the contrary, begins to rise. According to statistics, 76% of people who go to bed between 22:00 and 23:00 feel alert and rested in the morning.

Related material

Sleep phases

If a person is a "night owl" and is used to going to bed after midnight, he will not be able to fall asleep at the recommended time. In this case, you should pay attention to sleep cycles and their phases. It is known that one complete sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes. At the same time, it consists of four subcycles - phases, which, in turn, are divided into three stages. In REM sleep, which was discovered by American neurophysiologists Nathaniel Kleitman and Eugene Aserinsky from the University of Chicago in 1953, for example, a person sees dreams.

Usually, in a healthy person, sleep begins with the first stage, lasting 5-10 minutes - this is the so-called phase of non-REM sleep. Then comes the second stage, lasting about 20 minutes. The third and fourth stages account for about 30-45 minutes more. After that, the person returns to the second stage of non-REM sleep, but from there he switches to the first phase of REM sleep, which lasts about five minutes. Such a sequence is called a cycle. The cycles are repeated, while the duration of non-REM sleep decreases with each subsequent cycle, and the phase of REM sleep, on the contrary, increases. “As we move from the first stage of slow-wave sleep to the third, the activity of the body decreases: the work of the cardiovascular system slows down, the perception of external information almost completely stops, and the activity of the brain decreases,” Pchelina comments. - In the phase of REM sleep, on the contrary, sensitivity to external signals increases - therefore, it is easiest to wake up from this phase. The role of REM sleep for the body is still not well understood. But neurophysiologists say that at this time, the skills acquired during the day are consolidated and the emotional aspects of information are processed.

In order to feel good, and not to walk around broken all day, it is worth waking up only after a completely completed cycle, that is, sleep time should be a multiple of 90 minutes, for example, six, seven and a half or nine hours.

Related material

Sleep at work for productivity

The alternation of wakefulness and sleep in humans occurs cyclically, with a period of approximately 24 hours, and this is largely due to the natural cycle of light. That is, with the onset of the dark time of the day, the brain gives signals to the body that it is time to sleep. At the same time, there is daytime sleep. But how necessary and useful is it?

According to neuropathologist Pchelina, sleep during the day, first of all, is necessary for those who are forced to work night shifts. “For everyone else, a 15-20-minute daytime sleep will not hurt, but, on the contrary, will add a feeling of cheerfulness for two to three hours. However, for patients with insomnia, I do not recommend sleeping during the day until they establish a regimen, ”says the doctor.

The health and productivity benefits of daytime sleep have long been noted in Japan. Local employers encourage daytime naps among their employees, and the phenomenon even has its own name - inemuri ("practice of daytime sleep at work"). At the same time, there is a main rule - social involvement. If, for example, a person decides to sleep during a meeting, he should do it in such a way that the effect of involvement in the work process is created. Inemuri is often referred to as the Japanese art of sleeping. Its appearance is associated with the economic boom 1980s. Then the life of the Japanese became more dynamic, people worked hard, studied and had fun. There was practically no time for sleep. Thus was born the practice of short daytime sleep - 15-30 minutes.

Also in Japan, they came up with special sleep capsules - comfortable soundproof booths for sleeping. This idea was adopted by Europe and in the mid-2000s, the first Metronaps sleep pods appeared at the headquarters of Google, Procter & Gamble and Virgin Atlantic, as well as at the international airports of London and Vancouver. Russian employers also began to encourage sleep at the workplace.

Dr Nerina Ramlahan of the University of Leeds says short naps reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease, and help overcome depression and other side effects of sleep deprivation that are equivalent to severe alcohol intoxication. According to researchers at the Rotterdam School of Management, "quiet time" saves companies billions because employees become more productive after it.

Related material

Disturbances of rest

According to Pchelina, unbalanced sleep provokes insomnia (insomnia) and disruption of the sleep-wake cycle. “This is dangerous with a deterioration in mood, a decrease in working capacity, rapid fatigue and an increased risk of cardiovascular dysfunctions,” the expert notes.

Pchelina identifies several types of sleep disorders that are most common in modern humans:

Hypersomnia (increased sleepiness): it is divided into several subtypes. The most studied variant is narcolepsy (an autoimmune nervous disease characterized by bouts of drowsiness and sudden falling asleep). Other species often develop as a result of mental illness. For example, depression. A sleep disorder of a mental nature does not pose a threat to health, but significantly impairs the quality of life of patients.
Breathing disorders during sleep: most often associated with impaired patency of the upper respiratory tract due to structural features of the oropharynx and larynx, for example, due to a deviated nasal septum. One of the negative factors is also being overweight. These symptoms are especially dangerous because they increase the risk of death from strokes and myocardial infarctions.
Sleep movement disorders: A very heterogeneous group, typically characterized by involuntary limb movements, twitches and seizures. Often seen in people with restless leg syndrome. The main cause of these disorders is a violation of the metabolism of the neurotransmitter dopamine (one of the so-called “happiness hormones”) in the brain. These diseases are not dangerous, but can make it difficult for patients to fall asleep and lead to frequent nocturnal awakenings.
Parasomnia (eg sleep paralysis or sleepwalking): the cause is still unknown. This is thought to be due to the delayed maturation of neural connections between sleep and wake centers in the brain.

Related material

Like a bad dream

If you are not satisfied with the quality of sleep, you do not get enough sleep or, conversely, you cannot fall asleep for a long time, it makes sense to go to the doctor. Especially if you feel worse. “The main reason to visit a specialist is your personal feelings. There is no specific set of complaints,” says Pchelina.

The doctor specifies that the choice of therapy depends on the diagnosis. In some cases, this is surgical, hardware and drug treatment. However, the neurologist is trying to find a way to deal with patients' insomnia without drugs. In such cases, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for insomnia comes to the rescue - a complex form of psychotherapy, which is based on a technique that allows you to identify and change habits associated with thinking or behavior. Many patients who come to CBT receive an explanation of the mechanisms that control sleep. “It also helps to cope with anxiety, which often prevents you from falling asleep,” Pchelina adds.

According to clinical and social psychologist Nikita Korzun, insomnia can be managed without medication. But among his patients there are many who have insomnia - a concomitant symptom of a disease, he notes. Often these are drug (and other) addictions that also cause sleep disturbances. In this case, specialists resort to medical treatment and psychological practices. “In some cases, insomnia is quite normal. For example, it is often observed during pregnancy. But if insomnia bothers you more than three times a week for a long time, then you should not postpone going to the doctor. In the case when physiological causes have not been identified, the root of the problem must be sought at the mental level, ”says the psychologist.

What happens to a person when he does not sleep for a long time:

on the first day there may be problems with memory and attention, the person becomes distracted.
the second or third day: physical fatigue appears, memory problems worsen, coordination is disturbed, problems with concentration arise, vision and concentration deteriorate.
on the fourth and fifth days, severe irritability occurs, sound and visual hallucinations appear, mental activity is disturbed, physiological disturbances occur in the temporal region of the cortex, which is responsible for speech function.
the sixth-seventh day without sleep is marked by a loss of a sense of reality, the same hallucinations (though they are becoming more and more realistic), a general disorder of the body occurs (all kinds of pain in the abdomen, muscles, migraines, etc.), in humans a state of delirium sets in.

Related material

Sleep and depression

Numerous clinical studies show a strong association between sleep disorders and depression. With depression at 80-9Insomnic (difficulty falling asleep) and hyperomnic (increased drowsiness) sleep disorders are observed in 0% of cases. When evaluating the data of an objective polysomnographic study, it can reach 100%.

It has also been shown that depression occurs in 20% of people with sleep disorders and only 1% of people without these problems. “In patients with depression, the production of the hormone melatonin by the pituitary gland, which regulates the circadian rhythm, as well as sleep and wakefulness patterns, is often reduced. This can contribute to the development of insomnia,” explains Korzun.

The psychologist notes that depression is a serious disease that can only be treated with medication and under the supervision of a specialist, since chemical changes occur in the brain. “At the same time, if we are talking about a situation where a person suffers from insomnia due to an increased level of stress, this does not require “tough” measures. I believe that it is important not to start your emotional state so that later it does not develop into serious diseases, ”explains the expert.

As Korzun notes, people who are depressed (as well as suffering from other mental disorders) often experience insomnia, sleepwalking (somnambulism), night terror (pavor nocturnus - a sleep disorder when a person wakes up not from an unpleasant or frightening dream, but from - due to the state of fright that occurs during sleep.0099 Forbes Life ), a nightmare (dreams), narcolepsy (numbness, when a person is immobilized for some time after waking up, or he has an attack of sudden falling asleep. - Forbes Life ) and catalepsy (change in muscle tone, numbness).

More rarely, depression causes sleep apnea, a sleep disorder during which breathing changes. If measures are not taken in time, then a person may die from suffocation.

How many hours of sleep do you need per day: the norm of sleep for adults and children

Do you sleep seven hours a day and still feel overwhelmed? Why is this happening? The Challenger decided to figure out how long adults and children need to sleep in order to be rested and full of energy. What is healthy sleep? Why sleep problems occur and how to get rid of them?

How much sleep do you need

There are so many interesting things going on in life that you might regret wasting time sleeping. It seems that it is much better to go to a workout or meet up with friends than to spend an extra couple of hours lying on a pillow and under a blanket. However, the quality and duration of sleep in many respects

depends

on your health and emotional well-being. In a dream, the body does not waste time at all, but regulates metabolism, fights inflammation and strengthens the immune system, and also records new information in long-term memory.

Lack of sleep is dangerous to human health and even reduces life expectancy. Yet modern people generally sleep less than they need due to long working hours and 24/7 access to entertainment. If you regularly forego adequate rest in favor of other activities, you may experience problems with metabolism, weight and cardiovascular health. In addition, there is evidence that lack of sleep may increase the risk of developing depression. So how many hours a day do you need to spend in bed to feel alert and healthy?

How many people should sleep: norm for adults and children

Unfortunately, scientists still do not have an unequivocal answer to the question of how many hours a day a person should spend in a dream.

There is no

universal meaning that would fit all people. Much depends on your age, health status and lifestyle. And while sleep needs vary greatly from person to person, experts at the Mayo Clinic

are advised to focus

on the following standards:

Age	*Norm of sleep duration per day*
Infants 4 months to 12 months	12-16 hours
Children 1 to 2 years old	11-14 hours including naps
Children 3 to 5 years old	10-13 hours including naps
Children aged 6 to 12	9-12 hours
Adolescents 13 to 18 years old	8-10 hours
Adults 18 to 60 years old	7 or more hours
Adults 60 to 64	7-9 hours
Adults 65+	7-8 hours

Most people

need about 8 hours of sleep a night

to feel good, but some need more and some less. Try empirically to find out how many hours of sleep are enough for you, and try to stick to this schedule. If you wake up tired and often think about taking a nap during the day, you may be sleeping too little.

Good sleep is just as important for children as it is for adults. Toddlers who get enough sleep have better physical and emotional health, better concentration, behavior, learning abilities, memory than their peers who do not get enough rest.

How to understand that you do not get enough sleep

The bad news is that even if you sleep more than normal, you may feel overwhelmed and unrested. The fact is that our health and emotional well-being is affected not only by the duration of sleep, but also by its quality.

If you have to wake up frequently during the night, for example to care for a baby or because someone nearby is snoring loudly, the quality of your sleep will deteriorate. In the morning, you will most likely realize that you did not get enough sleep. At the same time, you may notice the following signs of lack of sleep:

loss of energy;
reduced performance;
irritability;
constant desire to sleep;
difficulty concentrating;
memory problems;
difficulty in making decisions;
lack of motivation;
decreased libido;
inhibition of reactions.

Lack of sleep increases the risk of injury or accident at home, at work or on the road.

Why sleep problems occur

People at any age can experience sleep disorders, the most common being insomnia and sleep apnea. And if the signs of insomnia are usually present, then a person may not even be aware of stopping breathing in a dream. In both cases, you should consult a specialist and choose a treatment.

However, you may want to sleep more than normal, even if you do not suffer from any disorders, for the following reasons:

lack of sleep for several days . The body will try to catch up, the need for sleep will increase;
pregnancy . Changes in hormone levels and physical discomfort can lead to poor sleep quality and increased sleep duration;
aging . Older people need about the same amount of sleep as younger people. However, as you get older, your sleep patterns may change. Older people tend to be more light sleepers, take longer to fall asleep, and may wake up several times a night.

In addition, the duration of sleep is affected by physical activity, as well as the intake of certain medications.

How to fall asleep quickly and improve the quality of sleep

You can sleep better and feel better if you follow these simple rules

follow mode . As boring as it may seem, aim to stick to a schedule and go to bed around the same time each day. You can set up regular notifications on your smartphone to remind you when it's time to get ready for bed;
try to move more . Exercising not only makes us happier, but also helps us sleep better. Find half an hour of exercise per day, but exercise no later than a few hours before bedtime. In addition, if you are physically active during the day, it will be easier for you to fall asleep in the evening;
do not try to make up for the lack of sleep over the weekend . Sleeping in on Saturday and Sunday is a great idea. This is better than nothing, but it is unlikely that you will be able to replenish your energy reserve in two days if you did not get enough sleep during the working week. Strive to get enough sleep each day;
give up coffee a few hours before bedtime . Do not drink alcohol and get rid of the bad habit of smoking, in addition, do not eat too much before going to bed;
ventilate the room and supply fresh air at night .
Learn more