Just as you need water to fill your body with the required nutrients, you also need to complete your daily sleeping hours to make your body function at its optimal condition. This article will dive deep into information regarding the various benefits, effects, difficulties, and the best sleeping hour time recommended through expert-guided advice.
Benefits of completing your sleep at the best sleeping hours
By letting your body complete its rest at best sleeping hours you let it process the damage caused by the daily wear and tear. Various health benefits have been observed while conducting tests related to the body’s natural sleeping pattern.
The benefits observed through the best sleeping hours can be classified as follows:
- It is observed that people with the best sleeping cycle have a better concentration power
- Give a boost to your creative side and enhance your innovative nature
- Improve your immunity system by working on your body’s circadian or natural rhythm
- Improve your heart health
- Enable better weight management
Negative effects of not getting enough sleep during your best sleeping hours
While not completing your sleep during your best sleeping hours time period seems trivial, it can have detrimental effects on your health. By not giving your body the required amount of sleep hours during the recommended best sleep hours you can potentially put your body at risk of grave diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and even depression. A doctor should be consulted based on the severity of your case. Minor effects like forgetfulness and irritability can also be noticed based on the severity of your sleep deprivation.
Recommended best sleeping hours
According to National Sleep Foundation, the best-recommended sleeping hours for a newborn is around 14-17 hours. It is seen that as the age increases the number of sleep hours required keeps decreasing. For instance, the sleep hours required by a toddler of 1-2 years is of 11-14 hours. The sleep hours required by a school-going kid can consist of 9-12 hours. The sleep hours required by a teen and an adult are pretty similar consisting of 7 or more hours in a 24-hour frame.
Certain age groups like pregnant women could require more sleeping hours as their body goes under continuous changes in their hormone levels.
Similarly, older age adults with some type of health condition can require more sleeping hours. The pattern noticed in older age adults can however differ with them requiring shorter time spans of sleep cycles.
The best sleeping hours recommended are usually between 8-12 pm if you would like to maintain your body’s natural or circadian rhythm. (Circadian rhythm controls your body’s alertness and tiredness level)
The body’s circadian level is usually the reason why people seem to feel energized or sleepy at the same time. It becomes very essential for the body to follow a proper circadian rhythm due to the various benefits associated with it.
Difficulties stopping people to complete their best sleeping hours cycle
Work priorities
Working at a private firm or a startup can get quite stressful and people may even be asked to work a night shift. Working at an irregular time can deeply disrupt an individual’s sleep cycle and could even lead to various heart and health problems.
The habit of overthinking
Some people may involuntarily develop the habit of overthinking and not be able to undo it. It is advised that individuals incorporate the use of black curtains and earplugs to take control of their surroundings and indirectly try to solve their habit of overthinking.
Late-night use of electronic objects
Late-night use of electrical objects like mobile phones and laptops can prove quite harmful for your eyes as the blue light emitted by these electronic objects will let you stay awake past your best sleeping hours. The use of social media should be kept at a minimum as you won’t even realize the amount of time that would be utilized on these apps.
Educational requirements
School-going children usually need to stay late to complete their assignments and prepare for their exams. As mentioned earlier a sleeping cycle of around 9-12 hours is required in this age group.
Insomnia
Insomnia is a condition that has become quite common in recent years. It is a condition in which a person is not able to sleep which could be due to a varied number of cases. The number of insomnia cases is on the rise with a total of more than 1 crore per year in India.
Tips to ensure that your body follows the best sleeping hours pattern
- Make a proper routine
Set a routine that you can actually follow and integrate into your life. Get into that routine by setting an alarm that will remind you that you need to sleep at that particular time. Follow that routine religiously and bring various health-related improvements in your life.
- Create an environment
Try dimming your lights right in the evening to set an environment that would get your senses prepped to induce the feeling of being sleepy.
- Have strong willpower
No matter what life throws at you try to have a positive outlook and develop strong willpower. This is what will eventually help you stay consistent and follow a fixed sleeping pattern.
- Work on your daily habits
Develop good habits like going on a brisk walk or including some form of exercise in your routine. Also, try to include as much brightness as you can during the daytime. This could also involve the use of some natural sunlight.
With this article, we’re pretty sure that the next time you think of snoozing your alarm to get some extra sleep you’ll actually feel proud of yourself. See which age bracket you belong to and try to get the recommended amount of sleep hours as mentioned in this article.
