How Much Sleep Do I Need To Function


A question that gets asked by most insomniacs: How much sleep do I need? The easiest way to determine how much sleep you need is by how you feel in the day. If you feel like a bag or rubble and ready to collapse on the floor, then obviously you're not getting enough sleep. Feeling excessive tiredness in the day maybe a sign of sleep deprivation, however the amount of sleep needed from one person to the next really depends on several factors including your diet, age, the amount of exercise you get and what you do during the day.

Generally as we get older, we tend to need less sleep. The optimal amount of shut eye for the majority of adults is 7 to 8 hour. However as I mentioned it really does differ from one person to the next. Although uncommon, some people may be able to function perfectly with just 4 hours of sleep, others may require 10 hours.

Oddly, our biological clocks haven't adjusted to the 24 hour cycle we have tuned our daily lives around, in fact our internal clocks run on a 25 hour cycle. This might explain why people find it easier to sleep late, but find it difficult to wake early in the mornings.

Surprisingly, some heavy sleepers who can sleep for more than 10 hours straight, still complain of excessive tiredness in the day . They ask, 'How much sleep do I need?' Because they assume that there's always a link between the amount of sleep attained and the amount of energy they have. Often this is the case, as sleep will help restore muscular energy, alertness and concentration.

Quality and restorative sleep is far better than sleeping excessively. If you're suffering from fragmented sleep, it could be due to a number of things such as stress, worrying thoughts or bad sleep habits such as excessive mental or physical exertion close to bed time.

Sleep enables you to restore and rejuvenate many functions of the mind and body. However, if you're an insomniac you may find that you are not able to fall into the deeper stages of sleep, which are vital for restoration. Without sleep, your immune system may weaken leaving you prone to illnesses.