What is your sleep GPA? Yes, I mean grade point average. We do this kind of measuring for most things that matter to us, but for some reason when it comes to sleep, we generally only report on how many hours we got the night before. Sleep is much more complex and nuanced than this, and it’s about time we took a closer look.
It hardly needs to be said that living with chronic sleep deprivation will make it hard to live a quality life. You’ve felt exhausted before – you may feel exhausted right now – and you know how hard it is to function well when you are feeling so tired: at best, you can “get by.” The goal of life should be more than simply getting by.
Simply put, your age is likely the most important factor in how much sleep you need. Additionally, your sleep pattern and circadian rhythm changes as you get older as well. You likely won’t sleep the same at 10 as you will at 20 as you will at 50 years of age.
Your sleep needs are largely moderated by single factor: your age. Your age dictates how much sleep you need, and it will likely also dictate your sleep cycle (circadian rhythm). These are both important points in the “how much sleep do you need” discussion, as you can lose sleep because:
“Well-being”, much like the word “happiness,” is a loaded term because it means so many different things to different people. That being said, we might all generally agree that “happiness” for us involves having a sense of satisfaction and healthfulness with our day to day lives. You could contrast this with feeling poorly, discouraged, and melancholic every day.
Not being able to sleep is frustrating. You may have already tried all of the obvious things, such as having a sleep routine, avoiding too much caffeine, avoiding alcohol before bed, and so on. Fortunately, there are creative ways to help you get to sleep. Here are six strange but well researched, proven ways to sleep better that may help you.
Here’s a common scenario. During the week you stay up late reading, watching TV, working, or doing things on your computer. You get up early for work, maybe only getting about five hours of sleep. After all, you can “make up” this sleep on the weekend.
Do you frequently wake up feeling particularly tired? Does it take your brain quite a while to dispel the fogginess of sleep? Feel like you are easily forgetting things? It might be that nightcap before bed.
More than a third of adults in the United States don’t get enough sleep on a regular basis [Centers for Disease Control]. Are you in the 33%?
