I recently read the excellent book by neuroscience professor Matthew Walkers: Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams.
In it, he asks the following question:
“First, after waking up in the morning, could you fall back asleep at ten or eleven am? If the answer is ‘yes’, you are likely not getting sufficient sleep quantity and/or quality.
“Second, can you function optimally without caffeine before noon? If the answer is “no,” then you are most likely self-medicating your state of chronic sleep deprivation.”
I think many of us at different stages have been able to answer yes to the first and no to the second.
Walker explains that humans need more than seven hours of sleep each night to maintain cognitive performance.
After ten days of just seven hours of sleep, he says that the brain is as dysfunctional as it would be after going without sleep for twenty-four hours.
And if you’ve ever stayed up for 24 hours, you’ll know how loopy you start going.
Reading this made me rethink my own sleep schedule – in the past I often prided myself on being to have only six hours.
But Walker says that studies show that those of us getting just five to six hours each night are 200 to 300 percent more likely to suffer from calcification of coronary arteries over the next five years, which plays a significant role in heart disease.
So what can we do?
One key piece of advice Walker offers is to give yourself enough “sleep opportunity” each night. That means getting to bed at a reasonable time, ideally before 10pm.
If you stay up till 11 or later, you enter a new circadian cycle which makes you feel awake for hours more. Night owls will know this all too well.
The other thing you can do? Meditate regularly! Studies show that regular meditators have enhanced sleep, including enhanced REM sleep which helps emotional regulation.
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