poor sleep is a lousy business for health and well-beingr. Lack of sleep is related to immunological, metabolic, cardiovascular, emotional and cognitive problems; with disorders such as diabetes or obesity. It makes us more tired and irritable, raises our stress levels, and makes us take more risks and make more mistakes.
But the worst (the truly horrible) is nothing like that. The big problem with all this is that we don’t take it seriously. Lack of sleep and poor quality sleep already affects more than 58% of the Spanish population and, despite the enormous amount of accumulated evidence, we tend to think that, in the end, it is a minor problem. And no, it is not.
What is the appropriate amount of sleep?
According to the same study by the Spanish Sleep Society, Spaniards sleep an average of 6.8 hours during the week. It is there, as much as they try to use the weekend to catch up on lost sleep, where the problems begin. All sleep medical associations recommend sleep seven to eight hours of sleep every night.
It’s not a whim because, although those amounts of sleep vary from person to person, the evidence tells us that we tend to think we sleep better than we really do: regardless of the actual quality, people tend to give very high ratings. similar. In other words, the idea that “five hours is more than enough for me” is often wrong and tends to hide other underlying problems.
In addition, to this generalized lack of sleep we must add that around “75% of Spaniards wake up at least once a night, and 3 out of 10 directly state that they suffer from insomnia”. It is not uncommon that in recent years, the siesta has undergone a certain ‘revival’. It is logical, they have many benefits (Rosekind, 1995): sleeping an average of 25 minutes improves our cognitive functions between 16% and 34% (Mednick et al., 2008; Naska, 2007; Saunders and Chaput, 2012). However, misused (and our social context doesn’t help) they can further contribute to making nighttime sleep even more difficult (Dhand & Sohal, 2006).
Newly born | 0-3 months | Between 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. |
|---|---|---|
Babies | 4-12 months | Between 12 and 16 hours (naps included) |
Babies | 1-2 years | Between 11 and 14 hours (naps included) |
Kids | 3-5 years | Between 10 and 13 hours (naps included) |
Kids | 6-12 years | Between 9 and 12 hours |
Teenagers | 13-18 years | Between 8 and 10 hours |
Adults | 18-60 | at least 7 hours |
Older adults | 61 and up | between 7 and 8 |
The best time to go to sleep
The best study on this topic that we have was carried out in 2021 by the European Society of Cardiology. Using records from the UK Biobank, a repository that amasses medical and lifestyle information on more than 500,000 volunteers aged 37 to 73, the researchers selected 88,926 adults (mean age 61) who had worn for at least seven days some type of wrist device capable of recording the person’s physical activity.
After analyzing a period of 5.7 years, they found that go to sleep between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. it is associated with a lower risk of developing heart disease (and other related problems). In comparison, going to sleep between 11:00 p.m. and midnight carries a 12% higher risk of having these types of diseases. Risk that rises to 25% for those who go to bed after midnight and stands at 24% for those who go to bed before 10:00 p.m.
“The body has a 24-hour internal clock that we call the circadian rhythm and that helps regulate our physical and mental functioning. Although we cannot conclude the causality of our study, the results suggest that early or late bedtime is more likely to alter that body clock and this brings negative consequences for cardiovascular health, “explained David Plans, a neuroscientist at the University of Exeter and lead author of the study.
However, it would be naive to think that these fringes have no relation to the socio-cultural life in which they develop. For this reason, we must bear in mind that they are defined bands for a culture, such as the English, of copious and early dinners. It is not clear if they would be the same in one like the Spanish one with light and late dinners (and with times that are sometimes very different). More research is needed; however, it is a good indicator to reflect on our sleep patterns.
How to improve sleep?
Because, in the end, the main goal is to maximize the hours of deep sleep we get each night, and to do so, the key is to maintain good sleep hygiene. That is, look for strategies that save us nervousness, stress or other impediments that allow us to achieve rest.
This entails identifying the habits that affect our sleep, avoiding the bad ones and controlling the good ones. Be clear that, for example, tobacco and alcohol negatively (and very aggressively) affect our ability to sleep or that devices that emit light (such as mobile phones or tablets) can cause some sleep disruption and affect the circadian rhythm. It’s a good idea to avoid stressful situations, bright light, or loud noises; finish exercising a couple of hours before going to bed or control (if possible) the temperature of the room.
