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Who doesn’t love sleep, especially after a long productive day? Many of us have heard of several ideas and belief about sleep.
According to Researchers at New York University, some of these beliefs could be harmful to our health.
Here are 5 main unhealthy assumptions we have about sleep.
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Adults Need 5 Hours Of Sleep
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Many people feel that less than 5 hours of sleep is enough, but that’s the worse assumption.
What happens when you experience poor slumber? You risk having high blood pressure, a weakened immune system, weight gain, a lack of libido, mood swings, paranoia, depression, dementia, higher risk of diabetes, stroke and more.
According to the study, we need 7 to 10 hours of sleep each night.
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If You Can Sleep Anywhere, You Can Make It Anywhere.
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Many think that falling asleep at any situation at any time is normal, but it’s actually not as normal as you may think.
Falling asleep anywhere instantly is a sign that you’re not getting enough sleep, hence you’re falling into micro sleeps.
It’s a sign your body is exhausted and whenever it has the chance, it’s going to start to repay its sleep debt.
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You Can Physically Adapt To Less Sleep.
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If you think your brain and body can adapt and learn to function at the optimum level with less sleep, you’re very wrong.
The reason is because your body goes through 4 important sleep phases to fully restore itself.
Stage 1- Light Sleep,
Stage 2-Disengage From The Environment,
Stage 3- REM sleep,
Stage 4- Deep Sleep.
These stages of sleep are important as they allow us to have time to restore neurons, repair muscles and regenerating our immune system.
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Snoring Is Harmless
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According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, snores interrupted by pauses in breathing is a marker for sleep apnea, a dangerous sleep disorder. It increases your risk for heart attacks, atrial fibrillation, asthma, high blood pressure, glaucoma, cancer, diabetes, kidney disease and cognitive and behaviour disorders.
According to Rebecca Robbins, lead study investigator of the research, patients with sleep apnea tend to wake up over and over, fighting sleep all day because of exhaustion.
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Snooze is Good
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Do you enjoy pressing the snooze button every time your alarm rings? Many of us are guilty of it.
Apparently, as you’re near the end of your sleep, your body is nearing the end of its last REM cycle. What happens when you hit snooze?
Your brain falls right back into REM cycle. When the alarm goes off again, you will be in the middle of that cycle and instead of waking up refreshed and ready for the day, you will be groggy, and you will stay that way for a longer time.
What researchers recommend is for you to put the alarm on the other side of the room, so that you have to get out of bed to turn it off.
Info via CNN and Yahoo