Recently I went for a cup of coffee with an old friend.
And an interesting topic about sleep came up. I said that I sleep for almost 9 hours
every single night.
My friend was shocked. He proudly said that he only gets 7 hours of sleep. I told him that
if I don't get enough rest, I feel sub-optimal throughout the day. He agreed that it's important
to get enough sleep and that he would never get less than he currently does. However that
got me thinking; "Could it be that I'm actually sleeping too much?
Maybe he's the one who's sleeping too little?
Or is it possible that we're actually both sleeping enough? You probably already know
that sleep is good for you.
If you don't get enough of it on a daily basis, you face a massive amount of bad consequences.
Ranging from mood swings, memory problems,
poor concentration, weight gain, slow reaction time, feeling tired... The
list goes on and on. The funny thing is that most people are actually sleep deprived and
already possess all these negative qualities.
They just don't know that they come from their lack of sleep. One of the problems in today's
society is that we're purposely getting less sleep than our bodies need.
Usually it's because we have to go to work, or go to school.
And this is bad, as we're sacrificing our health in return.
Because of that, getting enough sleep can be a huge hidden advantage for you.
Imagine having your brain function more efficiently than of those around you.
That's what the right amount of sleep will get you.
Better mood, better focus, ability to think clearly etc.
But getting sufficient sleep for just one night isn't enough.
You need to get enough sleep every single night to reap these benefits. Now you might
be wondering, exactly how much sleep should you be getting. The standard prescription is
7-9 hours, but how do you know where exactly you personally fall in that range? First you
need to understand that you, as an individual, are completely unique. And the amount of sleep
your body requires also depends on many different external factors. That means there isn't an
exact amount of sleep you should be getting, as the amount actually changes from day to
day. Let me explain what I mean. You have probably been ill before.
Did you get your recommended 7-9 hours of sleep during that time? Of course you did,
but you also probably got more than that.
When you're ill, you let your body rest for however long it needs, so you can recover
as soon as possible.
You don't let some arbitrary number dictate how much sleep or rest you need.
You let your body determine that for you. We know that a human body needs more sleep after
physical stress to fully recover. That means that if you're exercising, playing any kind
of sport or in general moving a lot, you need more sleep. We can clearly see that with professional
athletes. Lebron James, a professional basketball player, has reported getting 12 hours of sleep. Roger
Federer, a very successful tennis player, is also getting 11-12 hours. They understand
that sleep is critical for their performance. But does the recommended 7-9 hours apply to them?
Sure it does, but since they're pushing their bodies to their limit, they need more than
that to fully recover. But during their off-season, when these athletes are not training as hard,
they obviously don't require 12 hours of sleep, and they get less than that amount. See where
I'm getting at?
7-9 hours is just a recommendation, not a personal prescription. So how do you find out
how much sleep your body needs?
Sadly it's impossible to know ahead of time.
But there is one way to let your body get its optimal rest.
And that is by waking up naturally without an alarm clock. Yes, you heard that right.
No alarms. I've been sleeping and waking up without an alarm for over a year now and I
have to say that this has improved my sleep exponentially. Let me explain why this works
so well. Being suddenly woken up by noise is not good for you.
It causes high heart rate and high blood pressure.
Also, your adrenaline comes rushing, making you stressed first thing in the morning.
That's not good and you don't want that. There are also 2 other issues that make alarm clocks
horrible. First is: The amount of sleep you need is never exactly the same. If you don't
have any mental or physical stress during the day, your body requires a normal amount
of sleep.
About 7-9 hours. But let's say if you had a stressful day at work, had an intense workout
at the gym and ate a heavy carbohydrate meal a few hours before bed, your body will obviously
require more rest. However your alarm doesn't know that and will wake you up regardless,
resulting in less sleep than your body requires. The second issue with alarms is that: Your sleep
is made out of sleep cycles.
The average sleep cycle is around 90 minutes long and consists of REM and non-REM sleep. REM
sleep is light sleep.
This is where dreams occur and we usually toss and turn a bit. Non-REM sleep is basically
deep sleep and you don't want to be woken up during this period. When you let your body
naturally wake up, you'll be coming right out of REM sleep.
If the alarm rings at this time, you're lucky and you won't feel as sluggish during the day.
However if you're woken up during non-REM, you'll definitely feel like garbage for the
rest of the day, or until you mask your bad sleep with coffee or energy drinks. Your alarm
doesn't know whether you're in REM or non-REM sleep.
It will ring no matter what. So yeah, alarms suck.
One good substitute for a standard alarm is an app you can download on your phone called
Sleep Cycle. It uses your smartphone's microphone to detect your movement which helps determine
which sleep stage you're in.
It will then try to wake you up softly when you are in the lightest possible sleep aka
REM sleep. However just because you're woken up in the REM stage, it still doesn't mean
you got enough sleep. Those are two completely different things. Still, this app is a much
better alternative to a standard alarm and I highly recommend it. Now, I urge you to try
waking up without any kind of alarm for at least one week.
See how it makes you feel. You'll probably find out that you need more sleep than you've
been getting.
This is normal. Sleep is more important to our health than exercise and diet, so you
don't want to sacrifice it for anything. Remember, you're not lazy if you sleep more.
No, it just means your body needs it. Thanks for watching. If you found this video helpful,
press that like button.
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