Sleep is an important and complex process in the body. A person spends about a third of his life in a state of sleep. It is necessary to renew the forces spent during the day. In a dream, the physical and spiritual he alth of a person is restored. How much sleep does an adult need?
Sleep duration
The required amount of sleep for an adult is a relative concept. It is recommended to sleep at least 8 hours a day. In general, these are statistical data, and not in every case they correspond to reality.
Someone can sleep 6 hours and feel great, but someone can not even 10 hours.
Age, he alth, physical activity and other factors can affect the length of a night's rest.
In the first year of their baby's life, parents lose up to 2 hours of sleep a day, which is about 700 hours a year.
Depending on age, the need for sleep varies, so sleep is recommended:
- newborns - at least 15 hours a day;
- children under 2 years - 11-14 hours;
- children from 2 to 5 years - 10-11 hours;
- children from 5 to 13 years old - 9-11 hours;
- teenagersover 17 years old - 8-10 hours;
- adult sleep - 8 hours;
- people over 65 - 7-8 hours.
These data are considered average, so how much you need to sleep per day, each person decides for himself. The body knows how many hours of nighttime rest it needs. A person can only carefully listen to himself.
The rate of sleep in the elderly is constantly decreasing, periods of sleep and naps are changing, and the duration of night rest is reduced. Therefore, they have a need for daytime sleep.
According to scientists who conducted research on sleep duration, it turned out that people who sleep from 6.5 to 7.5 hours a day live the longest.
Principles of he althy sleep
How much sleep does an adult need? In order for sleep to benefit the body, you must follow these rules:
- It is better for a person to go to bed and get up at the same time. Breaking the routine can lead to sleep disturbances, irritability, mood swings and, in some cases, illness.
- After sleep, it is better to get out of bed immediately. If a person falls asleep again, then this will lead to a deterioration in well-being.
- The time before a night's rest should be in a calm environment, without activity and fuss. You can come up with a kind of ritual aimed at preparing for sleep.
- It is not recommended to sleep during the day, so as not to have problems falling asleep in the evening.
- The bedroom should not have a computer or TV. Time spent in bedmust be spent on a night's rest.
- Don't eat heavy meals before bed. The last meal of such food should not be later than 2 hours before bedtime. And the best option is 4 hours. You can, for example, eat an apple or drink a glass of yogurt.
- Exercising during the day will help you fall asleep quickly in the evening.
- Before going to sleep it is better not to drink coffee and not to drink alcohol, and also to smoke.
By giving up a few bad habits, you can get a he althy and sound sleep as a result.
Do I need a nap?
Is it good for an adult to sleep during the day? Short naps, no more than 30 minutes a day, help reduce the risk of heart disease. A person who sleeps during the day 3 times a week feels an improvement in mood, attention and memory.
Day rest is good for people who don't get enough sleep at night. Sleeping more than 30 minutes can lead to difficulty falling asleep in the evening.
One category of people receives only positive moments from daytime rest, while the other has sleep disorders. In this case, it is better to exclude rest during the day.
What can lack of sleep lead to?
How many hours should an adult sleep? A systematic deviation from the required norm of sleep can lead to poor he alth. Trying to make up for the lack of nightly rest on weekends only makes matters worse. Chronic sleep deprivation can cause:
- decreased immunity;
- impaired performance;
- the occurrence of heart diseaseand vessels;
- overweight;
- insomnia;
- depressive state;
- deterioration of attention and vision.
How much sleep does an adult need per night? In men, lack of sleep can lead to a decrease in testosterone production. This, in turn, leads to a loss of strength and endurance, an increase in adipose tissue and prostatitis.
Weight gain arises from the need to replenish energy with high-calorie foods. Lack of sleep releases cortisol, which is called the stress hormone. And the resulting nervous breakdowns people often seize.
With insufficient sleep, a person is very often visited by anger, irritability and depression. First of all, the nervous system suffers from the lack of a night's rest.
This condition can cause high blood pressure and disruption of the digestive tract. Often on the face of a person you can see the consequences of lack of sleep in the form of dark circles under the eyes and puffiness.
Insufficient amount of night rest can lead to disruption of human biorhythms. Some changes in the body lead to irreversible processes that a person cannot solve on his own. In this case, you will need the help of a specialist.
Is long sleep useful
It is known that lack of sleep negatively affects human he alth. Long sleep for 9-10 hours also does not benefit the body, because the norm of sleep for an adult is about 8 hours. Because of this, he alth problems arise in the followingcharacter:
- weight gain;
- pain in the head and back;
- depressive state;
- disease of the heart and blood vessels.
When a person sleeps a lot, he feels constant fatigue. This condition also leads to disruption of the body's biorhythms.
Sleeping can cause hormonal imbalance. In this state, few hormones are produced for the normal functioning of the body. Sleep hormones are produced in large quantities.
Is it harmful for an adult to sleep a lot? Scientists have found that increasing the duration of sleep leads to a reduction in life expectancy.
Eating before bed
The quality of sleep is largely affected by the timing of meals. A person must rationally distribute the diet during the day and leave the right foods for the evening meal.
The existence of restrictions on food intake after 6 pm is not entirely correct, because going to bed hungry is bad for he alth and for the duration of sleep.
Before a night's rest, it is better to eat light foods that will not create a feeling of heaviness in the stomach. For dinner, you can use cottage cheese, chicken meat, eggs, seafood, vegetable salad.
How to sleep properly
There is an opinion that it is better to sleep with your head to the north. This assumption is supported by the Chinese teachings of Feng Shui, according to which the human electromagnetic field is presented in the form of a compass: the head is north, and the legs are south.
Therefore, if a person sleeps with his head to the north, then his sleep will be strong and he althy, and it will be easy to wake up.
How to learn to wake up early?
When a person wakes up early in the morning, he can do a lot of urgent things, because the working capacity at this time is the highest.
Initially, it should be determined: how much sleep does an adult need per day? It depends on what time you go to bed in the evening in order to wake up in a cheerful mood in the morning.
When the sleep schedule is determined, the person will determine the motivation for getting up early. Some people use this time for work related tasks, while others use it for sports.
How to wake up properly:
- it will be easier to wake up in a room where the optimum temperature is observed;
- you can wake up with the help of an alarm clock, to which you should overcome a certain distance;
- some people ask family or friends to help wake up early with a phone call;
- after getting up, you should take a shower and drink a cup of coffee, which will eventually develop into a certain ritual;
- wake up at the same time.
The habit of waking up early can be formed within 2 weeks and will help to solve previously planned tasks.
How much sleep does an adult need to sleep?
Considering the harm from lack of sleep or prolonged sleep, we can conclude that the rate of sleep for each person is individual. If he sleeps during the dayno more than 5 hours, while feeling great, then you should not worry.
It is important to listen to your body. One of the conditions: after a night's rest, you need to feel cheerful and fresh.
Sometimes life situations arise when a person can sleep several hours a day and feel great. After a while, he returns to his normal sleep and rest routine.
During illness, the duration of sleep increases. Doctors advise sleeping more during this period.
Such a thing as the quality of sleep, largely depends on the duration and time when a person falls asleep. It is well known that people are divided into "larks" and "owls".
Everyone can choose the optimal sleep schedule for themselves, in which they will get enough sleep and feel good.
The norm of sleep for women is at least 8 hours, and for men, 6, 5 - 7 hours are enough to stay alert.
Determine how much and when to sleep, each person should independently, then he will not have problems associated with poor he alth.
