How can you sleep better
07-03-2014
Here at Ergoflex, our business is sleep. We want all of our customers to have the best night’s sleep ever every single night. In the past few years there have been a number of fascinating studies that have really shed a lot of light onto this nocturnal phenomenon. Each of these scientific endeavours has focused on an important aspect of sleep, from how much we need to how to improve it. Together they have managed to explode a few myths (such as the magic 8 hour sleep and the single block of sleep) and they have helped to confirm some home truths (such as the power of a glass of milk before bed). We have decided to bring a number of these together here so that you can take make the most of them. Here is our sleep advice.
Stick to a Schedule
Possibly one of the most important findings is that our body and brain’s crave routine. Our sleep cycle is regulated by our body clock. This intricate physiological function uses a variety of external cues (particularly light levels and hues) to regulate the wake sleep cycle. There are a number of neurotransmitters involved in what is a very complex and involved process. By sticking to a routine you are helping your body clock in this process. All you need to do is go to bed at around the same time each night and get up at about the same time each morning helps. This means no sleeping in during the weekend and no staying up excessively late either.
Under 8 is Great But Not For Everyone
For many years the number 8 has been pushed as the ideal amount of sleep to get, but recent research has shown that in fact this is not true at all. The reality is that for most adults it is far healthier to get around 7 hours a night while for younger people anything up to 10 hours is advisable while for some people only around 4 hours are needed. The research shows that there is no magic number, you should sleep as much as you need, though be warned that oversleeping can be an issue for some as well.
Don’t Stress if you Wake in the Night
For the last hundred or so years we have been under the impression that humans are meant to sleep in one single long block of sleep. However, new studies have found that in fact for most of history humans slept in two blocks of around four hours. This means that if you wake in the middle of the night, you shouldn’t stress, it is actually quite natural. The less you stress about it the more likely you will fall back to sleep quicker, so embrace the mid sleep wake up and don’t let it get you down.
We hope that these pieces of sleep advice help you to sleep better. The truth is that if we all slept better the world would be a better place.
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