We all know how important it is to have a good night’s sleep in order to feel refreshed and energised, and ready to face the day ahead. Below you will find top tips on ways to improve your sleep.
What is sleep?
There are many, slightly differing, definitions of sleep. For this article, we are using this definition of sleep:
a naturally recurring state of mind and body, characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and inhibition of nearly all voluntary muscles during Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep, and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, but is more reactive than a coma or disorders of consciousness, with sleep displaying different, active brain patterns.
Why do we need to sleep?
Sleep is a non-negotiable, necessity! However, the exact purpose of why we sleep is not totally clear.
Several theories have explored the brain and attempted to identify a purpose for why we sleep, including the:
- ‘Inactivity theory’ – one of the earliest theories of sleep, sometimes called the adaptive inactivity or evolutionary theory. This is based on the concept that there is an evolutionary and reproductive benefit to being inactive at night. (Sleeping at night is viewed as a protective, survival function against predation.)
- ‘Energy conservation theory’ – Sleep’s main function is to reduce a person’s energy demand during part of the day and night when it is least efficient to hunt for food. (Studies show the body has decreased metabolism by up to 10% during sleep.)
- ‘Restoration theory’ – sleep allows for the body to repair and replete cellular components necessary for biological functions that become depleted throughout the day. (Research reveals many functions in the body occur primarily during sleep e.g., muscle repair, tissue growth, hormone release for growth.)
- ‘Brain plasticity theory’- sleep is necessary for neural reorganization and growth of the brain’s structure and function. (Sleep studies reveal sleep plays a role in the development of the brain in infants and children. This is why infants and children must sleep for longer periods each day than adults.)
These theories highlight that we do not fully understand sleep yet. No single theory explains it all. And so a combination of these ideas is more likely to hold the key to why we sleep. The one thing all sleep theorists do agree on is that sleep is a crucial, necessary function. And it is something that EVERY living thing on the planet does!
How much sleep do I need?
A question regularly heard in the bed industry is: ‘How much sleep do I need?’.
Unfortunately, there is not a magic number we can put on sleep. Due to everyone being so unique we all sleep for different lengths, go to bed at various times and get up at contrasting times. However, a general rule of thumb is adults need approximately 7-9 hours of good quality sleep. You will know you have had the right amount of sleep for you personally if you wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the day ahead. As children are constantly growing and developing, they will need to sleep for longer periods of time. The time they need to sleep for will depend on their age.
Getting enough sleep is as important as eating right and getting the correct amount of exercise to be healthy. However, it is a vicious circle – the more we worry about sleep and the amount of sleep we need, the worse our sleep is!
Stages of sleep
The need for sleep builds up throughout the duration of the day. This is due to increasing levels of a substance in our body called adenosine. While we are awake, adenosine levels increase in the body, driving the need for sleep. Hence the terms sleep drive and sleep pressure.
Sleep occurs in stages:
- Awake
- NREM Stage 1 – A light stage of sleep where you can still be easily awoken. (The ‘dozing off’ stage.)
- NREM Stage 2 – a slightly deeper form of sleep where the heart rate and breathing rate begins to slow down. The core body temperature also begins to lower. The brain begins to produce a specific pattern of brain waves (sleep spindles). These help to diminish our response to outside stimuli as we are sleeping.
- NREM stage 3 – is also known as ‘Slow Wave Sleep’. This is due to the types of brain waves produced during this sleep. This is the most restorative of all sleep stages where toxins are being washed from our bodies. As well as certain growth and repair hormones being released. You will struggle to wake people from this type of sleep = deep sleep.
- REM – also known as paradoxical sleep. This is our lightest form of sleep where we don’t quite know if we are awake or asleep. Where you jump awake if you are dreaming that you fall. We often remember our dreams from this stage of sleep more.
As you sleep, your body cycles through non-REM and REM sleep. Usually the cycle starts at NREM1, passing through NREM2 and NREM3, followed by a short period of REM sleep. The cycle then begins again. A full sleep cycle takes approximately 90 minutes with the first period of REM being relatively short. As the night goes on, people typically have longer REM sleep.
What do we mean by the terms REM and NREM?
REM – Rapid eye movement – This sleep is where we process new learning from the day. We consolidate memories and process emotions.
Usually, REM sleep happens 90 minutes after you fall asleep. The first period of REM typically lasts 10 minutes. Each of your later REM stages gets longer, and the final one may last up to an hour. During REM, your heart rate and breathing quicken. REM is important because it stimulates the areas of the brain that help with essential cognitive functions like learning, memory, and creativity.
NREM – Non-rapid eye movement – is a deeper form of sleep but comes in three stages. These stages are 1, 2 and 3 with three being the deepest, also known as Slow Wave Sleep.
During the NREM phase, the body repairs and regrows tissues, builds bone and muscle, and strengthens the immune system.
How can I improve the quality of my sleep?
Sleep quality is different to sleep quantity.
Quality sleep refers to how well a person is sleeping – IE whether they are achieving the correct phases of sleep, to ensure sleep is restful and restorative, while sleep quantity refers to the number of hours spent asleep.
Generally, good sleep quality is defined by the following characteristics:
- being able to fall asleep soon after getting into bed, within 30 minutes or less – often referred to as sleep latency (the measurement of how long it takes you to fall asleep).
- typically sleeping straight through the night, waking up infrequently. (Frequent wakefulness at night can disrupt your sleep cycle and reduce your sleep quality.)
- being able to fall back asleep within 20 minutes if you do wake up during the night. (People with good sleep quality have 20 minutes or less of wakefulness during the night.)
- sleep efficiency – the amount of time (%) you spend sleeping. Many sleep scientists believe this measurement should ideally be 85 percent or more for the best health benefits. (To calculate your sleep efficiency, take your total time in bed (in minutes) minus how many minutes it took you to fall asleep. Now subtract how many minutes you spent awake during the night. Divide that figure (actual sleeping time) by your total time in bed (in minutes). Finally, multiply that number by one hundred to arrive at your sleep efficiency percentage. (For example 420 (total minutes in bed) – 20 (minutes to fall asleep) – 10 (minutes awake during the night) = 390 (actual sleep time in minutes). 390 / 420 = .9285 x 100 = 92.85% sleep efficiency).
Your quality sleep can be affected by many factors. Improving your sleep quality can help ensure that your sleep cycles will not be interrupted, which in turn helps assure that you will wake up feeling energised. Addressing sleep problems can lead to significant health gains. It is important to seek medical advice if your sleep has been affected for a period of time as this will affect your overall health and wellbeing.
Step 1 – Routine
Set Your Sleep Schedule
It is important to train your body to know when to wake up/get ready to sleep. Having a regular bedtime and wake-up time each day (including weekends) can significantly help your body to become accustomed to getting the full amount of sleep you need. Fluctuating bedtimes can prevent you from getting into a rhythm of consistent sleep. Therefore, you should make going to bed at the same time each night a priority.
If you need to adjust your daily sleep routine, we advise making small, step by step adjustments of up to an hour or two maximum.
Although a nap might sound like the perfect tonic for your tired eyes, it can disturb your evening sleep. If you do need to nap, keep them short and limited to the early afternoon. An alternative to napping is to stop what you are doing and get some fresh air and natural bright light.
Step 2 – Food and drink intake
Let’s be honest, we have all been tempted by late-night munchies (most of us have probably succumbed to them!). Eating food late at night, especially big, heavy, or spicy foods, can mean you are still digesting your food when climbing into bed. Not only is this not good for your waistline, but it can also affect your sleep. (As your body digests food, it increases your core body temperature which affects not only sleep onset but also sleep quality and the time spent in different sleep stages. This is not good for your sleep quality or your health!)
In addition to having the munchies, we’ve all probably reached for an extra boost shot in the form of caffeine when we have felt ourselves flagging in the afternoon. Although it might give your body the ‘pick me up’ it needs at that time, what it is doing is suppressing your adenosine receptors. (Adenosine promotes a person’s need for sleep, so given the fact that the half-life of caffeine in plasma of healthy individuals is five hours, it can still be in your system working its ‘stay awake, magic powers’ as you try to sleep – leaving you staring at the ceiling, wondering why you can’t nod off.) Caffeine intake should ideally be stopped a minimum of five hours before you intend to go to bed. However, the earlier you put the caffeine down, the better!
A better habit to combat tiredness is to get some fresh air instead of picking up the coffee cup. Remember as well that not only coffee has caffeine in it. Things like tea, certain fizzy drinks and energy drinks are all caffeine-filled.
Although alcohol is often perceived as a night-time drink, with many claiming it helps them to fall asleep, you might find your sleep becomes disturbed during the night after reaching for a bottle. (Alcohol sends people into a deep sleep very quickly. However, as the effects wear off, it leaves sleepers in a light sleeping phase for the rest of the night.) It is best to moderate your alcohol intake and avoid it later in the evening.
Step 3 – Stressors and stresses!
Prolonged stress levels and poor sleep are intricately linked…sleep deprivation can cause stress while stress can cause a lack of sleep!
Some stress can cause the autonomic nervous system (ANS) to release a sequence of chemical changes in the body. Hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline are released causing your heart rate and blood pressure to increase, and more oxygen to be provided to your muscles. This in turn causes your alertness levels to increase. A raise in these hormones can result in the body entering a ‘flight or fight’ response, resulting in a lack of quality sleep.
By lowering your stress levels before bed, you could improve the duration and quality of your sleep.
Steps to improve stress and promote quality sleep include:
- getting enough physical exercise – a minimum of 30 minutes per day is recommended for adults and two hours for children. It is important not to exercise too close to bedtime as this can raise your body temperature too much before bed.
- maintaining a well-balanced diet.
- limit caffeine and alcohol intake – these substances elevate levels of cortisol and adrenaline in the body which can then interfere with your sleep.
- meditation/mindfulness – clearing the brain of stresses and stressors alongside some deep breathing techniques
- dim the lights – melatonin (hormone) signals the body to start preparing for sleep. This hormone is naturally released in response to light levels decreasing in the evening. Artificial lighting can therefore confuse the body and interfere with the normal production of melatonin, resulting in you being kept awake at night. Try dimming the lights and making the room darker.
- gadgets off – turning off TV screens, phones and gadgets will help your brain signal that it is time for bed. (Kindles and most other products are fitted with a special filter to allow users to use them in bed without increasing cortisol levels.) Just using these gadgets can drive the body to create wake-promoting hormones such as serotonin or cortisol. Whether you are scrolling through social media, looking at the news or even doing a bit of late-night shopping, all these things can prompt the release of wake promoting hormones. Hannah Shore, Silentnight’s Sleep Knowledge & Researcher Manager says, ‘My best advice is to go gadget-free for an hour or so before bed!’
- create a routine – your body is a creature of habit and loves a good routine! Following the same pattern, each night can help you to achieve a good night’s rest as your body will know when to produce certain hormones. Without a routine, the body will naturally produce the wrong hormones (melatonin and cortisol) at the wrong time of day, resulting in social jetlag!
- body temperature – the core body temperature decreases during the nocturnal sleep phase and increases during the waking phase. Therefore, try not to do anything that will raise your body temperature before bedtime such as eating big meals, exercising too close to bedtime, or taking a hot shower/bath.
- creating a relaxing environment – Put on an eye mask or invest in some blackout curtains to stop you from waking with the sun. Having a clutter-free bedroom can help to calm the mind and create a relaxing environment.
Signs of sleep problems
If you are experiencing any of the below, you might have a sleep problem that needs addressing.
- lying awake for prolonged periods at night – finding it difficult to fall asleep
- waking up several times during the night and struggling to get back to sleep
- waking up early and being unable to get back to sleep
- concentration difficulties
- feeling down or low in mood or being irritable
- feeling tired or unrefreshed upon waking
Long-term sleep problems can lead to:
- you are eating and drinking more
- feelings of tiredness throughout the day
- relationship difficulties
If you believe you have a sleep problem, it is important that you get some support and advice to prevent long-term health issues from occurring.
- write down your worries – if thoughts keep popping into your head preventing you from sleeping, jot them down. This way you can deal with them the following day. It can be especially useful to do this before going to sleep to allow your mind to be clear before your head touches the pillow.
During sleep, your body can recover from the stressors of the day. This can improve your overall physical and mental health and well-being. We recommend trying to make sleep a priority in your life by following these sleep hygiene tips.
Further help and advice
Regular, poor sleep, puts you at risk of serious medical conditions, including obesity, heart disease and diabetes – and it shortens your life expectancy. Therefore, it is crucial that you seek medical advice. Further information and advice can be found on the NHS website or via the National Sleep Helpline – Sleep Charity (24-hour telephone line 03303 530 541).
At Land of Beds, our award-winning experts are on hand to offer free, independent advice to help you achieve a better night’s sleep.
Can a mattress help you sleep better?
Put simply, YES, replacing an older bed with a new mattress has several benefits that can make you sleep and feel better.
At Land of Beds, we are passionate about helping as many people as possible to sleep better. As stockists of some of the biggest brands including Silentnight, Tempur, Sealy, Dormeo, Vispring, Harrison-Spinks, Airsprung, Healthbeds, Mlily plus many, many more, we have something to suit all needs and price points.
We recognise that buying a new mattress can be a daunting and expensive experience. Our bed experts are on hand to help you make the correct purchase based on your sleeping needs, offering free, independent advice.
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