Day Four - Recovery
Today's challenge is to learn to sleep. Your 'time in bed' requirements will change depending on your life stage and determining how much sleep you as an individual need each night is vital.
Some people will tell you that they don't need seven hours, but according to scientist Matthew Walker "The number of people who can survive on less than six and a quarter hours without impairment, and rounded to a whole number, is zero."
As a rule of thumb, everyone needs between 7 – 9 hours of sleep for physical and mental recovery, but this may vary slightly by the individual.
It's only recently that researchers have started to understand the impact of sleep, including:
Mortality – Adults aged 45 years or older who sleep less than six hours a night are 200% more likely to have a heart attack or stroke in their lifetime.
Sleep & immunity – One night of five hours sleep reduces your natural killer cells by 70%.
Common colds – Sleeping 3 hours less than usual increases common cold by a factor of 10.
Obesity – insufficient sleep likely a key contributor to the epidemic of obesity. Sleep influences both the hunger (ghrelin) and satiety (leptin) hormones.
Glass half full - those with low sleep are more likely to have a negative mindset
Learning – insufficient sleep inhibits the brain's ability to form memories. Sleep that occurs after exposure to new information fulfills the role of the brain's "save button."
Sleep is a skill, so understanding how you can get a good night's sleep based on the New York Times to try the following.
Understand your sleep needs – start a sleep diary or take the Epsworth sleep score survey.
Be Consistent - create and maintain a sleep routine.
Embrace the morning – Exposure to morning sunlight helps to reset your circadian rhythm.
Set electronic boundaries – create a screen curfew, ideally 45 minutes before bed and store devices outside of the bedroom
Avoid Doom scrolling - Stay informed but don't look at the news every night
Lower stress - Treat anxiety with gratitude diaries, diaphragmatic breathing or meditation
Warm up before bed - Take a hot shower or bath before bed to raise your core body temperature
Booze and caffeine – try to minimise alcohol and caffeine which affect sleep quality
Set a go to sleep alarm each night
Today’s challenge is to try one element in the sleep is a skill list. Good luck and rest easy.
Further reading
Read: Why we sleep – The new science of sleep and dreams - Matthew Walker. 2018
Listen: Why we sleep www.npr.org
Sleep Health Foundation Factsheets - www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au
Deep dive: How to sleep NYT NYT how-to-sleep
** Disclaimer – Part of the Build Your Ideal Day Program – 30 Day challenge by Duncan Young. All content and media on the Build Your Ideal Day Website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.
