If you are reading this, most likely you have slept well last night. But do you feel rested?
Experts say it is an important question to consider.
Most of us spend a third of our life sleeping, but you may need more or less than eight hours per night. The amount of hours needed It varies throughout life: babies and children need to sleep more, and people 65 years of age or older can work with little less than seven to nine hours.
This is what sleep scientists and doctors say how much you really need and if your gender plays a role.
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Sleep quality is more important than quantity
The dream is still a mystery, despite the fundamental thing that is for our health.
The reasons are not entirely clear, but it is something essential that we all do, ”said Dr. Rafael Pelayo, a dream specialist at Stanford University.“ Something extraordinary happens when we sleep. It is the most natural form of self -care we have. ”
The majority of the population sleeps between seven and nine hours, and that particular category is the one that has the slightest Association with health problemssaid Molly Atwood, a clinical doctor specialized in behavioral medicine in Johns Hopkins.
When people sleep less than six hours or sleep more than nine hours on average, the risk of having health problems increases, Atwood said, but each person is different.
When you try to calculate how much dream you need, it is important to think about its quality, said Pelayo: “What you really want to do is wake up feeling renewed, that’s what it’s about”.
“If someone tells me that he sleeps many hours but wakes up tired, something is wrong,” Pelayo said. “You shouldn’t get out of your favorite restaurant hunger.”
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The amount of sleep we need changes
The amount of sleep we need varies throughout our lives. The newborns are the ones who need the most: between 14 and 17 hours.
Without a doubt, when we are babies and children, because we grow so fast, we need to sleep much more, ”said Atwood.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends that most adults between 26 and 64 sleep between seven and nine hours. People 65 or more can sleep a little less, and young adults between 16 and 25 can sleep a little more.
Humans go through sleep stages approximately every 90 minutes. In the first part of the night, Atwood explained that most of the cycle corresponds to the dream of slow waves, or deep sleep, essential for the repair and restoration of the body. It is also when growth hormone is released.
In the last hours of the nightmost of the sleep cycle is passed in the dream of rapid ocular movements, or dreamlike dream, which is important for learning and consolidation of memory, or the process in which short -term memory is transformed into long -term memory.
Children sleep more deeply, and spend approximately 50% of the night in that phase, he explained. This decreases in adolescence, Atwood explained, because our body does not need the same type of repair and restoration.
Something more interesting happens around puberty: gender -based sleep differences begin to appear.
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Do women need to sleep more than men?
Research does not show that women need to sleep more, but they do sleep a little more on average than men, ATWOOD said.
Start at an early age. Although they have the same sleep needs, teenagers seem to sleep less than teenagers, Pelayo said. In addition, they tend to complain more frequently.
When women become first -time mothers, they often take care of their newborns overnight More frequently, what means less dream, said Allison Harvey, clinical psychologist and teacher who studies the dream at UC Berkeley.
Hormones can also affect the quantity and quality of women’s sleep during pregnancy and menopause.
With menopause in particular, women can develop a deterioration in their dream with a greater number and duration of night awakenings, ”said Dr. Mithri Junna, a May Clinic neurologist who specializes in sleep.
Atwood said women may also need to sleep more just before their menstrual cycle.
“Without a doubt, there are times when your body tells you that you need to sleep more,” he said. “It is important to listen.”
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When to look for help to sleep
You will know that you do not sleep enough if you feel in a bad mood, irritable and distracted. In the long term, these mild symptoms can become serious, even mortal problems.
If you do not sleep enough or you have insomnia or unborn sleep apnea, your risk of depression increases, “said Atwood.” Increases the risk of cardiovascular problems such as hypertension, infarction and stroke. Your immune system is compromised. You have a greater risk of Alzheimer’s. ”
If you sleep what is recommended every night, but still wake up tired, you might consider consult your head doctor. Atwood said that this can rule out other conditions that may affect his dream. However, if problems persist, consulting a sleep specialist could be useful.
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