Associated Press
If you are reading this, most likely you have slept well last night. But do you feel rested?
Experts affirm that this an important question that we must consider.
Most of us spend a third of our life sleeping, but we may need more or less than eight hours of sleep per night. The necessary amount of hours varies throughout life: babies and children need more hours of sleep, and people 65 years of age or older can work with little less than seven to nine hours.
Next, we explain what scientists and doctors say about how much you really need to sleep and if your gender influences.
Sleep quality, more than the quantity
The dream is still a mystery, despite its importance for health.
“The reasons are not entirely clear, but it is 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 way of self -care we have.”
The majority of the population sleeps between seven and nine hoursand that particular category is the least associated with health problems, according to Molly Atwood, a specialist in behavioral medicine of the School of Medicine of the Johns Hopkins University.
When people sleep less than six hours or sleep more than nine hours on average, The risk of health problems increases slightlyAtwood explained, but each person is different.
When trying to calculate how much dream you need, it is important to think about its quality, Pelayo said: “What you really want is to 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.”
The amount of sleep we need changes
The amount of sleep we need changes throughout our life. Newborns are the ones who need the most: between 14 and 17 hours a day.
“Without a doubt, when we are babies and children, due to our rapid growth, 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.
Human beings go through sleep stages approximately every 90 minutes. In the first part of the night, according to Atwood, 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 night, most of the sleep cycle is dedicated to the dream of rapid ocular movements, or dreamlike sleep, which is important for learning and the consolidation of memory, or the process by which short -term memory is transformed into long -term memory.
Children have a deeper sleep, with approximately 50% of the night in that phase, Atwood explained. This decreases in adolescence, said the expert, because our body does not need the same type of repair and restoration.
Something more interesting occurs around puberty: sleep differences begin to emerge according to gender.
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.
This begins at an early age. Although they have the same sleep needs, teenagers seem to sleep less than teenagers, Pelayo said. In addition, teenagers tend to complain more frequently.
When women become first -time mothers, they usually take care of their newborns during the night more frequently, which means less hours of sleep, explained Allison Harvey, clinical psychologist and professor who studies the dream at the University of California in Berkeley.
Hormones can also affect the quantity and quality of women’s sleep during pregnancy and menopause.
“With menopause, in particular, women can experience a deterioration of sleep with a greater number and duration of night awakenings,” said Dr. Mithri Junna, a neurologist of the Mayo Clinic specialized in sleep.
Atwood added that women may also need to sleep more 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.”
When to look for help to sleep
A person will know that he does not sleep enough if he feels in a bad mood, irritable and distracted. In the long term, These mild symptoms can become serious, even fatal problems.
“If you do not sleep enough or you have an insomnia or unborn sleep apnea, your risk of depression increases,” said Atwood. “Increases the risk of cardiovascular problems such as hypertension, heart attack and accident. Your immune system is compromised. You have an increased risk of Alzheimer’s suffering.”
If you sleep what is recommended every night, but still wake up tired, you might consider consulting your head doctor. This can rule out other conditions that may affect your dream, ATWOOD added. But if the problems persist, consulting a sleep specialist could be useful.
