Lee Levy

Lee Levy

Lee is a professional blogger and passionate about trying new products. She is a side sleeper and always looking for ways to avoid back pains in her sleep.

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How Much Sleep Do I Need?

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How Much Sleep Do I Need?

Have you ever been so tired about your day that the only thing you persistently desire is to have that one good night’s sleep finally? It could be from staying up too late or doing something that has incredibly worn you out but once you get on your bed, it seems that the next best thing to do is just to close your eyes, take a nice, long nap and give yourself a break. But have you ever wondered why getting enough sleep is essential for you too?

The answer is relatively simple. It is because sleep helps you obtain good health and healthier well-being in the long run. It isn’t just your body that is getting rest from sleeping right but it is also really beneficial to your mind and mental health which is, in actuality, something that you should be giving to yourself every day so that you can always have that energy and will in you to face another morning that arises.

Reasons Why You Aren’t Getting Enough Sleep

Most often than not, people all over the world, especially students and grown-ups, suffer from sleep debt. Sleep debt or sleep deficit is the accumulation of the number of times that you haven’t been getting proper and enough sleep that your body undergoes specific changes and effects like constantly feeling mental and physical fatigue. According to the Sleep Health Foundation, the most common reasons why this happens is because of the following:

  • You take sleep for granted
  • Taking too much caffeine, alcohol, and sleeping tablets
  • Your shift works changes a lot
  • Experiencing jet lag
  • Late-night eating and drinking
  • Too much energy before going to bed
  • Experiencing stress
  • You have sleep disorders
  • Existing medical conditions and/or currently pregnant
  • Side effects of drugs you have taken

You may have experienced some of this yourself, or you may even have experienced them all! Getting overworked and depriving yourself of sleep will only lead to unnecessary and burdensome conditions and ailments that not only will it ruin your overall health, but it will also not help you become as productive as you think you are. No matter how many all-nighters you try to pull to finish up your work and cramming everything at once, that feeling of success afterward is only short-lived and will prove to be very detrimental to your health eventually.

Signs You're not getting enough sleep

Signs You Aren’t Getting Enough Quality Sleep

Some of the typical signs or symptoms of sleep deprivation that you will commonly see in people who are suffering from sleep deprivation and sleep debt are drowsiness and the inability to focus well. But for a deeper understanding of what truly happens to a person without that good quality sleep (you may even find yourself experiencing some of these), we have prepared the following list based from researches and studies:

Breakouts Everywhere!

Lack of sleep hurts your skin, and you know it! There is a link between how your sleep controls the hormones in your body and having acne breakouts are one of the most common situations one finds his/herself in when they tend to sleep out late or not sleeping at all. Your immune system weakens and stays at a very vulnerable state that acne-causing bacteria can easily infiltrate your body. An increase in the production of cortisol (main stress hormone) also happens when you’re low on rest that will, in turn, make your skin produce more sebum and acne.

Puffy Eyes and Dark Circles

Your eyes won’t be a pretty sight to look at once you get out of bed. You may notice some redness, puffiness, dark circles, wrinkles, swelling, and droopiness around your eye area that may cause other people to think you are sick. This is due to blood vessels that dilate under your delicate skin that creates that shadowy appearance on your eyes as well as fluids that seep into it that causes it to puff out.

You Gain Weight & Crave Junk Food

Staying up late makes you feel hungry during the night and random times of the day, doesn’t it? That is because your body cannot regulate properly your ghrelin and leptin, the hormones that are responsible for your appetite, which causes you to eat more than you normally do. Junk food and other unhealthy food is something you will crave for in this state because your lack of sleep and good judgment will cause your desires to take over.

Can’t Function Without Caffeine in Your System

You begin to think that coffee and soda are what your body needs to function properly for the day. Because these two have a way of making you feel alert and awake, you take it. But bear in mind that too much of it will actually cause insomnia and make you more prone to anxiety.

Your Emotions Are All Over the Place

You may find yourself too emotional at times. This may include your unending moodiness, lack of motivation to do anything, the feeling of loneliness, and may also be the start of the depression. You’ll feel stressed and mentally exhausted all the time that your emotional well-being suffers. Good sleep promotes emotional resilience, and when you don’t get enough of it, the simplest of things will easily get you irritated.

Your Memory Feels Dim & You Find Difficulty in Learning

You tend to forget easily, and learning new concepts is exceptionally hard than it used to be. Because your lack of good sleep is tied to how your brain performs, it is affected whenever you don’t give it enough time to rest and prepare for the upcoming day ahead.

You Fall Asleep Immediately at Random Places

It may seem quite contradictory, but it’s not! Because you are running out of fuel from not having enough sleep at night, that you are bound to finding yourself having the urge to fall asleep wherever you may be.

How Much Sleep Do I need

How Much Sleep Should You Be Getting?

Each individual has his/her preferred sleeping duration, but health-wise, there exists the recommended number of hours that one should adhere to in order to get that good quality sleep. The quality and quantity of sleep are vital because it is through this that you are able to perform better and be more productive in your work or studies.

The National Sleep Foundation, with their group of sleep experts and other specialists in science, medicine, and physiology, conducted a study that aimed to find out what is the appropriate sleep duration of a person that resulted to the following:

  • Newborns:  between 14 and 17 hours
  • Infants:  between 12 and 15 hours
  • Toddlers:   between 11 and 14 hours
  • Preschoolers: between 10 and 13 hours
  • School-aged Children:  between 9 and 11 hours
  • Teenagers:  between 8 and 10 hours
  • Young Adults & Adults:  between 7 and 9 hours
  • Older adults: between 7 and 8 hours

Although what feels best for you is the way to go because you know yourself better than anyone else, it is still essential to take into consideration that sufficient sleeping hours will help you avoid getting serious health problems in the future.

How to Re-prioritize Your Sleep?

Now, that you are able to learn how much quantity of hours of sleep you should be getting every day, it is imperative that you be able to re-prioritize your sleep by following these simple steps:

Improve Your Time Management

You should be able to manage your time wisely by doing whatever needs to be done as soon as possible. By giving yourself a strict schedule and getting sleep at the appropriate time, you will find yourself more productive and alert the next day that you can pick up where you left off in the thing that you are doing when you haven’t finished it yet. This will also help you create a good body-clock that will naturally signal you to sleep at once and wake up at the desired time.

Nap If You Can!

When you find yourself doing nothing, a little power nap won’t hurt! By getting a few minutes of nap time will enable you to re-energize yourself and be more productive.

Create A Nice Sleeping Environment

For you to be able to sleep nice and soundly, a good sleeping environment will help you sleep faster. This may be in the form of adding soothing music in your room, having scented candles, or even just having someplace that isn’t noisy, do whatever that suits your taste.

Find Yourself the Best Mattress to Lie On

Nothing beats a nice and comfortable bed just to get you that good rest that you’ve been waiting for. We, The Mattress Reviews, can find you the best mattress that will help you sleep better, feel better and work better! we can help you choose the best bed you can ever imagine yourself in on our website. We offer recommendations based on the firmness level you want– firm or soft mattress, based on your budget – best affordable mattresses or best top-of-the-line premium mattresses. 

Whatever type of sleeper you are – back sleeper, side sleeper, stomach sleeper or a mix – we got you covered with our hands-on reviews!

Get Your Family on Board

Wouldn’t it be more fun if you had your family in on it, too! You can arrange sleeping dates or slumber parties to have that nice quality time with your family. You can even find them their own comfy and matching beds by heading on our website and look for online mattresses and mattress reviews that will undoubtedly fit their liking.

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