How much sleep is enough?

What qualifies as a goods night sleep? This is different for everyone but researchers have found that the average number of hours an adult should sleep per night is around 8. That being said some people need as little as six hours while others feel they need nine. The best indicator of if you are getting enough sleep is how you function the next day. If after six hours sleep you wake feeling unrefreshed and experience high levels of daytime tiredness then there is a fair chance that you could do with an extra hour or so per night.

In our society it has become somewhat of a badge of honour to apparently be able to get by on little sleep. Many influentual figures in society have stated they get by on very little sleep. Margaret Thatcher reportedly survived on 4 hours per night and our current PM Kevin Rudd is said to have as little as 3 hours per night. Perhaps we need to take these reported levels of sleep with a grain of salt as they may be used to promote the idea they are hard working and motivated or perhaps it is simply that work interferes with getting an adequate amount of sleep. Not getting enough sleep is a reality for many people not just politicians.

When people have ample opportunity to sleep but have difficulty initiating sleep or maintaining sleep it is described as insomnia. Approximately one third of the population will experience insomnia at some stage during their life. Mostly it is caused by an acute phase in their life such as stress, jet lag, or medical condition and resolves quickly. For others the problem can be ongoing and is thus described as chronic insomnia.

This sleep deprivation can cause impaired judgement, accidents, and mood swings. It is important to establish if there is a reason why enough sleep is not being achieved. It may be due to lifestyle, work, illness, sleeping environment or sleep hygiene.

Sleep hygiene refers to the habits that are established around sleep. Sometimes these habits are reinforced over years and have a disruptive effect on sleep. Recently the partner of a poor sleeper told me they have the TV on all night and her husband wakes several times a night not being able to get back to sleep so has the laptop close to the bed and can spend hour on the Internet. This is not uncommon and is an example of bad habits that have built up over the years having a negative impact not only on the individual but also the bed partner.

Take a look at the sleep hygiene download from our website to see if there is anything you can do to improve your sleep.

Jessica