An adequate amount of sleep is considered essential to our mental and physical well-being, and yet too often it is little understood. Sleep experts from Adjustable Beds have carried out research on some popular misunderstandings:
”¯You can function efficiently on a few hours of sleep a night. Although the National Institution of Health has reported that there is a rare, mutated gene that can support this theory, it is an infrequent”¯case. It”™s common to see motivational TikTokers and celebrities claim that they don”™t need much sleep.”¯Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson said”¯in an interview with Variety that he functions just fine on three to five hours of sleep a night. However, unless the individual has the previously mentioned mutated gene, working efficiently on a few hours’ sleep has proven to be a myth. ”¯
”¯Indeed, individuals who claim to function normally on very little hours of sleep could just actually be unaware of the impairment, because when people are sleep-deprived their ability to assess their own performance accurately decreases. So they may not realize how many mistakes they are making. ”¯According to a 2018 study by the Sleep Research Society that examined more than 10,000 people”™s sleeping habits, getting four hours of sleep a night is equivalent to adding eight years of aging to the participants”™ brains.”¯
”¯Sleeping less makes you thin. This is based on the idea that the less you sleep, the more active you are, burning more calories. However, less sleep not only does not help you lose weight; it can have the opposite effect. ”¯
”¯The Harvard Medical School found that the amount of sleep a person gets affects certain hormones, including leptin and ghrelin, which control feelings of fullness and hunger respectively. When you don”™t get enough sleep, the leptin levels decrease so that you feel somewhat empty even after eating, while the ghrelin levels increase, making you crave more food. ”¯
”¯The less you sleep, the more susceptible you are to gaining weight.
”¯Counting sheep makes you fall asleep quicker. Counting sheep, said to be derived from medieval shepherds, has made Serta commercials memorable. But scientists at Oxford University said that counting sheep might bore sleepers too much and cause a distraction. Instead, their study found that imagining tranquil scenes, such as waterfalls or beaches, can make you fall asleep 20 minutes faster than counting sheep.”¯
”¯Napping is lazy. This idea is culture-dependent. In Spain, a daytime siesta is typically a chance for workers to beat the midday heat and rest. ”¯
”¯Research by the American Heart Association finds that napping can bring lots of benefits such as improved attention, memory and performance at work. Getting into a deep stage of sleep by napping too long or too late in the day, however, can”¯disrupt sleep patterns. The recommendation is to keep naps to under 30 minutes and earlier in the afternoon, around lunch time. ”¯
”¯Never wake a”¯sleepwalker.”¯Although a sleepwalker may have no memory or be difficult to wake up, Scientific American research found that the individual will not die or go into shock if you do wake him/her. A sleepwalker can be disoriented and defensive when woken up but similar to waking someone up in bed. Observers are encouraged to wake up a sleepwalker, particularly as driving, leaving gas burners on and falling down the stairs are all examples of severe sleepwalking activities. ”¯
Key to a good night”™s sleep can be the just-right temperature, which includes the just-right bedding. Sleep experts at”¯Bed Kingdom”¯have outlined the ideal duvet for each season and how to choose the right one for year-round quality sleep.
”¯Duvets are often classified by their tog rating, which stands for “thermal overall grade,” and is a measure of how effectively a material traps heat.”¯
”¯With duvets, tog ratings range between 1 to 15, with those on the low end of the scale signaling duvets that are more lightweight and cooler, while those on the high end represent duvets that tend to be heavier and more insulating.
”¯It”™s important to consider other relevant factors, including sensitivity to heat or cold, bedroom insulation and the age of the person using the duvet, before making a choice, especially as duvet purchases are usually less frequent than other bedding purchases.
The recommended duvet tog ratings for each season are as follows ”“ spring, ”¯7 to 10.5 tog; summer, 1 to 4.5 tog; autumn, 7 to 10.5 tog; and winter, 12 to 15 tog.
”¯According to Bed Kingdom, having a duvet that keeps your body at the appropriate temperature throughout each season can significantly improve your sleep quality, leading to improved physical health, mental acuity, mood and productivity throughout the day. But for many people, it is infeasible to own a separate duvet for each season due to storage and financial constraints. However, if possible, Bed Kingdom recommended having at least two separate duvets to ensure optimum sleep conditions as temperatures change throughout the year.
”¯A duvet with a tog rating between 4.5 and 7.5 is good for the warmer spring and summer months, the company said, while a second duvet with a tog rating between 10.5 and 15 would be the best choice for the colder autumn and winter months.
