Ever stayed up late at night just to do some work left undone or cry yourself out all through the night until you realize its morning again? Whether because of stress or personal problem, these late-night disturbances force us to function on 4-5 hours of sleep. We listed down tips on how you can maximize the minimal sleep you had and use it to your advantage.
Sleep Recommendation
According to research, the body’s ability to function decreases if 7-8 hours of sleep is not attained. The overall ability to think and use verbal and reasoning skills weren’t at its full capacity. More than 1/3 of American adults are not getting enough sleep on a regular basis.
The National Sleep Foundation made a recommendation on the duration of sleep for healthy people:
- Newborns: 14 to 17 hours
- Infants: 12 to 15 hours
- Toddlers: 11 to 14 hours
- Preschoolers: 10 to 13 hours
- School-aged children: 9 to 11 hours
- Teenagers: 8 to 10 hours
- Young adults: 7 to 9 hours
- Adults: 7 to 9 hours
- Older adults: 7 to 8 hours
The immediate effects of limited sleep are excessive sleepiness, yawning, lack of concentration or focus, irritability, daytime fatigue, forgetfulness and anxiety. These symptoms may worsen the longer you go about your day without getting sleep. Some people even reports experiencing hallucinations.
Heath Risk Due to Lack of Sleep
Brain performance is lessened
Researchers found that there is a remarkable decrease in the thinking ability for people who have severe sleep deprivation or sleep no more than 4 hours at night.
Risk for Diabetes
Sleeping too little or too much was found to increase risk of having Diabetes. Sleep affects your blood sugar levels and your blood glucose control. Sleeplessness increase your appetite while reducing your level of satiety make you crave for carbohydrates and sugary foods.
Early Death
Chronic sleep deprivation can actually cause you to die early.
Heart Disease
The insufficient sleep can increase your risk of having a cardiovascular disease particularly, heart attack. Researches show that sleeping less than 5 hours at night for at least 2-3x a week may likely lead to having a heart attack.
What You Should Do:
Exercise – Force yourself to get up every day and exercise. You can have a 30-minute run in the morning. A 30-minute run is equivalent to 2 hours of sleep. Sweating will make you feel refreshed, sharper and alert at work. It’s as if you had a complete sleep the day before.
Cold Shower – It is best to follow exercise with a cold shower. It drives your adrenaline and increases your mood, alertness and energy. It is good enough to get by through the day.
Cup of Coffee – anyone who works overnight knows that Caffeine helps in boost your concentration and mental awareness. While a cup or two won’t hurt, remember that too much coffee can be harmful and has a different effect on a person’s body.
Do the most important task in the Morning – Less sleep means you will have difficulty in focusing on the tasks that you may have at work. It is during mornings where our energy level is at its peak. Prioritize your tasks and do it in the morning. Expect a drop on your energy level as the day go by.
Eat light, healthy meals and snacks – aside from sleep, food has a great contribution on our energy levels. It is our fuel for the day especially when we are operating on little sleep. It is recommended to consume foods that has complex carbohydrates and protein. These two are good sources of energy.
Drink Lots of Water – Be sure to drink lots of water throughout the day. The decrease amount of sleep can cause you to lose some body fluids. Drinking water helps regain the fluids lost and makes you feel stronger during the day.
Quick Nap – Allow yourself to have a quick afternoon nap. A nap can go a long way. Consider having at least 30-minutes of short sleep. This allows your brain to rewire and boost your alertness. It also lessens the effects of lack of sleep.
Take a Walk – taking a walk can reduces your sleepiness. Having a short break by going outside for a few minutes of walk can change your mood and make you feel inspired.
Sleep Hacks
There are different ways that a person could have a better sleep. Improving your sleep routine can make you sleep faster which means that you’ll have more time to rest. The National Sleep Foundation recommends:
- Try doing some gentle yoga poses or spend a few minutes meditating. This calms your mind and body and make you feel relaxed.
- Lessen your screen time. Limit your exposure to the blue light from your phone, tablet and laptop. Removing this from your bedtime routine is an effective way of sleeping faster.
- Skip Caffeine and alcohol in the evening. We all know that caffeine and alcohol boost your energy which is definitely not needed at nighttime.
- Eat dinner earlier in the evening.
- Try a natural sleep aid. There are different herbs and supplements that its main purpose is to improve a person’s ability to sleep. As long as these are organic supplements, there is no need to worry.
- Use a calming scent (lavender or chamomile essential oil) in a diffuser. It relaxes a person’s mind and body making you sleep faster than usual.
- Use a white noise machine or calming music. White noises are effective in regulating the sounds around you. It makes you focus on the music alone and you will not realize that you are already asleep.
- Regulate the room temperature. A too hot or too cold bedroom can either make you sleep faster or does not make you sleep at all. Finding the right temperature for you makes you comfortable and easier to sleep.
- Embrace the darkness. This might be the most effective one. Darkness triggers something in our body that makes it want to sleep and relax. It is like a light switch that rests when the light is turn off.