Sleep is a healing process in our body that restores the spirit and relieves fatigue. About one-third of a person's life is spent in sleep, and sleep is essential for our health, but what exactly is the "best time to sleep"?
In fact, there are mainly 2 questions: First, how long do you sleep? Second, when do you sleep?
The "Best Time to Sleep" is out
Sleep more and sleep less will lose your life
A 2021 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association online revealed the relationship between sleep duration and overall mortality among adults in Japan, China, Singapore, and South Korea, with persistent sleep deprivation and persistent hypersleep leading to increased mortality, with 7 hours being the "optimal sleep time." [1]
Overall, there was a "J-shaped association" between sleep duration and all-cause mortality – 7 hours of sleep was the lowest point associated with all-cause, cardiovascular, and other causes of death.
Association between sleep duration and all-cause mortality in men
In men, sleeping more than this value per night, such as 8, 9, and 10 hours, increases all-cause mortality by 9%, 18%, and 43%, respectively, compared with 7 hours of sleep; Less than 5 hours of sleep also increased all-cause mortality by 16%.
Association between sleep duration and all-cause mortality in women
In women, sleeping 1 hour more or 1 hour less than 7 hours of sleep per night is associated with increased all-cause mortality.
Shockingly, the damage to health from sleeping too long is even greater. All-cause mortality was maximally increased by 43% and 55% when sleep was up to 10 hours or more, in both men and women. [1]
What is the best time to fall asleep and wake up?
In November 2021, researchers such as the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom published a study in the European Heart Journal Digital Health, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology, showing that 10:00~10:59 pm is the best time to fall asleep. Because sleeping at 10:00~10:59 pm can reduce the risk of heart disease, people who fall asleep in the middle of the night or later have the highest risk. [2]
Studies have found that people who fall asleep at midnight or later have the highest incidence, while those who fall asleep between 10:00~10:59 p.m. have the lowest risk of cardiovascular disease.
Specifically, those who fell asleep at 11:00~11:59 p.m. had a 12% higher risk of cardiovascular disease, those who fell asleep at midnight or later had a 25% higher risk of cardiovascular disease, and those who fell asleep before 10:00 p.m. had a 24% higher risk compared to falling asleep at 10:00 p.m.
The best time to fall asleep is available, so what is the best time to wake up?
"Healthy China Action" recommends that Chinese adults sleep for an average of 7~8 hours a day. If you can fall asleep between 10~11 p.m., then after 7~8 hours of sleep, the time to get up is 6~7 a.m.!
I want to have the best quality of sleep
Learn these 6 methods
How can I have a good night's sleep? Many people are often troubled by difficulty falling asleep, insomnia, and repeated dreams. You can try these 6 good ways to improve sleep quality and help sleep. [3]
Learn to make melatonin fluctuations
To create a bedroom suitable for sleeping, the environment is quiet and dark, and at a room temperature of about 20°C, be sure to use blackout curtains. Too much light exposure can cause our melatonin production to decrease, which may lead to a decrease in the quality of your sleep.
The first thing to do when you wake up in the morning is to open the curtains, create melatonin fluctuations, let the body know that during the day, we can't sleep when there is light, and at night, when the curtains are pulled, we can sleep well again when it is dark.
Don't eat too late for dinner
Many people like to eat late-night snacks, which is not good. Eat too late, after which our blood sugar will rise, so that people will be more excited and make it difficult for us to fall asleep. Really hungry before going to bed, we don't eat high-sugar and high-carb food, you can drink a glass of hot milk.
Exercise appropriately every day
Exercise is a good habit, especially proper exercise, for our cardiovascular and cerebrovascular, control of the "three highs" are very good. But remember, don't exercise before bedtime, try to exercise three hours before going to bed. Either the whole body is in a state of relative excitement and it is difficult to fall asleep.
Do relaxing things before bed
Relaxation is not about playing games or swiping your phone. We can take a hot bath, read a book and so on. I have a friend who improves sleep just like this, put the phone in the living room at 9 o'clock, set it to silent, thunder does not move, does not look at the phone, does not deal with things, after a period of conditioning, not only sleep has improved, even anxiety and depression state has also improved very obviously!
Maintain a daily biological clock
A regular schedule is very important. We have to sleep at a fixed time every day, say 10 o'clock every night, and our body will slowly adapt to this time point. Remember that this rhythm should be maintained all the time, and the same is true on weekends, do not sleep lazy on weekends, usually get up early to go to work, the biological clock is disordered, insomnia is difficult to treat.
Even if we occasionally work overtime, we must be like this, no matter how late we go to bed, or get up at a fixed time, so that our biological clock is stable.
Can't sleep and try meditation
If you can't sleep lying down, we can try meditation, which is a common method used by psychologists. Throwing away those cluttered thoughts and imagining yourself soaking up the sun on the beach, admiring the view at the peaks, or even counting the sheep one by one, it's all something to try.
bibliography
[1] Svensson T, Saito E, Svensson AK, et al. Association of Sleep Duration With All- and Major-Cause Mortality Among Adults in Japan, China, Singapore, and Korea. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(9):e2122837. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.22837
[2] Accelerometer-derived sleep onset timing and cardiovascular disease incidence：a UK Biobank cohort study
https://academic.oup.com/ehjdh/article/2/4/658/6423198?login=false
[3] 2022-12-05People's Daily Health Client "Chen Chen Brain Doctor" "6 Sleep Aids Friends Must Know for Insomnia! 》
Source: People's Daily Health Client