Sleep latencyThere’s few things in this world as satisfying as a good night’s sleep. We all know that. But with sleeplessness becoming a bigger issue – statistics show that a third of us globally experience insomnia, and 80 per cent of us want to improve our sleep – it seems like many of us simply aren’t getting enough.
But why, exactly, is sleep so important? What are the health benefits, and what does a good night’s slumber really look like? Here, we share some of the facts.
Why is sleep so important?
While the wellness industry is abuzz with different techniques we can implement to promote longevity, one of the most important, often overlooked, factors of living a longer, healthier and happier life is sleep. Available to all of us, a good night’s sleep helps our bodies maintain homeostasis – or a constant state of balance – while being able to cope with, and thrive through, the daily challenges life throws at us. Vital for all aspects of our health, when we sleep well, each of our bodily systems work better.
The benefits of healthy sleep
Some of the benefits of healthy sleep include improved cognitive function – think clearer thinking and better decision making – better emotional regulation, thanks to healthier functioning of mood-regulating neurotransmitters, and strengthened immunity. Sleeping well also helps improve our gut health and digestion, optimises our hormones, reduces our risk of cardiovascular disease and helps our bodies recover and regenerate, which ultimately leads to slower age-related decline. Sleep is also a time of detoxification, during which our brain clears out the toxins that we accumulate throughout the day, and which can cause brain fog at best, and neurodegenerative disease at worst.
Fundamentally, sleep is crucial for living healthily and well, so it’s important we prioritise it.
What does healthy sleep actually look like?
Scientists spent years working on a definition for healthy sleep, but in 2017 came up with a set of criteria that demonstrate the different tenets of healthy sleep:
Sleep latency
Falling asleep within 30 minutes after you’ve switched off the lights is considered optimal.
Awakening
Deep, uninterrupted sleep with no more than one wake up each night (twice for elderly people) is good.
Wake after sleep onset (WASO)
If you wake up during the night, the combined time spent awake shouldn’t exceed 20 minutes, which is referred to as WASO. If you’re elderly, this threshold becomes 30 minutes or less.
Sleep efficiency
Referring to the percentage of time spent asleep compared to the total time spent in bed, your sleep efficiency score should be at least 85%.
Sleep quantity
The quality of our sleep may be one of the most important factors when considering how well we slept, but it’s not always the easiest to track. Good quality sleep consists of REM and NREM, the latter which – depending on which phase you’re in – includes both light sleep and deep sleep. While REM is a time in which we dream – when our brains detoxify, solidify memories and work out problems – deep sleep is when our body works to heal, restore, remove waste and replenish its energy stores. (157)
One of the best, most accessible ways we can track our sleep is using a device, such as an Oura ring, FitBit, Apple Watch or Whoop strap. They can give us helpful insight into our sleep duration, stages, movement patterns and efficiency, which can help inform how we approach our sleep routine.