Why does a person sleep more than 8 hours? Where did the myth about “8 hours of sleep” come from, and how much sleep do you really need? Heart, you don’t want peace...

Research says it takes about 10,000 hours to become proficient at something. Considering that the average life expectancy today is about 78 years, and that we spend a third of our lives sleeping, it turns out that a person is capable of mastering the art of sleep twenty times in his life.

So why do so many people today have trouble sleeping? And why aren't they taking it more seriously? In fact, many people don't think about sleep. Our body usually forces us to sleep if we don't have enough of it. It's an involuntary fact of life. But not always.

Somewhere between 50 and 70 million Americans suffer from sleep deprivation, but ask them why and they'll probably say they don't know. For some reason I can’t fall asleep, sleep longer, or for some reason I don’t have enough time to rest.

Fortunately, sleep is still a kind of science, and there are formulas for success and formulas for failure. This means that there are steps to improve it.

Firstly, It's important to dispel the myth of the ideal eight hours. Roger Ekirch from University of Technology Virginia at the end of the last century published a study from which it follows: traditionally, people slept in two stages, with a break. Perhaps this was necessary - waking up in the middle of the night allowed you to do other important things: add wood to the fire, keep an eye on whether someone is robbing you, pray, go to the toilet, and even reproduce. Only in recent years One hundred we switched and began to sleep all night.

Given all this, it makes sense to tie your daily biorhythms to a more traditional reference point - the sun. Going to bed around sunset and waking up around dawn leads to greater productivity and creativity. If you wake up just an hour earlier, this gives you as much as 15 extra days of conscious existence in a year.

What about improving sleep quality??

There is also science here. A 2002 study found that people who sleep less than 5 hours a day have noticeable cognitive decline. For those who slept 5-7 hours, cognitive abilities initially fell, and then stabilized over time, although at a level below normal. And those who slept at least 9 hours a night continued to function cognitively at the maximum level.

To do this, it is important to practice what any normal scientist or doctor would recommend - hygiene. Sleep hygiene relies on a number of factors, and the more you use them, the better rested you will be and the more alert you will feel in the morning.

Some tips:

— Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day to set your daily biorhythm.

- Use the bed only for sleep and sex to mentally prepare yourself for this.

— Keep the bedroom cool and dimly lit.

- Avoid eating anything heavy, consuming caffeine, alcohol and nicotine close to bedtime.

— Avoid all screens for several hours before bed, especially those that glow in the blue spectrum (smartphones, TVs).

— Drink plenty of fluids, but don’t drink right before bed.

- What if you woke up? Be gentle with yourself, don’t stress too much about this. Do something relaxing—read something light or drink some decaffeinated tea.

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It has long been believed that lack of sleep is much worse than malnutrition, a sedentary lifestyle and chronic stress. The latest research may be surprising, but it can't be ignored—and can even be dangerous to your health.

What doctors used to advise an adult as the best remedy for chronic fatigue, seasonal illness or work overload? That's right, get enough sleep. That is, sleep as much as the body wants. And certainly no less than 8-9 hours. Moreover, some world-famous beauties reported that one of the recipes for their eternal youth is precisely long sleep. Regular.

Long sleep is worse than lack of sleep

And here’s the sudden news: sleeping more than 8 hours turns out to be very harmful. Sometimes it's deadly! And it’s better to sleep no more than 7 hours. Professor Sean Youngstedt from Arizona, who studies the influence of sleep on the human body, has found out through many experiments: people who sleep no more than seven hours a day have the lowest threshold for morbidity and mortality, given the same other initial conditions as other study participants. California psychiatrist Daniel Kripke confirmed these findings by conducting similar trials involving more than a million volunteers over six years.

Memory doesn't like extra sleep

Among the list of adverse health consequences of long sleep is cognitive function: with excess sleep, memory deteriorates, and the ability to acquire new knowledge and skills sharply decreases. The researchers consider these results to be comparable in negative consequences to the data that was obtained from a group of chronically sleep-deprived patients. The best cognitive indicators were detected within the boundaries of a seven-hour night's rest. Small adjustments in one direction or another depend on age, lifestyle and existing diseases and are considered insignificant.

Have you gained weight? Start getting up earlier

Those at risk from excess sleep include people prone to diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. Of course, reducing your rest hours will not cure you of existing diseases, but it is one of the factors that prevents the above troubles, among other important prevention methods. The risk of developing such diseases with prolonged sleep increases by 20–25 percent.

Just a couple of hours before depression and stroke

If you are in a bad mood, it is tempting to fall into bed, take a sedative, and fall into a long, supposedly therapeutic sleep. However, returning to the waking world does not bring relief - this has also been proven by research. In addition, it has been found that sleeping more than eight hours can greatly increase the likelihood of developing a stroke, by as much as 50 percent!

More sleep means more severe migraines

Excessive sleep provokes migraines - it would seem that the healing effect of sleep for headaches is confirmed by the practice and experience of many women. Yes, it’s women – they are the ones who most often complain about causeless and sudden headaches. That's right, sleep will help a lot - but only if we are talking about a moderate amount of it. Otherwise, you are 30 to 35 percent more likely to be at risk for chronic migraines.

Heart, you don’t want peace...

Among other studies, studies involving almost 100,000 people were conducted to determine the relationship between long sleep and heart disease. The relationship has been established: long sleep increases the risk of heart disease by 40 percent. Doctors continue to discover the secret of this connection.

The spine doesn't like to sleep

Another unpleasant pattern: longer sleep means worse spinal health. Of course, we are not talking about cases where immobility is caused by injuries. If you are generally healthy, long-term passive lying and sleeping are strictly contraindicated for your spine.

Alzheimer's comes in a dream

It is not yet possible to confirm this with absolute probability, but Spanish scientists are conducting relevant research and putting forward a hypothesis: those who liked to sleep longer in their youth, in old age - if they live to it - are on average twice as likely to suffer from dementia, dementia and Alzheimer's disease .

Longer sleep - shorter life

Yes, this is exactly how one can formulate the results of many studies and doctors’ conclusions regarding long sleep. Russian somnologist Grigory Argunovich emphasizes that the most dangerous disorders for health are “malicious” disorders: intermittent sleep, lack of routine, tendency to oversleep or attempts to sleep “for future use.” Blood pressure jumps, the risk of thrombosis increases, muscles atrophy.

Do you want to live a long life, be of sound mind and have good memory? Sleep no more than seven hours a night.

Toss around in bed as if in a frying pan, look at the ceiling, doze off (finally!) with an uneasy sleep, only to wake up an hour later and realize that you don’t want to sleep at all. Sounds familiar? Well, not everyone can handle the “proper” eight-hour sleep. This review will tell you why it’s not as scary as many people think.
In the early 90s, psychiatrist Thomas Wehr conducted a large-scale experiment: he locked a group of young people (with their permission, of course) for a month and plunged them into complete darkness for 14 hours every day. It’s like “Dom-2” in the horror genre. The goal was to find out what sleep rhythm would be developed in such a situation. It turned out that soon almost all the experimental subjects began to behave the same way: they fell asleep for 4 hours, then woke up for 2 hours, and then fell asleep again for another 4. Here you have the “natural” eight-hour cycle.
It turned out that such behavior is not new at all. This was confirmed by historians Roger Ekirch and Virginia Tech. In 2001 they completed their treatise 16 years long. Over the years, scientists have collected hundreds of historical references to sleep in different eras in order to better understand the normal daily routine of our ancestors.
As it turned out, some 200-300 years ago, a standard evening for most Europeans looked like this: at sunset, pull on your cap and crawl under the covers, sleep for a couple of hours, and then wake up. And for several hours in a row, do whatever you want: from playing chess and fulfilling marital duties to visiting neighbors. And then - again “bainki”, already before dawn. “Interrupted Dream” in an engraving from 1595. Thus, scientists with a “collective mind” came to the conclusion that sleep, divided into two halves, was the norm for people for many centuries. And there was nothing wrong with waking up in the middle of the night. And in general, the night was “dark and full of horrors,” so there was no reason for honest citizens to wander around on the street. Although, of course, there were no lamps at home. So I had to sleep. But the period from sunset to dawn was too long for the human body, so we had to wake up.
Street lighting changed everything. The situation began to change in the 17th century, when lighting came to the streets of the first cities. Paris, as expected, took the lead: street lights with wax candles appeared here in 1667. Since then, the night has turned from a complete “taboo” into additional time for entertainment and communication. And people began to sleep less.
Technology and natural sleep don't mix well. Technological progress has increasingly displaced sleep from human life. Staying awake at night became fashionable and bohemian, and every hour in the arms of Morpheus was considered hopelessly snatched from life. From a whim for the rich, this belief grew into social norm. And already in 1829, a medical leaflet was published in Europe, in which doctors recommended that parents not let their children “sleep intermittently,” as their grandparents did. It’s better to put them to bed later, but wake them up exactly after 8 hours.
This is how the number 8 became firmly entrenched in our lives and began to dictate its own rules. Modern science frightens with the facts that adults who sleep less than 6 hours a day thereby increase their risk of premature death by 12%. But at the same time, he often forgets to remind that it is not necessary to “squeeze out” the entire eight in a row. And waking up in the middle of the night or sleeping in two portions is the norm.

Individual experiment - The diary was carried out all week from Monday to Sunday, the purpose of which was to identify the pros, cons and conclusions of such a sleep regimen of 8 hours a day, as is usually I sleep 3-5 hours per day, through mental presentation and maintaining a schedule with hourly assessments. Everyone will make individual conclusions for themselves. I can only give advice from myself, which will be found throughout the article.

Why guess? It's time to check!

Day one (working)

From Sunday to Monday I slept 8 hours (from 23:28 to 7:30).

The state in the first 10-20 minutes was no different from sleep at 5 o’clock (I want to sleep and set the alarm clock 10 minutes later; everything is as usual). After 20 minutes the body recovered faster. Strength comes quickly when you sleep 8 hours.

For half a day the condition is stable. Apparently 8 hours of sleep gives a positive result in stabilizing the entire body as a whole. There are no desires for thoughtless actions. Basically, the behavior is inert and stable. No headache, no nausea. Another advantage noticed is that there is no sensation in the eyes foreign body and discomfort, which usually occurs with 3 hours of sleep in many people.

Response to the world fast, but there are no significant differences with reduced sleep. Sometimes it even happens the other way around. The response is fast and clear in the state when you sleep less than 8 hours a day.

Advice!Do you want to get some sleep? Go to sleep!

Feeling of creative failure. There is no desire to create, invent, or work. Just a good, stable mood that does not change throughout the day. I usually drew almost every day, or at least felt like it. Today I have no desire to draw.

Since I am a relatively calm person, the response to stress from the outside did not radiate a negative emotional component into the world around me.

During the day sleep, in particular at lunchtime, They don’t shade. There is also no need to close your eyes and relieve tension.

The migraine or tic in the upper eyelid of the left eye, which was present on Sunday, is no longer observed.

Tormented by a migraine, tic, nervous or emotionally overloaded state?

The first thing you need to do is get some sleep! If you can’t sleep, then take sedatives, for example, water or milk with honey. You can buy valerian or, as a last resort, a weak sleeping pill at a pharmacy; no one has yet prohibited it.

I began to notice that by 17:30 “movement” appeared in the physical and mental areas of my body. This is characterized by sharper movements compared to the past and the ability to quickly respond to new information coming from outside.

The latest feature for today is sleepy already at 23:00.

Day two (working)

From Monday to Tuesday I slept 8 hours (from 23:50 to 8:10).

I noticed that I became more sensitive sleep. Micro-awakenings occur 3 times a night for everyday reasons, for example, a truck passing by the house. Another feature during these two days is that I began to consistently have one short dream every night, which was completely forgotten in the first 15 minutes after waking up. And only after this time the brain begins to remember what it saw and put together a picture.

The condition is worse than yesterday. That is, more time is needed to fully awaken. Again, I want to set an alarm for a later time. All movements are smooth and not rushed.

The middle of the day (13:00) goes better than yesterday, as a small, but “moving” appears. You don’t want to pump up your body with strong tea.

His condition is stable, the same as on Monday. Any urge to destabilize internal and external peace is suppressed by the body itself. There is no headache, no nausea. The response to the outside world is as good as yesterday. At lunch I don't want to sleep. I don’t want to eat because 5 hour sleep mode. This is logically explained by the fact that our body, when lacking sleep, sends a signal to the brain that we need to take energy for our body in order to continue a full-fledged existence.

Do you want to lose weight?

Sleep 8 hours a day!

There is no creative impulse, although sometimes thoughts of creating something like that flash through, but are almost instantly suppressed by the body, like a headache or other urges.

I began to notice the peak in the world around me again at 5:30 p.m., just like yesterday. Although it arrived at 18:30 desire to sleep and end this day in dreams, which was not observed on Monday. At 20:30 the second peak in the afternoon, and at 23:00 already I really want to sleep.

I fell asleep in about 15 minutes, although before that day it usually happened in 1-5 minutes. I had to use one trick to quickly go to sleep. It helped.

Day three (working)

From Tuesday to Wednesday I slept 8 hours (from 23:00 to 7:20).

The condition is similar to Monday, that is, 15 minutes after getting up I quickly “come to my senses.” This is a better day compared to Monday and Tuesday in terms of well-being.

Stable condition no headache. My left eye began to hurt from visual strain due to working at the computer for a long time. It was enough to sit with your eyes closed for a minute and do the exercise for one minute, and the pain went away and no longer made itself felt throughout the day. This means that the body is able to recover faster when sleeps 7-9 hours a day.

Do your eyes hurt from overexertion?

Do simple exercises, one of which relieves fatigue in a matter of minutes! Relax all the muscles of your face, close your eyes tightly and open them, blinking frequently. Repeat this 5 times. You will immediately notice that the sharpness and clarity of vision has improved.

In the middle of the day, I spent 20-30 minutes scribbling in a notebook. Not to say that there was a strong desire to draw, but there was also no complete absence, as on other days.

I remember the third day as the smoothest and most stable in terms of well-being compared to Monday and Tuesday, which is reflected in my schedule. There was no peak of activity at all, and I didn’t want to sleep even at 11 o’clock in the evening, although at 18:00 I wanted to sleep and my health suddenly deteriorated, which lasted no more than 30 minutes.

I went to bed because this was due to the rules and principles of this experiment. I couldn't sleep about 10 minutes. Just like yesterday, I had to mentally help myself fall asleep.

Day four (working)

From Wednesday to Thursday I slept 8 hours (from 23:55 to 8:20).

Slept compared to other days, not strong. I saw more than 4 different dreams that I vaguely remember.

On this fourth day the most quick awakening. Within 5 minutes I already felt invigorated and quickly responded to the surrounding factors caused by the world outside me.

All these days I feel like a person who is almost or completely no different from other people inhabiting planet Earth. On the one hand, it’s good, but for me personally, 80% of it is bad, since there is no downloading of otherworldly information from completely different and different dimensions.

At 13:00 the body began to send signals for pain in the upper part of the head. This situation was corrected by taking two cups of black tea. Apparently there wasn't enough caffeine, which stimulates brain function.

Are you worried about headaches?

Drink a glass of lukewarm water first! In 50% of cases it helps, and you always have time to take the pill.

At 15:00 to 15:30 the activity of behavior and response to what is happening around is reduced. Most likely, this is the time that is caused by one of the time holes when the body’s activity decreases for some time.

In the evening I didn't want to sleep at all. Full wakefulness until 23:00. Went to bed at 11:10 pm. Fell asleep within 10 minutes.

Day five (working)

From Thursday to Friday I slept 8 hours (from 23:10 to 7:30).

Feels like I slept for 4 hours. I had a slight headache and I really wanted to sleep. As always, after a cold shower and a mug of pu-erh tea, the body quickly stabilizes, but the feeling of lying down and sleeping still does not leave for about one hour.

The reaction is inhibited, but the movements that need to be performed are all clear and coordinated. The peak of activity occurs at 15:00, and at 16:00 hyperactivity is noticed with attacks of “ha-hasheches” and at 18:00 a sharp decrease to a state similar to the morning rise, with slight pain in the frontal part of the head, which disappears within 10- 15 minutes.

This day is very similar to those when I usually sleep 3-5 hours a day. The only plus is that the body quickly recovers after sleep and acts as a blocker of negative effects in all forms that we know. Feels tired and depressed central nervous system(CNS). Perhaps this is due to the fact that it is the end of the working week.

Zero creative mood. Worse than Monday and that's why I I go to bed, sitting in front of the computer at 00:20. Fell asleep quickly, almost instantly.

Day six (day off)

From Friday to Saturday I slept 9 hours (from 00:20 to 9:30).

Since the morning, a feeling of heaviness in the head and a “cotton” state. Either he slept or didn't get enough sleep. Because it’s a day off, you start to get stupid and spend a long time “swinging.”

Only at 17:00, a feeling appears that can be called a “day off”. I think many people encounter this often, especially those who work two to two. The first day on their day off they are nothing, and the next day is more or less like a day off, but so little one day for rest!

The brains think better and have more strength by 18:00. By this time you want to do at least something.

On weekends, I’m the kind of person I am, I almost always relax at home. There are people who associate a day off with mandatory gatherings or active recreation outside the apartment. But rest is a lot of work. You also need to be able to rest. The main thing in rest is to restore the body’s strength for further work.

I don’t want to go to bed, but the experiment forced me to. I fell asleep surprisingly quickly.

Changing the type of work to another is not a rest for the whole organism.

Rest is a break from any type of work!

Day seven (day off)

From Saturday to Sunday I slept 8 hours (from 00:20 to 8:30).

The second day off began slowly and without much stress. It's nice to sit and do what you love without thinking about the worries that await you at work. Time flies slower.

By the middle of the day there is no rise in activity, but doesn't make you sleepy. Stable condition, nothing hurts or worries. There is space for creative ideas and their implementation.

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I will be glad for your likes, pluses and comments!

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Almost every person, in his free time from work and business, strives to sleep off. As a rule, this is due to lack of sleep during the work week and the desire to “make up” for lost hours. If you consider yourself to be one of those who like to lie in bed for a long time, we dare to tell you the bad news: this habit can cause great harm to your health. According to the latest data, prolonged sleep can cause the development of many diseases, as well as provoke mental and physiological disorders in the body.

We introduce you to the 7th unpleasant consequences, which can be caused by the habit of sleeping for a long time. Maybe it's time to get up?

1. Increased risk of depression

Last year, special studies were conducted in which scientists discovered that sleep duration is directly related to depressive conditions. Participants who slept between 7 and 9 hours a night had only a 27% chance of developing depressive symptoms, while those who slept in bed for nine or more hours had a 49% chance of developing depressive symptoms.

2. Brain function deteriorates

Studies have shown that those who sleep more than 10 hours a day have problems with their brain function. Moreover, prolonged sleep negatively affects memory and concentration.

3. The likelihood of getting pregnant decreases

A group of Korean scientists who examined the health of more than 650 women who agreed to artificial insemination came to stunning conclusions. Pregnancy was most often observed in those women who slept from 7 to 9 hours a day. Those who slept 9 or more hours were much less likely to get pregnant. However, the reasons for this phenomenon have not yet been established, because conception is influenced by many factors.

4. Increased risk of developing diabetes

American researchers have been studying the relationship between sleep duration and risk for 15 years various diseases, found that people who sleep more than 8 hours a night have a 50% higher risk of developing diabetes than those who are not used to lying in bed for long periods of time. Moreover, this pattern occurred regardless of other disease factors, such as weight, age and smoking habit.

5. It leads to obesity

Gaining excess weight is possible in people who sleep 9–10 hours at night. Every year the risk of the disease increases, even with regular physical activity and normal nutrition.

6. Increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases

An experiment in which more than 72 thousand women took part confirmed the fact that excess sleep provokes heart disease: those who slept 9–11 hours every night had a 38% increased risk of developing the disease compared to those who slept only half a day. 8 ocloc'k.

7. It can lead to early death

People who sleep 7 to 8 hours a night live on average 15% longer than those who sleep more than eight hours daily.

Immediately review your sleep habits! Adults need only 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. Oversleeping can have negative consequences for your health. Is this hour or two in bed worth the risk? Let's say even more: excessive sleep is more harmful to the brain and health in general than its lack.

Take care of your sleepy friends, tell them what they are risking.