The Secret Life of Sleep

Do we all really need eight hours of sleep, as conventional wisdom tells us we do? Maybe not, according to Kat Duff, author of the illuminating new book, The Secret Life of Sleep. Get Duff’s tips on how to measure how much shut-eye you personally require—and discover the truth behind seven more sleep myths—below.

There is an art to sleeping well which everyone has to learn for him or herself. Many of us hold mistaken ideas that interfere with developing sleep-positive lifestyles. Here are a few of those notions, corrected:

Myth No. 1: We need 8 hours of sleep to function well the next day.Actually, you may need 9 hours—or 7 hours. Sleep needs vary between individuals and over the course of a lifetime. Only you can determine the amount of sleep that works best for you at this stage in your life. To figure out how much sleep your body needs, experiment with the length of your snooze when you have a free morning. When you wake without an alarm, and don’t get drowsy or irritable the next day, that’s probably enough sleep.

Myth No. 2: Sleep is a time when our bodies and brains shut down to rest.

While we stop relating to the outside world when we sleep, our bodies and brains are busy performing tasks they cannot do when we are awake. They make memories, build bones, regenerate tissue, strengthen immunity, remove toxins, improve mood, and stabilize blood sugar. Sleep loss interferes with all of these activities.

Myth No. 3: You should be able to fall asleep and wake up quickly.Our brains don’t switch off and on like light bulbs. Parts go offline and come back online at different speeds. It should take 20 to 30 minutes to make the transition. In the process, we are “not all there,” partially awake and partially asleep. For that reason, many traditional cultures caution people against waking others suddenly, and good hosts allow their guests to wake slowly.

Myth No. 4: You should be able to sleep straight through the night.

Research suggests that people would naturally sleep twice a day, if allowed. In warmer climates, people historically took mid-day naps, while those in colder climates often slept twice a night with time awake between. Industrialization required us to squeeze our sleep into one stretch to accommodate long work days. People often wake for a while at night, and these “vigils” were used for reflection, creative pursuits, and intimate conversation.

Myth No. 5: Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.This is only true for morning people, whose body clocks run early. Night people (like teenagers), naturally fall asleep and wake up later. We all have internal body clocks that determine when it’s easiest to eat, sleep, and even think. We function best when we can adapt our work, school and social lives to those internal rhythms.

Myth No. 6: You can skimp on sleep during the work week and make up for it on the weekend.If you consistently steal from your sleep, even if it’s only an hour a night, your abilities to think clearly, respond quickly, temper impulses, and resolve conflicts will be impaired. Sleeping later on the weekends will reduce your sleep debt, but not eliminate it. We need to “pay back” our sleep over the course of several days to be most effective. Early afternoon naps are a great way to make up sleep.

Myth No. 7: Sleeping pills always improve sleep.Sleeping pills add an average of 11 minutes of sleep. Some give the impression of refreshing sleep by reducing anxiety or helping us to forget the tossing and turning. But they typically shorten the time we spend in physically restorative deep sleep and emotionally restorative REM sleep. As a result, long-term use accelerates aging and increases the risk of mortality at a rate that is roughly equivalent to smoking cigarettes.

Myth No. 8: Rest is for the weak.Sleep improves our mood, memory, performance, judgment, immunity, appearance and emotional resilience—and it’s free! Who would turn their backs on such a great deal? The best rest.



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