A good quality sleep improves your brain performance, mood, and health.

With our busy modern lives it can be challenging to get enough sleep, or even find enough time to sleep.  Sometimes life circumstances force us into accepting less than ideal sleeping habits out of financial necessity, or family commitments. 

Not getting enough sleep regularly can raise the risk of potential health issues, such as heart disease, stroke, obesity and dementia.

Am I Getting Enough Sleep?

What are Some Reasons Why Sleep is Important?

Reasons why sleep is important:

• It helps brain function.
• Keeps emotions balanced.
• Reduces the risk of some diseases.
• Keeps your weight under control.

What Happens When You Don’t Get Enough Sleep?

The most serious potential problems associated with consistent sleep deprivation are high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack, or stroke. Other problems can include obesity, depression, reduced immune system function and even lower sex drive.

Am I Getting Enough Sleep?

The sources I looked at concluded that healthy adults need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night.

Babies, young children, and teens need more sleep than that to enable growth and development. For people over 65 it remained around 7 to 8 hours per night.

Can You Survive on 5 hours of Sleep?

Of course you can push through with five sometimes which is better than nothing, but it’s not enough, especially in the long term.

A 2018 study of more than 10,000 people showed the body’s ability to function declines if sleep isn’t in the 7 to 8 hour range.

Do Naps Count as Sleep?

Yes, using naps to top up on sleep can be an effective means of increasing total sleep in a 24-hour period. It has proven benefits for performance, efficiency, mood, alertness, and can also reduce fatigue and accidents.

How Many Hours Does Elon Musk Sleep?

Six Hours

Elon Musk has said that he is fairly nocturnal and only sleeps about six hours a day.

The richest man on Earth made the comments during an episode of The Full Send podcast. He said he usually goes to sleep at about 3 a.m. and wakes up after about six hours at 9 a.m. or 9:30 a.m.

How Many Hours did Albert Einstein Sleep?

Ten Hours

Albert Einstein reportedly slept for at least 10 hours per day. That’s about one and a half times as much as the average American today (6.8 hours).

How Do I know I’m Getting Enough Sleep?

Waking up without an alarm, maintaining your weight, not needing a caffeine boost, and not craving junk foods are all signs that you’re getting enough sleep. Clear glowing skin can also result from getting enough sleep.

Final Thoughts

As with most health issues, if we choose to make getting enough sleep a priority then we stand a better chance of successfully supporting our good health and well-being. 

Consider your next day commitments and try to go to bed earlier if needed.  Plan your morning breakfast ahead of time, or lay out your daily clothes the night before. It could mean an extra 30 minutes of sleep that could benefit you over time. If ever needed, consider catching up with a short nap if the opportunity arises.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Personally I’ve been working an afternoon shift for a few years, and have been lucky enough to wake up to no alarm.

Over time, I just started waking earlier naturally. I would estimate that I normally sleep from about 11:30pm to 7:30am, and I’m fairly consistent with that. As for my dream patterns, that’s another story!

Read More:

Am I Getting Enough Sleep? (5 Habits that help your Mental Health)

Do our Dreams Mean Anything?