Sleep is important for improving your health and also preventing severe health conditions. According to the National Sleep Foundation, it is an essential process that helps you gain the ability to fight against diseases, improve immunity, and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Using a sleep calculator, you can estimate the amount of sleep that suits your lifestyle, and also you get to schedule your sleep time and wake-up time. The main purpose of a sleep calculator is to help you get a maximum amount of rest to reduce mental fatigue.
Sleep Cycle Calculator – How to Determine How Much Sleep You Need?
You need to optimize your sleep so that you can get the desired result. Based on age, the sleep cycle tends to vary; babies of up to 12 months usually sleep for 14 to 17 hours, children up to 12 years sleep for 9 to 11 hours, teenagers 8 to 10 hours, adults 7 to 9 hours, and older adults need 7 to 8 hours sleep.
Now, these sleep cycles are also affected by medical conditions such as depression, anxiety, cardiovascular disease, chronic pain, etc. Your sleep cycle can also differ based on your social life, work schedule, binge-watching sessions, and other family obligations. At least 9 hours of sleep at night is required for you to feel rested. With the proper sleep guidelines, by using a sleep cycle calculator, you can determine the amount of sleep you need.
What Time Should I Go To Sleep?
| Age Range | Recommended Daily Sleep | |
|---|---|---|
| Infant | 4–12 months | 12-16 hours (including naps) |
| Toddler | 1–2 years | 11-14 hours (including naps) |
| Preschool | 3–5 years | 10-13 hours (including naps) |
| School-age | 6-12 years | 9-12 hours |
| Teens | 13-18 years | 8-10 hours |
| Adult | 18 years and older | 7 or more hours |
There is no exact time when you should go to sleep. Everybody has a different lifestyle, and based on that, the sleep cycle tends to vary. You also need to determine how many hours of sleep you need to feel rested. You need to keep track of the sleep schedule and determine whether you are getting enough sleep. You must also maintain consistency and try to go to sleep at the same time every day, even on weekends.
What Time Should I Wake Up?
For some people, the wake-up time can be constant day after day, but for others, it might vary depending on their social life. The main criterion is to understand the amount of sleep you need so that you can function well. With a sleep calculator, you can calculate the best time to wake up and go through a natural sleep cycle. Based on your bedtime, you must complete five to six sleep cycles of 90 minutes before you wake up from a peaceful sleep.
Why Is It Important To Get Enough Sleep?
Enough sleep is crucial as it helps in the improvement of the quality and quantity of your life. A night of good sleep can help to regulate metabolism, growth, healing, and appetite and also boost brain functions. It has been found that proper sleep can reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke and also help in weight management.
You also stay more immune and improve your reaction time on a day-to-day basis with enough sleep. Statistics show that a person with a proper sleep cycle has a lower risk of chronic health diseases, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
What Happens During Sleep?
While sleeping, the body goes through a series of changes where you get the rest essential for your overall well-being. During sleep, the brain and body slow down and indulge in promoting better physical and mental performance. It also improves healing faster in the process of recovery and many other long-term goals.
When you sleep, you enter two basic phases – Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep or Non-rapid Eye Movement (Non-REM) sleep. A person can go through REM sleep to non-REM sleep several times.
REM sleep, which you enter 90 minutes after you fall asleep, occurs due to the response sent from different regions of the brain. Here, your body and brain are energized, eyes dart back and forth, and active dreaming occurs. Your body gets immobile and relaxed, and breathing faster occurs. If you lack REM, then it is often linked to health conditions, such as migraine.
During non-REM sleep, you go through three stages. In the first stage, you are between awake and sleep. In the second stage, you are in a light sleep, and in the third, you are in the deepest and most restorative sleeping phase. Your heartbeat and breathing reduce, the muscle relaxes, the body prepares itself to repair tissues, and the supply of blood increases.
If you do not get a proper sleep cycle, then it can interfere with your daily performance. So, it’s important to understand the repercussions that you might get due to not getting proper sleep.
What Are The Consequences of Sleep Deprivation?
Sleep Deprivation has been affecting a third of American adults and has proven long-term negative effects. If you are associated with life-challenging work or have to be consistent with work, then this can lead to disrupted sleep and not getting minimum sleep can affect your body system and restorative function.
Sleep deprivation can affect you physically, emotionally, and cognitively. Physical impacts include drowsiness, headache, dark circles, pale skin, reduced immunity, changes in weight, early signs of aging, chronic inflammation, etc.
Effects on emotional and mental health can leave you feeling cranky, and irritated, having difficulty in coping with stress, abrupt change in mood, unable to manage emotions, hallucinations, anxiety, and depression. It can also generate health conditions like bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, etc.
If you can’t get enough sleep, then your brain won’t work effectively, leading to cognitive impacts that affect your attention, decision-making, judgment, and response. It can also affect your school or work life due to changes in impulse control or leading to accidents.
How to Improve Sleep and Sleep Hygiene?
To improve your sleep hygiene, you need to make small changes in your lifestyle.
Be consistent – You need to be consistent about the time of going to bed and waking up at the same time every night and every morning. This should be followed even on weekends.
Soothing room environment – While you are sleeping, the room should be quiet, dark, relaxing, and comfortable. You must set the AC temperature to a specific limit so that it does not disturb your sleep.
Exercise daily – You should at least go for a 30-minute brisk walk for a positive impact on your sleep. It will also help you to fall asleep quickly.
Keep your electronic devices away – Blue light emitted by electronic devices can affect your circadian rhythms, and melatonin production is disrupted. So, before you go to bed, shut down all your devices or put them away at least 30 minutes before bedtime.
Choosing your meal – Just before bedtime, try to avoid having heavy meals or drinking caffeine and alcohol. You must also avoid caffeine during the afternoon as it can make it hard for you to sleep.
Get your sunlight – When you expose yourself to the natural sunlight, then it blocks the melatonin production during waking hours and helps you to stay relaxed the entire night and a lot more energetic during the daytime.
Choose your mattress – You must always look for a supportive mattress, along with sleeping accessories, to provide your comfortable sleeping environment.
