![]() ![]() We’ve explored why some sleeping positions are best for certain things, but which position defines your sleeping habits? Research shows that almost 70% of people with sleep apnoea (when breathing stops and starts) breathe better when they’re not sleeping on their back, 12 and helping people to learn to sleep on their side can be a very effective treatment for sleep aponea. How it helps: Sleeping on your side allows your airways to remain more open. 11 The best sleeping position for breathing What’s more, if you prop your head up with an extra pillow, it can help prevent the fluids that cause puffy eyes from building up. How it helps: Your face isn’t being pressed into your pillow. 10 The best sleeping position for your face Lying on the opposite side makes food particles and stomach acids spread out, potentially into your oesophagus, which can cause discomfort. How it helps: Your digestive juices work better if you lie on your left side because of the way your stomach’s shaped. If you sleep on your side, put a pillow that’s higher under your neck than your head to keep your neck in alignment. How it helps: If you sleep on your back, putting a rounded pillow that supports the natural curve of your neck provides much-needed support. Sleep position: Sleeping on your side or your back. How it helps: Putting a small pillow behind your knees provides additional support and helps maintain the natural curve of the spine. The best sleeping position for lower back pain How it helps: Drawing your legs up slightly towards your chest and putting a pillow between your legs helps take the pressure off your back. Adults need 7-9 sleep a night – more for children.Disruption to your body clock – your circadian rhythm – can lead to insomnia.Good sleep is essential for our physical and mental wellbeing.Only 38% of the population are classed as good sleepers.Gaining weight and feeling hungry a lot.Unmotivated/lacking energy to do exercise, especially if you usually enjoy it.4 How to tell if you’re not getting enough sleepĪlthough there are guidelines for how much sleep you should be getting a night, usually dependent on your age, everyone has individual sleep needs 7 hours of sleep may feel like plenty for you, whereas another person would feel like it’s barely scratching the surface.ĭon’t worry though, your body will let you know if you’re not getting enough sleep! If you have one or more of the following signs, it’s a good indicator that you may not be getting adequate sleep: REM sleep: Rapid Eye Movement sleep causes your body to become immobilised while your brain becomes more active, your eyes move rapidly and you have dreams – this stage can last up to an hour and around 20% of total sleep is made up of this stage. This is our deepest sleep cycle and helps us transition into REM sleep. Sleep stage 3: our muscles relax and blood pressure/breathing rates drop in this stage and we become non-responsive and very difficult to wake. It usually lasts 20 minutes at a time and makes up around 50% of your total sleep (you have multiple cycles of this stage throughout the night) Sleep stage 2: our heart rates slow down and body temperature drops in this cycle. It usually lasts 5-10 minutes at the start of our sleep Sleep stage 1: we experience very light sleep in this cycle and can be woken easily. Most deep sleep occurs in sleep stage 3 read more about sleep cycles below. It also helps us the most out of all the sleep cycles to feel refreshed and revived during the following day. During deeper sleep stages, our bodies put energy into tissue repair and growth, as well as hormone release and energy restoration. What is deep sleep?ĭeep sleep is the most restorative sleep we experience. 3Īs you can see, younger people tend to need more hours of sleep per night to help their brains develop. See the table below for the average hours of sleep you should be getting per night, depending on how old you are. Many factors determine how much sleep you need a night, one of them being your age. How many hours of sleep should we get a night? The result? Forcing your body to be alert and active at a time it should be asleep not only squeezes the time available for sleep, but it also triggers a stress response in the body that lowers the immune system, and puts a strain on the heart. ![]() Rolling news, 24-hour supermarkets, internet access whenever we like – all this continual activity is only possible thanks to artificial light, but it confuses our circadian rhythms. Anything that upsets the 24-hour cycle, such as the clocks moving forwards or backwards, jet lag, shift work, or even just a very late night, can have a detrimental effect on our sleep patterns, which can sometimes lead to more serious sleep problems like insomnia.Įxperts also blame our 24-hour society for the increase in insomnia symptoms. ![]()
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