Don’t skimp on good sleep. A healthy sleep schedule comes with massive health benefits, so you’ll want to make the most of your hours under the covers.
But sometimes, staying in bed for the recommended number of hours isn’t enough to promote healthy sleep — and you can still wake up feeling groggy. In cases like these, the quality of your sleep may not match the quantity. By taking inventory of your lifestyle habits — and tweaking your bedtime routine accordingly — you may be able to boost your sleep quality and wake up feeling ready for the day.
[READ: 10 Signs You Aren’t Getting Enough Sleep]
How Much Sleep Do You Need — And How Much Does It Matter?
Doctors and researchers generally recommend that adults sleep seven to eight hours at night. Dr. Alex Dimitriu, who is double board-certified in psychiatry and sleep medicine and the founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine, says that younger adults may need more sleep than older adults, but not by much.
Recommended increases are closer to a few minutes than a few hours and “will likely fall into the seven to eight hour range,” he adds.
While not everyone needs a full eight hours of sleep, Dimitriu encourages people to aim for the higher end of the range in order to confidently lock in their Zs.
“We need to consider the ‘window,’ for sleep — the opportunity to sleep — and that should be at least eight hours,” he says. “People tend to get less sleep than they aim for, so aiming for eight may well result in a healthy seven hours of sleep.”
Dimitriu discourages people from sleeping much longer than that, such as aiming for nine or more hours of sleep, as this may backfire and result in insomnia or waking up throughout the night.
As for whether logging seven hours of sleep is enough to leave you well rested, the answer varies. This is because, how much sleep you get at night matters, but also the amount of quality sleep you get matters too.
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Other Sleep Metrics to Explore:
In addition to sleep duration, quality sleep includes all stages of the sleep cycle. Sleeping consistently and sleeping soundly can support quality sleep.
Sleep cycle stages
A healthy sleep cycle is made up of four stages of sleep, including:
— Stage 1: Light sleep during which brain waves slow down and muscle activity decreases
— Stage 2: Light but slightly deeper sleep with slower heart rate and dropping of body temperature
— Stage 3: Deep sleep, or slow wave sleep, which is the deepest and most restorative stage of sleep
— Stage 4: Rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep, which is characterized by increased brain activity, eye movements and temporary muscle paralysis. REM sleep is when people are most likely to dream.
A full cycle of these stages takes 90 to 120 minutes, and you will go through four to six cycles each night if you have sufficient quality sleep.
Sleeping consistently
Prioritizing sleep consistency, by doing things such as setting a consistent sleep schedule and sleeping continuously through the night can benefit your sleep health.
“The most critical need is for uninterrupted sleep,” says Dr. Stephen Carstensen, a doctor of dental science and sleep expert who raises awareness for sleep and related breathing disorders. “While waking once to use the restroom is not usually a problem, if one cannot return easily to sleep or if sleep is interrupted more frequently, that is troubling,” he adds.
Carstensen explains that uninterrupted sleep is integral to sleep health because of the way our brain operates when we rest for the night: through a sleep cycle.
“Healthy sleep includes all phases of the sleep cycle, repeated every 90 minutes or so,” Carstensen says. “If something interrupts the natural flow of the sleep cycles, we don’t feel rested.”
Sleeping soundly
Sleeping soundly through all the stages of your sleep cycle is also important for sleep quality. While uninterrupted sleep may help you snooze peacefully through these stages, other factors may support or interfere with your slumber. For instance, whether or not you enter sleep in a relaxed state and if you are taking medications can impact your body’s ability to cycle through all the sleep stages.
Dimitriu explains that medications like Xanax and Clonazepam — types of benzodiazepines — can suppress your deep sleep, while medications like Benadryl “can erase your REM sleep.” He adds that going under anesthesia can be another barrier to experiencing the proper sleep stages. Despite making you unconscious for a consistent duration of time, anesthesia doesn’t promise the same type of sound sleep as a full night in bed.
“People have awoken from anesthesia and needed to sleep for hours — because though they were ‘out,’ with anesthesia, their brains were not going through the proper sleep stages,” Dimitriu says.
He adds that large, before-bed meals or drugs like caffeine, alcohol and cannabis are “also not good for deep sleep.”
Conversely, Dimitriu says that being in a relaxed state before bed — however you get there — can increase your ability to experience deep sleep and healthily cycle through the four sleep stages.
[10 Bedtime Foods & Drinks for Deep Sleep]
Factors That Impact Sleep
Several factors can impact your sleep length and quality. Some of these are lifestyle habits that you can choose whether or not to engage in, whereas others are health conditions that you may not be able to control — but can seek medical attention to address.
Some factors that can impact sleep include:
— Screen time
— Other medical conditions
[READ: How Much Sleep Do I Really Need?]
Substance use
Using substances — which can include various prescription medications, legal or elicit drugs — can interfere with your sleep hygiene. Alcohol is a common drug that people use, often in the evening. While some people use alcohol with the intent of helping them wind down after a long day, sleep experts say it can do the opposite and disrupt sleep patterns.
“Alcohol near bedtime is broken down into substances that interrupt sleep,” Carstensen says.
Dimitriu adds that alcohol and other drugs such as cannabis can disrupt slow-wave or deep sleep.
Caffeine, which is another commonly used drug, though more typically associated with the morning, can have differing impacts on nighttime sleep and daytime energy levels.
“If caffeine gives you a lift, then avoid it after about noon, but morning use may be a healthy choice,” Carstensen says.
He adds that while caffeine is not seen as a drug that can be physically addictive in the body, “strong habits are common,” and getting in the habit of drinking too much caffeine too late in the day can work against attempts to create healthy sleep habits.
“Some people feel that caffeine has no effect on their wakefulness — that can be true, but even those people can disrupt their sleep so should be cautious with amount and timing of consumption,” Carstensen says.
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Screen time
Spending too much time using your phone, laptop or TV can wreak havoc on your sleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation, this is because the blue light from screens can promote wakefulness, slow or stop your brain’s release of melatonin and — if used at night — stimulate your brain into thinking it is earlier in the day. Screen time can be especially counterintuitive close to your bedtime, when you want to decrease mental stimulation and wind down.
The National Sleep Foundation discourages people from using screens one to two hours before their intended bedtime. If you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night, try to avoid screen time then too.
“To get back to sleep, I advise my patients to certainly never pick up their phones,” Dimitriu says.
Sleep disorders
Like the name implies, sleep disorders are disorders that disrupt your sleep. Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder in which people temporarily stop breathing during sleep.
There are two primary types of sleep apnea: obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea.
— Obstructive sleep apnea. OSA is caused by an obstruction to your airway that inhibits your ability to breathe while sleeping. A common symptom of OSA is loud snoring.
— Central sleep apnea. CSA is caused by signaling impairments between the brain and nervous system, which result in the brain not prompting your body to breathe during sleep. People with CSA may struggle to sleep or wake up gasping.
Hormonal imbalances
Hormonal imbalances, which can include having too high or too low levels of a certain hormone, can disrupt your sleep and increase the risk of insomnia. Estradiol, or E2, is one hormone that can impact your sleep if levels are too high or too low.
“Estradiol interacts with brain signals that are important to the sleep cycle, so low estradiol interferes with sleep,” Carstensen says. “Since this and other hormones have body-wide effects, insomnia should be discussed with your physician when describing how you feel in general.”
[READ: Hormone Replacement Therapy for Menopause]
Other medical conditions
Various medical conditions can disrupt your sleep schedule, including mental health conditions and thyroid conditions. Because different diagnoses can impact patients in unique ways, it is important to talk to your doctor about your situation. They may be able to curate a plan to help you manage your condition and your sleep.
[READ: Melatonin vs. Magnesium: Which One Helps You Sleep Better?]
Should You Take Melatonin?
Melatonin is a natural hormone in the brain that promotes healthy sleep. Your brain releases more melatonin at night, while you are sleeping, and less melatonin during the day when you are awake. You can also buy a synthetic form of melatonin as a supplement at the drug store, which can be used as a sleep aid.
In general, experts say melatonin supplements can be helpful every once in a while, but should not be used consistently or depending on every night for sleep.
It is also important to recognize that, because melatonin is a supplement, it is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Because of this, not all formulas are made with the same integrity or undergo the same testing. As with any substance, take melatonin as directed to avoid harmful impacts like overdoses.
By making changes to your lifestyle or bedtime routine, you have the power the improve your sleep quality. If you’ve been making changes and still aren’t sleeping well, you may be dealing with some not-so-easy-to-control issues, too. Talk to your doctor about your sleep habits and medical history, and see if they can offer you support to improve your sleep.
Consider these tips to boost your sleep quality:
— Avoid alcohol and drugs before bedtime.
— Limit or stop drinking caffeine in the afternoon.
— Avoid large meals close to bed.
— Stop using screens one to two hours before bed.
— Don’t go to bed too early — wait until you are tired and ready to sleep.
— Keep the bedroom cool, dark and quiet — consider using blinds to block out light.
— Create a relaxing nighttime routine, like practicing deep breathing.
— Resist the urge to snooze your alarm in the morning — start your day energized so you can fall asleep again at night
— Talk to your doctor about health issues you are experiencing.
— Take medications as prescribed — but don’t be afraid to ask your doctor about side effects.
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Why You?re Waking Up Tired — Even After 8 Hours of Sleep originally appeared on usnews.com
