Scientists have discovered people fall into four distinct sleep groups, each of which has an impact on our overall health.
Waking up exhausted, they struggle to think clearly, mainline on coffee and carbs and spend all day craving the next bedtime, where the cycle might repeat.
“Most previous research looks at sleep disorders but we wanted to look at the more everyday behaviours and understand how the cumulation of good or bad sleep is related to long-term health.” “Just like your shoe size or height, ‘optimum sleep’ varies from person to person, and exists on a bell-curve, with more people in the centre, than at each extreme.”
“We are biologically programmed to do the same things at the same time: to start moving, eating and interacting socially. When our clocks get confused, scientists call this ‘circadian disruption’. We still can operate, but are slightly sub-par. A later start on a Sunday could lead to difficulty falling asleep that night, and a more tired Monday and into the week.”
“Sleeping during the day is implicated in age-related, activity-limiting conditions often involving pain,” says Dr Lee. “After retirement, our lifestyle changes.”But what of the rest of us, in good health but who enjoy the luxury of an occasional snooze? “Nap research is complex, but the consensus is that less than 30 minutes a day is fine,” Dr Lee adds.
“A sleep cycle lasts between 90 and 110 minutes, and during this you pass through light, deep and rapid eye movement sleep stages,” Dr Meadows continues. “Waking up after the full cycle will land you again in the light stages of sleep, helping you avoid sleep inertia.”The term ‘insomnia sleeper’ is possibly a bit of an oxymoron for those of us who’ve really suffered: many hard-core sleep problems can go through periods where they don’t actually sleep at all.
However, insomnia is often not a respecter of class or status, and many professional people find themselves with poor sleep.
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