What is the duration and timing of healthy sleep?
What is the duration and timing of healthy sleep?
An old folk wisdom says that it is better to sleep before midnight than after. But scientists have proven that the timing of healthy sleep is not as important as the number of hours of deep sleep, which is the first five hours of sleep, whether before or after midnight.
The old popular saying “sleep before midnight is best for health” dates back to a time when people used to go to sleep at the same time as the chickens, several hours before midnight. However, that changed a long time ago, as researchers recently discovered that the deep sleep stage is the most important for a healthy and quiet sleep.
This means that the first five hours of sleep are the most important, whether it is before or after midnight, as the stage of deep sleep is very long in this period and alternates with the stage of dreams in which the body and brain regain its activity to process the events of the day. In the stage of deep sleep, all body functions stop working, which helps the brain and body to relax.
As for the ideal number of hours of sleep, it varies from person to person. Some regain their activity after nine hours of sleep, while others are satisfied with five hours. According to statistics, the ideal number of hours of sleep is seven hours. In all cases, the quality of sleep is more important than its duration and timing before or after midnight