A recent San Diego School of Medicine study has released its findings on just how much sleep we need a night,
according to Britain’s The Daily Mail. Their study found that the subjects, 400+ elderly American women, followed from 1995 lived the longest if they had between 5 and 6.5 hours of sleep a night. What the study doesn’t seem to take into account is that our sleep needs might chance over the course of a lifetime so, perhaps, such little sleep is exactly what you need from age 50 to 81 (the age range of the female subjects of the study), but not good for children and teenagers (who grow during their sleep), 20 year-olds, 30 year-olds or 40 year-olds. Having just hit my thirties, I seem to need more sleep than ever.
And I can tell you without a doubt that if I get between a skimpy 5 and 6.5 hours of sleep a night, I feel sick and nauseated in the morning. I can’t stomach anything, not coffee nor food. My skin looks bad, spots are inflamed. Over time if I have that much sleep deprivation, my complexion is downright papery, my hair goes limp and oily, undereye bags are pronounced, I feel less capable of dealing with stress and tough emotions (hello, cortisol and an expanding waist line), I get depressed and, well, eventually end up sleeping for ages. In high school, I slept from 8.30 pm until 5:30 am and still felt drowsy during the school day (although that might have more to do with the inept, indifferent teachers).
In fact, isn’t sleep deprivation used in torture?
What do you think? Are you fresh-eye and bushy-tailed on just five hours of sleep a night. Can you burn the candle at both ends and still look and feel like a million bucks or does it catch up to you in the end? Do you notice any difference in your complexion, weight or state of mind? What’s the minimum hours of sleep you need a night to look and feel your best?
Whatever the number, it’s probably more than five.
Image Source: flickr.com/photos/tambako/2700477995/sizes/m/in/photostream/
Sources:
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1316805/Five-hours-sleep-optimum-women-want-live-longer.html
- http://health.ucsd.edu/news/2010/9-30-sleep-longevity.htm
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