HOW WELL DO YOU SLEEP: ASSESS YOUR SLEEP QUALITY
You all might recognize the feeling after a bad night of sleep: you become cranky, have difficulties concentrating, and life does not seem to be that colorful. However, it is not a given to fall asleep easily or get 7 to 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Many among us, unfortunately, suffer from disordered sleep. Read further to learn why sleep is important and how to assess your sleep quality.
What is disordered sleep?
A disordered sleep means to have a reduced quality or quantity of sleep. Disordered sleep is different from sleep disorders, such as long-term insomnia, sleep apnoea, or narcolepsy. These disorders require medical attention.
Disordered sleep issues are less severe and on a less consistent basis compared to the sleep disorder. However, this doesn’t mean you should ignore them. If your sleep quality or quality decreases, you will feel exhausted and suffer from memory loss.
Why is sleep so important?
Sleep is as important as food and water.
Only after 24 hours without sleep you can experience the effects of sleep deprivation such as fatigue, irritability, mood changes, and more.
By sleeping well, you improve your physical performance. Your body restores the energy it needs to perform well. Sleep is crucial for your cognitive performance: without sleep, you will not process information, memorize, or think clearly. And above all, with a good night’s rest, you increase your happiness and gain a better mood. This means a good night’s rest is also important for your relationships.
Sleep is healing on physical, emotional, and mental levels.
Everything you do, you do better with good sleep. However, it is not always so easy to get a good night’s sleep.
Why can’t you get a good night’s sleep?
Sleep issues are often caused by various stressors, such as a deadline, an important meeting, a difficult conversation, not to mention covid-19 stress and uncertainty everyone experiencing nowadays. Or your mind can never get quiet by constantly overthinking and worrying.
Your direct external environment can also play a role – having too much light or noise in your bedroom is not a good idea. All these factors cause difficulties in falling asleep, maintaining your sleep, or waking up too early. Also, some people have difficulties getting enough deep sleep, or they have stressful dreams.
In the time of covid-19, this might be even more prevalent. We all have something to worry about, and watching too much news during uncertain times might not help your sleep quality.
Self-assessment: how well do I sleep?
If you choose to improve your sleep, it is important to know where you stand now. With the following questions, you can figure out how well you sleep. Give a score on the questions below from 1 to 10 (1= Not true at all, 10= Very true for me)
- I easily fall asleep most of the nights.
- I rarely wake up during the night.
- It is easy for me to fall asleep again if I wake up during the night.
- I never feel the need to have a nap during the day.
- I don’t take any medication to help me to sleep.
- I have an evening routine that helps me sleep well.
- I use relaxation techniques that help me sleep better.
- My bedroom is optimized for a good night’s rest.
- I never drink coffee or caffeinated drinks later than 4 pm and drink less than 2 cups a day.
- I don’t often feel stressed or anxious.
If you score between 80 and 100: Congratulations, you managed to find a great way of managing your sleep. Keep up the good sleep!
Yet, if you score between 50 and 80, you could improve your sleep. Of course, it is not dramatic, but a change in routines and sleep behaviors could help you.
For people scoring less than 50: Time for a drastic change in your sleep. It is essential to find relaxation techniques and practices that can help you reduce stress.
Do you want to improve your sleep in just 3 nights?
If you want to improve your sleep, download this guide Getting a Good Night Sleep in 3 Nights.
You will learn what’s the #1 reason you don’t sleep well is and how to solve it with 3 proven practices.
