Today’s sleep science has revealed that the length and quality of your sleep directly impacts the length and quality of your life. The 3 pillars to health (Sleep, Diet, Exercise) are not equal; sleep far outweighs the other two. 

Short sleep = short life. People die early when sleep is short and interrupted. One night of short sleep is enough to impair your judgement and physical wellness. Sleep is our healing process and it should be consistent. 

So what can we do and how much sleep do we need? 

1. You need 8.5 hours of sleep a night

It is the same amount for adults, teenagers and the elderly. To be able to sleep 8.5 hour, you need 9 hours of sleep opportunity. None of us can just sleep on demand, and hence the extra 30minutes. 

2. You need a consistent circadian rhythm

Some of you have a workday schedule and a weekend schedule, and you feel perfectly fine with that kind of sleep habit. It is still not ideal, and you should stick to the same schedule every day. This will help you sleep better. 

3. Adding 5 + 12 does not equal 17

You don’t fully recover from short sleep! At least, not immediately. 

If you partied and slept 5 hours on Friday night, and then sleep in 12 hours on Saturday night, you did not fully recover. The numbers do not add up like simple arithmetic. 

The damage done to your body by a day of short sleep cannot be fully recovered the next day, and probably not in a couple of days either. Get consistent with your sleep, and work everything else out in your waking hours. 

The healing miracle of sleep 

When you sleep, the deep cycles (deep NREM) are the times your body repairs itself. Not only does sleep heal scars, it also ‘saves’ the data you have learned today (through REM sleep) and store it into short term memory. We digress, but this is a good tip for students – don’t burn the midnight oil, because your impacted sleep will erase most of your efforts!

We can essentially say sleep is a healing process. Every part of your body benefits from sleep. In fact, there is no man-made medicine in the world more potent than a good night’s sleep. 

Scars not healing? Take some Vitamin C and sleep. Sore muscles? Stretch properly post workout, eat properly and sleep. Learning new skills? Study conscientiously and sleep consistently. 

Now you understand these, you should set strict wake and sleep timings to take full advantage of the elixir called sleep. May you sleep well and consistently.