How can humans have high-quality sleep?

One third of a person's life is spent sleeping, and sleep plays an important regulatory role in energy metabolism, immune regulation, endocrine and brain function activities. Good sleep helps promote physical and mental recovery, improve memory and enhance resistance, while sleep problems can have multiple negative effects on the body, cognition and spirit.

In real life, many people have two criteria for "good sleep": one is sleeping for 8 hours, and the other is good sleep quality. However, with the deepening of sleep science research, more and more evidence shows that sleeping for 8 hours is not the gold standard for optimal sleep.

Rather than getting enough sleep for 8 hours, what should be more concerned is "sleep regularity". Researchers say that sleep regularity is an important part of healthy sleep that we should pay attention to. People with irregular sleep should develop regular bedtimes and wake-up times to reduce the risk of dementia.

How to ensure deep and regular sleep? Here are six things to do:

1. It is best to fall asleep before 23:00: Go to bed on time and get out of bed on time. Try to keep a stable "biological clock". Studies have shown that 11pm to 3am is the best time to enter deep sleep. Once you miss it, it is difficult to make up for it no matter how long you sleep.

2. Get enough sleep for 5 sleep cycles: One sleep cycle is about 90 minutes. You need to ensure 5 sleep cycles every night to get enough deep sleep. Therefore, it is healthier to maintain 7.5 hours of sleep a day.

3. Adjust the light during the day and night: Make sure the room is well-lit during the day to avoid drowsiness. Get more sun exposure before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m., half an hour each time, which is conducive to the secretion of melatonin. Dim the indoor lights before going to bed to prepare the body for sleep.

4. Don’t do these things before going to bed: Avoid drinking coffee or smoking before going to bed; avoid drinking alcohol before going to bed, as alcohol intake may cause fragmented sleep; avoid doing too much strenuous physical exercise before going to bed; avoid consuming too much liquid or food before going to bed; don’t eat too much for dinner. Don’t lie in bed and play with your phone before going to bed; in addition, reduce the time you sleep during the day and the time you spend in bed.

5. Maintain a comfortable sleeping environment: Keep the sleeping environment quiet, clean, comfortable, with appropriate light and temperature; appropriate pillow height, reasonable quilt thickness, turning off lights before going to bed, etc. can ensure sleep quality to a certain extent.

6. Ensure regular and moderate exercise: Appropriate and moderate exercise can fatigue muscles, inhibit the secretion of excitants in the brain, promote people to sleep under fatigue, and thus form a virtuous cycle of sleep and improve sleep quality. For example, you can complete about 30 minutes of light exercise every day.