Dear Readers,
Thank you for being with Gymbag4u.com, Today we want to discuss on a myth whether 4 hours of sleep can be enough equivalent refresh our body, as like 8 hours of sleep in most searched item on Google and on favorite subject Sleep “how to sleep 8 hours in 4 hours”. Let’s see further is really 4 hours of sleep is enough for a trouble-free day.
Is it really a power nap a myth or reality? Let’s find out through further information
Our sleep is absolutely important for completing rejuvenating cycle of our body, if our body fails to have a proper rest then it starts showing physical as well as mental effects on our Body.
But how many hours of sleep do our body requires?
As per scientific study below is the standard sleeping hours required as per persons Age group
- Old Age People’s (65+): 7–8 hours
- Adults (18–64 years): 7–9 hours
- Teenagers (14–17 years): 8–10 hours
- School Going children (6–13 years): 9–11 hours
- Preschoolers / Kids (3–5 years): 10–13 hours (including naps)
- Toddlers (1–2 years): 11–14 hours (including naps)
- Infants (4–12 months): 12–15 hours (including naps)
- Newborns (0–3 months): 14–17 hours
However, above is the standard requirement as per age group for living a healthy life.
But if anyone try to cheat the sleep is it good for health?
Cheating sleep is not healthy for a long run, this may imbalance our body reprogram functions such as digestion, muscle / vain functioning, neurological rejuvenation, body cells Production, Respiratory function and blood flow regularization, this all are the important aspects for our body, and if any function may have trouble due to less sleeping, then our body may lose health immediately.
Less sleep may bring many harmful diseases like
- Lack of Immunity and instant Energy Loss,
- Mental and Neurological Disorder,
- High or Low Blood Pressure,
- Diabetes and Sugar Born Disease
- Cardiovascular Diseases
- Anxiety and Depression Problems
- Sleep Disorders or OSD – obstructive sleep apnea
- Digestive Issues.
Hence Enough amount of sleep is essential for every person who wants to be healthy for a long time.
But is it possible to take 8 hours of sleep in 4 hours?
Everyday having full night’s sleep gives us good feeling and improves our mental performance with boosting our overall health. An Adults need essential 7 hours of sleep every night for improved health conditions.
Children and teenagers need even more sleeping hours to support their overall body and internal systems development.
Teenagers recommended to have sleep of 8 to 10 hours per night, for Kids 9 to 12 hours, and Pre-School Kids 10 to 13 hours.
Aligning with now a days hectic lifestyle, many people are seeking best possible ways to “hack” their body for less hour’s sleep, and they always try to habit their body to spend fewer hours in bed, and still expect from their body to feel refreshing with energy and productive days. And the answer for the same is Lesser Yes and More No.
Our sleeping hours plays a crucial role in refreshing our body and feel us activeness upon waking up every day in the morning. Improving our sleep quality may help in reducing the number of sleeping hours.
But even if your sleep quality is Good with less hours. But still, it is not good for our health and mental condition. We can follow it for fewer days, but eventually, the lack of rest will lead us into having Health related issues.
In search of possibilities for body rejuvenation after 4 hours of good sleep per night for a long period. We also check why few people make them able to tun their body to take less hours of quality sleep and perform their daily routine with full on energy.
Is it healthy to get 4 hours of sleep per night?
As we discussed earlier there are standard hours of sleep required to body as per age for every person. According to our body habits many people are not comfortable for 4 hours of sleep per night and wake up feeling restarted and mentally alert, no matter how Good we sleep.
There is a common myth that anyone can easily become habitual to lower sleep habits, but there is no evidence that the body easily adapts the change in lower sleep.
Also, people who exercise regularly often need more than the minimum recommended time and meditation to give their bodies to regenerate from the more physical stress.
As per a study made by health experts on the sleep habits of more than 10,000 people, they found that on regularly getting 4 hours of sleep per night was equivalent of adding 8 years of aging to the participants in Mental and Physical Health conditions.
But mostly how much sleep requirement to a person is dependent on Every one’s body differences, few people can thrive off fewer hours of sleep than others.
Scientists found a rare mutation of the ADRB1 gene where those people are able to feel rested with less than 6.5 hours of sleep per night without any apparent health consequences. But this is a very rare scenario and not applicable to everyone
If you carry this gene mutation, it’s possible that you may feel rested even if you consistently sleep less than the recommended number of hours.
What is Da Vinci Sleep or Polyphasic sleep?
Da Vinci Sleep or Polyphasic sleep refers to sleeping multiple times in a 24-hour period instead of once per night.
There are many different polyphasic techniques. One of the most common programs involves taking six 20-minute naps spaced equally throughout the day for a total of 3 hours a day.
Many people claim that polyphasic sleep allows you to sleep more efficiently and achieve the same amount of rest in fewer hours. However, there’s no medical evidence that polyphasic sleep is better than traditional sleep.
Sleep deprivation on polyphasic programs likely has the same negative health consequences as other forms of sleep deprivation. However, there’s limited research on these types of programs, since the vast majority of people who follow polyphasic programs only stick with them for a short time.
How to sleep less and have more energy
As per body physics cutting your sleep short isn’t a healthy idea, but life gets busy and sometimes sleeping adequately isn’t possible for a few nights. The more nights you limit your sleep, the more “sleep debt” you’ll rack up. As with financial debt, the more sleep debt you have, the harder it is to pay it off.
There’s no magic way to increase your energy while cutting your sleep. However, the following techniques may help you get through short-term periods of sleep deprivation.
But following things may help a person control his excessive sleep and save him from adverse body effects due to less sleep
Routine light exercise: Routine Exercising helps to stimulate brain blood flow and temporarily make feel more freshen up and keep us awake. whereas heavy exercise make body more tired.
Avoid screen time before Sleep: Mobiles of Laptop Screens through blue light, which interfere with body’s circadian rhythm and melatonin production. Removing screen help limit idle time in bed that will eventually help to cut sleep.
Shut off light / Darkness during Sleep: Making bedroom dark helps a calm and refreshing sleep but bright lights in bedroom may interfere with body’s melatonin production.
Reduce caffeine intake: Caffeine stimulates our central nervous system and can reduce our healthy sleep time.
Eat a healthy diet: Healthy diet is a key towards healthy body a good diet can give us more energy throughout the day.
Avoid alcohol: Alcohol reduces activeness of our central nervous system and can make us drowsier.
Avoid drinking lots of water before bed: Avoiding drinking liquids before going to bed may reduce your chances of get up for the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Try Short Power napping in a Day: Taking short 20-minute naps throughout the day help to give our body energy recharge and remove sleepiness.
Sunlight Exposure: Exposing our body to natural sunlight helps to stimulating the production of serotonin which helps to reduce sleep.
Side effects of not getting enough sleep
Following are few side effects which shows your bod needs a good sleep and remain your body healthy.
- drowsiness
- irritability and changes in mood
- changes in appetite
- frequent yawning
- poor productivity and focus
- poor decision-making
- forgetfulness
- frequent sickness
What is the sleep cycle, how it works?
Your body cycles through four stages of sleep during night. One cycle takes about 90 minutes. During a normal night’s sleep, you’ll cycle through each stage four to six times. by limiting yourself to 4 hours of sleep, you’ll only have time to cycle through these stages twice.
The sleep stages are:
A. This is the lightest stage of sleep, lasting 1 to 5 minutes. During this stage, you’re breathing and heart rate slow down and your muscles relax.
B. This stage lasts about 30 to 60 minutes. You’re breathing and heart rate slow down even further and your body temperature drops.
C. The third stage of sleep is also known as deep sleep. This period, which lasts about 20 to 40 minutes, is when your body repairs damaged tissues and cells.
Rapid eye movement (REM). REM is the stage most associated with dreaming. Your first REM cycle lasts about 10 minutes and your last one can last up to 1 hour.
Reducing Sleeping time may be very helpful to Student’s to concentrate and spent more study time
Final Conclusion on Sleep Reduction
An average adult needs minimum 7 hours of good sleep per night to wake up feeling rested and mentally fresh. Limiting your sleep risking your body in developing many health problems such as diabetes, depression, or cardiovascular disease and instant energy loss.
If you have to limit your sleep for a few days, you can potentially increase your energy by spending time in the sunlight, taking short naps throughout the day, and performing light exercise.
Thanks for reading
You may also love reading our following articles. The Surprising Link Between Sleep and Weight Loss – GymBag4U and The Ultimate Guide to Newborn Baby Sleep – GymBag4U and 10 Science-Backed Strategies for Improving Sleep Quality – GymBag4U
Prashant V @Gymbag4you@gmail.com
