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How much sleep are we truly supposed to be getting before we realize that it is too little or too much? That is the question that everybody loves to ask so that they could be prepared for the following day and be as energized as they would like to be. Sleeping can be seen as anything from sleeping the entire day or even going out of your way throughout the day to get those little 10-minute naps in before your next class. What actually matters is how much of it do we actually need before we consider it being a healthy amount of sleep. So that is what we are to really discuss and go into detail about. 

We cannot take into account how “good” somebody has slept by describing it in the form of time. So what are we considering how much is a good amount of sleep and how much is a bad amount of sleep for somebody? The way we take into consideration what we consider a “good” amount of sleep is by describing how energized we are feeling after waking up from those either few or long amounts of hours being asleep. Although, it is true that the amount of time a person is in their sleep would also add to the equation of how much is good for you, how you are feeling after sleep is what changes everything. You wouldn’t say that you slept well even if you would sleep for 8 hours and just wake up with the biggest headache of your life. 

It is extremely important to be getting the correct amount of sleep in your life since it could actually leak into how you are living your life if you start to get too much or too little. We have been getting told that a healthy amount of sleep would be around 6-8 hours of sleep everyday. This is actually true because it shows the best amount of time range that would leave you energized and have your body going to be able to get through an entire day. As long as you follow this rule, it is more likely that you will be able to live a more healthy lifestyle. The thing is, many people actually don’t follow this 6-8 hour rule and would go extremely over the mark or extremely under the mark. In the article, “In U.S., 40% get less than recommended amount of sleep,” by Jefferey M. Jones, we can see from even just the title that many people aren’t getting the amount of sleep that is even considered healthy. It is also then stated in the same article that, “Medical studies have related a lack of sleep to health problems and cognitive impairment.” This takes me back to when I said that it is extremely important to be getting the correct amount of sleep in your life because it could eventually lead to consequences. These consequences include health problems throughout your life and as the article states, impairment. Of course, this can be a factor of many things that include just not being able to come home in time and having to wake up extremely early because you have something to do in the morning at 5 in the morning and things of that nature. This is where naps during the day would come into place.

Sleeping too much in general will leave the body with consequences such as health problems throughout the rest of your life. However, naps are a key detail throughout your day if you are sleeping for too little. Although it is true that people might just not have the time to get home and get a full 6-8 hours of sleep before having to wake up and go do whatever they have to do in the morning, naps are essential in helping out and allowing you to make up for the time that you have missed. If you aren’t getting the amount of sleep that is recommended for you, napping gives off the benefits as if you are getting that recommended sleep. These benefits will mainly include mental benefits that help focus on the mind. In the article, “Napping: Benefits and Tips,” by Jay Summer, it states, “A short daytime snooze may also boost workplace performance. A nap can improve cognitive functions such as memory, logical reasoning, and the ability to complete complex tasks.” Although it is true that you should get your amount of sleep during the night, it is fine to get your sleep throughout the day as well. This goes into detail about how napping would really help you mentally as long as you aren’t overdoing it. Overdoing it (sleeping too much) does lead to consequences or negative effects that you will run into. These negative effects even go as far as diseases from the heart and could lead to diabetes. It could even leak into your social life if you aren’t watching how many naps or how long you nap for throughout the day. In the article, “Longer naps may awaken these four health issues,” it states, “Naps exceeding half an hour during the day could possibly lead to serious health conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. A study published in April 2016 found that naps lasting more than 60 minutes a day increased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 50 percent.” This shows that even while only going over just 30 minutes of napping, it could lead to things far worse in your life if you aren’t too careful. 

While all of this is true, researchers are finding out that more and more people are sleeping the necessary recommendations and not going too much over or too little the thresholds. If we are looking at the brighter parts of the studies, although 40% of people aren’t getting the necessary amount of sleep, there is still that 60% that are getting a healthy amount of sleep and that number will keep on going up. People as a whole still have to put the effort into getting those 6-8 hours of sleep so that they can continue to live a healthy lifestyle. 

References

Jones, Jeffrey M. “In U.S., 40% Get Less Than Recommended Amount of Sleep.” Gallup News, 19 December 2013, https://news.gallup.com/poll/166553/less-recommended-amount-sleep.aspx. Accessed 18 October 2022.

Smith, Suzannah. “Longer naps may awaken these four health issues – Vital Record.” Vital Record, 23 June 2016, https://vitalrecord.tamhsc.edu/long-naps-cause-health-issues/. Accessed 18 October 2022.Summer, Jay. Napping: Benefits and Tips. Sleep Foundation, 2022. Sleep Foundation, https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene/napping.