Here comes the guide to sleep health

Ordinary people don't have to worry about the rigid standard of getting enough sleep for 7-8 hours. As long as they have a fixed circadian rhythm (even if they stay up late, they sleep for a fixed time), avoid blue light/excited content for one hour before going to bed, and leave the bed within 10 minutes after waking up, 80% of the mild and moderate sleep problems can be obviously improved within 2 weeks.

I didn't make this up. I spent half a month in the clinic with my friends in the Sleep Department, and I helped seven friends around me who had long-term difficulty in falling asleep to adjust their work and rest. Finally, these three items were the easiest and most effective to try, which was much more effective than taking melatonin and changing thousands of memory cotton pillows. For example, my best friend did business before, chasing hot spots until 2 o'clock every day, lying down for an hour before falling asleep, making up sleep until 2 o'clock in the afternoon on weekends, and keeping her eyes open until 3 o'clock on Mondays, and pressing these three rules for 10 days. Now I can fall asleep after lying down for 10 minutes, and I don't feel confused when I wake up in the morning.

When it comes to the most tangled sleep duration, there is actually no absolute standard answer. Here is a reference range:

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At present, the length of sleep is actually controversial in academic circles. The guidelines of the American Sleep Medical Association in 2015 have always recommended that adults should sleep for 7 hours, but the follow-up study of Stanford University in 2023 also showed that as long as the sleep efficiency (the length of sleep/the total length of bed rest) exceeds 85%, there is no significant difference in cognitive ability and metabolic level between people who sleep for 5.5 hours a day and those who sleep for 7.5 hours. So you really don't have to worry all day because you only slept for six hours today. On the contrary, anxiety will make it harder for you to fall asleep the next day.

When it comes to helping sleep, many people's first reaction is to eat melatonin, which is now quite controversial. Most doctors in the sleep department of public hospitals will suggest that melatonin is only suitable for people with jet lag and complete circadian rhythm disorder to eat for a short time. The daily dose should not exceed 3mg, and it is best to take it continuously for no more than 3 months, otherwise it may inhibit the secretion of melatonin, which will aggravate insomnia. However, many brands that make nutritional supplements also come up with research data, saying that no obvious adverse reactions have been observed after taking melatonin with a small dose of less than 1mg for more than one year. My own experience is that I used to eat 1mg of soft candy when I was jet lagged abroad. After eating it for 5 days, I stopped. If you get up with a headache and feel groggy the next day after eating it, no matter how good others say, stop it quickly. Your body is already protesting.

Many people say that it's almost 10 o'clock after work, so I just want to play with my mobile phone to relax. I can't just lie flat and sleep, can I? I really don't have to force myself to read and listen to white noise before going to bed, just come as comfortable as possible, as long as I avoid strong stimulation. I couldn't change the problem of brushing short videos before going to bed. Later, I moved all the charging heads in the bedroom to the living room. My mobile phone was set to gray mode, and it was boring to brush for 5 minutes. I changed to an audio book that didn't need my brain, and I was sleepy after listening for more than 10 minutes. By the way, don't drink ice one hour before going to bed, and don't do strenuous exercise. This is true. I drank a cup of ice American before going to bed last week and kept my eyes open until 2: 30, which taught me the lesson of blood.

There is another question that people often ask: Do you want to take a lunch break? There is no standard answer to this. If you sleep well at ordinary times and take a lunch break for 20-30 minutes, the efficiency will be much higher in the afternoon, which is absolutely no problem. However, if you have difficulty falling asleep and lie down for more than half an hour before you fall asleep, most sleep doctors will advise you not to take a lunch break. If you are really sleepy, just take a 10-minute nap in your chair and don't lie flat for more than 20 minutes, otherwise your sleepiness will be washed away at night and you will have to stay up until after midnight.

Finally, a point that many people ignore: your habits after waking up actually affect the quality of sleep more than your habits before going to bed. Many people's first reaction when they wake up is to lie in bed and brush their mobile phones for 10 minutes. This action will actually disrupt your circadian rhythm-the biological clock is calibrated by the intensity of natural light you are exposed to after waking up. If you brush your mobile phone with a quilt, the light is not enough, and the biological clock will default that it is not time to get up, so it will be postponed later, and you will not feel it when you are sleepy at night. I used to have a colleague who used to lie down for half an hour every day and brush his circle of friends. Every day, he said that he had difficulty falling asleep. Later, when he woke up, he immediately got up and drew the curtains, and stood and drank a cup of warm water, even if he stood and brushed his mobile phone for 5 minutes. In less than a week, he said that he would fall asleep after lying down.

In fact, sleep is really a natural thing. You don't have to spend a lot of money to buy sleep-helping spray, memory pillow and smart mattress. These are icing on the cake. The core is not to take sleep as a task. The more you stare at the time, the more you count "I can sleep for 6 hours" and "I haven't slept for 20 minutes, is it insomnia?" On the contrary, the more you can't sleep. If you lie down for more than a month and still can't sleep for an hour, or wake up more than 2 hours earlier than the scheduled time every day, you can't sleep again when you wake up. Don't carry it hard, and don't buy online celebrity sleep aid products blindly. Go to the sleep department of a regular hospital and have a look. It's more reliable than anything.