What is Sleep Quality?

You might be getting 8 hours of sleep a night, but you don’t feel well rested or refreshed. Why? While the quantity of sleep is important, with most adults needing between 7 and 9 hours of sleep a night, the quality of that sleep is equally important to feeling good. There are typically 4 factors that get looked at when assessing someone’s sleep quality: sleep latency, sleep waking, wakefulness, sleep efficiency.

Sleep latency: this is a measure of how long it takes you to fall asleep once you get into bed. Falling asleep within thirty minutes of going to bed is a sign of good quality sleep.

Sleep waking: this is a measure of how often you wake up throughout the night. Waking up one time or less throughout the night is considered good quality sleep.

Wakefulness: this refers to the amount of minutes you are awake during the night after the first time you fall asleep. People with good quality sleep tend to spend less than twenty minutes awake throughout the night.

Sleep Efficiency: this refers to the amount of time you spend sleeping while in bed. So if you spend 8 hours in bed, but it takes you 30 minutes to fall asleep and you spend 30 minutes awake in the middle of the night, your sleep efficiency is ⅞*100 percent which is 87.5%. This measurement should be around 85% or greater for optimal health benefits.

Your sleep quality starts to become affected when you struggle with one or more of these factors. So if it is taking you longer than 30 minutes to fall asleep, you wake up multiple times throughout the night, it takes you a while to fall asleep after waking up, or you spend a majority of time in bed awake and not asleep then your sleep quality is probably suffering which can leave you feeling tired and sluggish throughout the day. The best way to try to improve your sleep quality is to focus on good bedtime habits. This means logging off of electronic devices at least an hour before bed, that the room is completely dark, and that the temperature is around 60 to 67 degrees. Limiting alcohol consumption can also improve sleep quality because not only is alcohol a bladder irritant, but it also affects your body’s ability to naturally progress through the sleep cycles. Lastly, regular exercise can help you get better sleep. Exercise has been shown to help people fall asleep faster, and fall back to sleep quicker if they do wake up in the middle of the night. Exercise also helps to prevent excess weight gain, which can decrease your chances of struggling with sleep apnea.

Overall, if you are staying in bed for 7-9 hours and still feeling exhausted, it may be worth looking into the quality of your sleep. You may find that you can improve upon any of the factors listed above, and that could help you feel more rested. If you really wanted to gather data on your sleeping habits, it might be worth buying a sleep tracker.