How Much Sleep Do You Actually Need?

With Marika Spann, Exercise Physiologist

We all know how it feels to have a poor night sleep, we spend the day feeling tired, sluggish, moody, and feeling the effects of brain fog. If just one night of poor-quality sleep can impact us that much, how do long term sleep disturbances impact us? Physically poor sleep can negatively impact our strength, power, endurance, balance, and coordination. Mentally we see a decline in concentration, memory, decision making and mood state. This puts the sleep deprived at an increased risk of injury (or reinjury) and accidents. In addition to this, we also put ourselves at a higher risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and decreased immune function.

So how much sleep do adults actually need? The Australian Sleep Health Foundation (SHF) recommend the average adult achieves eight hours and fifteen minutes of sleep every night. According to a 2016 survey performed by SHF, the average Australian adult typically gets between 5 ½ and 7 hours a sleep a night, well below the recommended amount! Some of us may feel that sleeping in on the weekend may allow us to ‘catch up’ on missed sleep during the week, unfortunately this is not true.

So how can we improve our quality of sleep?

• Maintain a regular sleep schedule. This means going to bed and waking up typically happens at the same time every night (yes even on weekends!)
• Manage your caffeine consumption
• Avoid all screens at least one hour before bedtime
• Keep distractions out of your bedroom – no TV, no phones, no laptops
• Don’t go to bed on a full or empty stomach
• Create a bedtime routine. You may want to stretch, read a book, shower or meditate before hopping into bed.

A lot of us find it difficult to stick to a regular bedtime routine, or struggle with relaxing our mind before bed. There is a wide range of apps available now that can be useful tools to assist. There are many mindfulness and meditation apps that walk you through quick routines that help to calm and relax the mind (Check out ‘Calm’ or ‘Headspace’). You may also want to set a sleep alarm an hour before you want to go to bed, to help remind you to begin your night-time routine.

Sleep can be considered one of the best physiological and psychological tools we must aid our general health and assist in the healing of any injuries we may have. Not performing as well as you’d like in your sport or in the gym? Improving your quality of sleep may give you that extra boost you’ve been missing! If you are currently injured and feel your recovery is not progressing at the correct pace, it may be beneficial to investigate improving your sleep habits. Our clinicians have some good general knowledge around sleep so feel free to discuss any sleep disturbances or difficulties you may be having with us at your next appointment.