YOUR QUESTIONS, ANSWERED
HOW MUCH SLEEP DO I ACTUALLY NEED? -
A 2015 review of 320 research articles concluded that seven to nine hours of shut-eye per night were optimal for over-18s and, according to the NHS, ‘most adults’ should be getting between six and nine. It’s not clear, however, who ‘most adults’ are. ‘Individual sleep requirements are like height,’ says Dr Neil Stanley, author of How To Sleep Well. ‘To a large degree, it’s genetically determined and anywhere between four and 11 hours would be considered normal.’ Quite a scale, then. How to clock where you sit? Listen to your body. ‘It’s the amount of sleep that allows you to wake up alert and refreshed the following day,’ says Dr Stanley. If you’re nodding off desk-side, try tweaking your bedtime and tracking your body’s response to identify your daisy-fresh sweet spot.
IS IT BAD THAT I OFTEN WAKE UP IN THE NIGHT, BUT SOON FALL BACK TO SLEEP? -
It’s not ideal – but if you’re drifting straight back off and you’re not feeling exhausted the day after, your sleep’s not ‘bad’, per se. Professor Adrian Williams at the London Sleep Centre defines bad sleep as the inability to drift off within 30 minutes, or having frequently disturbed slumber resulting in wakeful periods upwards of four nights per week. If you’re not feeling bad the next day, it’s likely that you’re being woken during dreaming or REM sleep – which is easily done and NBD, really, in terms of hampering your sleepy-time benefits. ‘The sleep that allows you to feel refreshed and restored is slowwave sleep,’ adds Professor Williams. ‘That’s what you need most.’ And by the sounds of it, you’re getting it.
MY LEGS SPASM PAINFULLY IN MY SLEEP – WHAT’S GOING ON? -
Twitchy legs before bed, or while you’re lying there, is called restless legs syndrome. ‘It’s characterised by an uncomfortable, irritable feeling in the legs, which can be painful,’ says Professor Williams. ‘In response, patients move their legs to relieve the discomfort.’ The condition is thought to be neurological, with Professor Williams pointing to studies attributing the condition to a problem with iron storage in the body. Good news: supplementation can help. So can a medication called dopamine agonist, which acts in the brain in the same way as the happy hormone dopamine. The final word? Discuss treatment options with your GP to kick the habit (and not any fellow bed occupants).