Your best slumber ever begins by busting these four myths.
Myth 1: You need eight hours.Seven hours is fine. When the American Cancer Society monitored the sleep patterns of a million people aged 30 to 102 over a six-year period — taking into consideration variables such as diet and exercise — they found that those who slept seven hours a night lived 12 percent longer than eight-hour sleepers.
Myth 2 : Don’t eat just before bed.
Actually, a few crackers and an ounce of cheese is the ideal pre-sleep snack. It’s believed that digesting food keeps you awake, but certain foods eaten right before bed can help you sleep. The tryptophan in dairy foods increases the brain chemicals melatonin and serotonin, which make you drowsy.
Do It Now
Stop snoring. Forty percent of men snore. One fix: Put tennis balls in a tube sock and sew it to the back of your nightshirt so you can’t roll onto your back, preventing the soft tissue in your throat from collapsing and making you snore.
Myth 3: You can catch up on weekends.
Unfortunately for many of us, this doesn’t work. Getting seven hours at roughly the same time each night will prevent fatigue, but sleeping until noon on Saturday in order to make up for the four hours of sleep you got on Thursday screws up your circadian rhythm, making you even more tired.
Myth 4: Firm beds are best.
Nope, soft ones are better. A study published in the British medical journal Lancet revealed that when patients with chronic back pain swapped firm mattresses for softer ones, they had a 75 percent increase in sleep. The softer mattress allowed more natural body contours, eliminating pain by 32 percent among users.
This article originally appeared in the February 2009 issue of Men’s Journal.
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April 15th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
It is important to point out that snoring is the most common symptom of sleep apnea, which is an extremely serious medical condition. While not all snorers have sleep apnea, most who suffer from the condition snore loudly, and it is accompanied by pauses in breathing during sleep, followed by choking and gasping for air.
This important information should have been included in the box above. Snorers who are constantly tired during the day should be checked out for sleep apnea.
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Michael Reply:
April 15th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Perhaps sleep apnea would be covered in an all-encompassing sleep article - this one is on “myths,” and as far as I know there isn’t a myth regarding apnea.
A good tip to put in the comments though.
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