Are you getting under 6 hours of sleep each night?

Sleep is vital to our ability to function each day. But in this day and age many of us our often sacrificing our sleep to get last-minute work done, watching that next episode or scrolling on social media.

But to make this a habit has been proven to not be healthy for your body, and can lead to sleep deprivation.

The Impact of sleep deprivation.

Cognitive Function.

Throughout the day depending on your tasks ahead, we are constantly making decisions. Sleep is crucial for us to be able to concentrate and make the correct decision, so not getting less than 6 hours of sleep on a regular basis can affect your ability to focus and complete complicated tasks.

Mood and Mental Health.

Ever been extra on edge, it likely is because you haven’t gotten enough sleep. But a lack of sleep on a regular basis can lead to more serious conditions than just a bad mood.

A lack of sleep is linked to anxiety and depression as well as contributes to increased stress levels.

Physical Health.

As spoken about in another blog, (click here if you would like to read it) sleep can affect your muscles’ ability to rebuild after using them throughout the day.

Not only that but not getting enough sleep has also been linked to weight gain, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In addition to this, it can also weaken your immune system making your body more susceptible to illnesses.

How to help reduce sleep deprivation.

Utilizing a sleep tracker.

Sleep trackers can help you to figure out why you aren’t sleeping, or whether or not your sleep is good quality.

Bettersleep is a sleep tracker style app that provides various mediations and sounds to help you to sleep better and get to sleep easier. It also has a sleep tracker which you can use to help track the quality of your sleep.

The app contains premade melodies but you are also able to design your own as well. There are also stories to listen to or something just as simple as white noise. It is so simple to use and has so much variety that there will be something that will help you.

As well as all of this the app even has a personalised quiz that you can take so that you can get advice that is geared towards your own needs.

How does the sleep tracker work.

Okay so the sounds and meditations are simple; you just choose which one you would like to listen to. And despite what you may think the sleep tracker is just as simple.

Once you have taken the quiz and set up your account, you have access to the sleep tracker. All you need to do is make sure that you switch the sleep tracker on before you go to sleep and it will track your sleep! It uses the noises that you make in your sleep to assess your patterns and the quality of your sleep.

It will then create a customised report of your sleep from that night which you can then analyse and see what you can do to improve your sleep.

What people say about Bettersleep.

81% of users say that they have been able to reduce their stress and anxiety by using the sounds and meditations in the app. This has helped to improve their overall sleep.

9/10 uses notice a difference in their sleep quality after using the Bettersleep app.

87% of users wake up feeling like they are well-rested and ready for the day ahead.

Establish a night time routine.

By establishing a routine your brain will eventually automatically start to switch off, it will realise these are the steps it follows before you go to sleep.

It can be difficult when we are in bed, having been highly stimulated, for our brains to realise it is time to switch off. This is one of the reasons people struggle so much to fall asleep, they try to when their brains are still completely switched on.

To lessen the effect of this try to create a routine before bed and if you can try to reduce screen time by half an hour before you want to go to sleep. The screen causes the brain to stay stimulated keeping you more awake.