Not enough sleep, but right? — How to reduce sleep time — guidelines.

You need to sleep at least eight hours - we learned this axiom by heart. They talk about this from all sides and advise sticking to this magical number. But personally, such recommendations always seemed a little strange to me. I love strong coffee, I fall asleep best late at night and wake up refreshed not at seven, but at ten in the morning. I made a sincere effort to stick to a strict schedule, sleeping eight hours and waking up early. But as a result, I felt like a sleepwalker and suffered unbearably.

It became clear to me that the eight-hour rule does not work for everyone. Seven hours is enough for me to sleep and feel great.

The vast majority of studies and articles insist on eight hours of sleep. But perhaps this figure is the influence of the development of civilization, not biology. For example, if we study the sleep data of those who lived in the pre-industrial era, it turns out that average duration sleep is 5.7–7.1 hours per day.

Researchers are still trying to figure out how much time we need to spend sleeping. But it is absolutely clear that it is better to have little sleep than to sleep for a long time.

Less is more

Professor Franco Cappuccio analyzed 16 sleep studies involving more than 1 million people. As a result, he found out that those who sleep for a long time die earlier than those who are always sleep-deprived.

However, this conclusion cannot be relied upon entirely. After all, tracking the effect of sleep on a person is quite difficult. Diseases and problems hidden from the eyes of doctors make themselves known. For example, long sleep is associated with, and short sleep is associated with stress. But when Professor Shawn Youngstedt, realizing the shortcomings of experiments with in large groups, conducted his own study with 14 volunteers, he obtained the same results as Cappuccio.

Apparently, long-term sleep in the long term has the same effect on a person as a sedentary lifestyle.

Of course, someone will live happily ever after despite spending 12 hours at a desk. And some people need to train and exercise a lot and often physical labor. To each his own.

If you're between 18 and 64 years old, you probably need about 6 to 11 hours of sleep. But even these recommendations, made on the basis scientific research, should be secondary for you. Margaret Thatcher ran the country, and some teenagers won't remember their name unless they get 10 hours of sleep without a break.

How much sleep do I need?

The sleep cycle consists of five stages: the four stages of slow-wave sleep and the REM sleep. We move quickly through the first stage, spend a short time in the second while the binaural beats slow down, move into the third and fourth stages of slow waves and finally reach the fifth stage - the REM phase.

This cycle is believed to repeat every 90 minutes. But, apparently, its duration can vary from 70 to 120 minutes. Exactly the same as with required quantity daily sleep, the duration of this cycle is unique and different for everyone.

But we know for sure that we need 4-5 such cycles to get enough sleep. Because their duration varies, it is difficult to predict exactly when you will be, say, between the fourth and fifth cycles and when perfect time for awakening.

But even this is not all: throughout the night, the duration of the cycles changes. It increases towards the middle of the night and falls towards the morning.

So what to do with this knowledge?

Don't believe statements like "You need N hours of sleep a night." Unless it's a recommendation from the specialist who just gave you an electroencephalogram.
Get some minimal technology that will help you track your sleep cycles and wake you up at the ideal time in the morning.

Technology is the only thing the right way track, monitor and understand your sleep cycles. But before you learn how to do this, you need to understand why this is needed at all.

Listen to your inner rhythms

Modern technology is one of the main reasons why we stop feeling our own. Gadgets, electronics, street lighting and all other objects that emit light disrupt our circadian rhythms and synchronization with sunset and dawn.

Circadian rhythms are controlled by a group of cells that stimulate the body's response to light signals. They send a message to the brain and cause the body to wake up, increase its temperature, produce necessary hormones(for example, cortisol) and reduce the production of unnecessary ones (for example, melatonin).

The problem is that we also react to artificial lighting. When you look at a bright smartphone screen at night, your body receives a signal: wake up and shine!

Technology is not the only one to blame for this, of course. Other factors such as noise, hormones, sports exercises, stimulants, also have a similar effect and disrupt circadian rhythms.

But there is also good news. For more than 6 million years, our ancestors learned to fall asleep during sunset. This means that to restore disrupted circadian rhythms, we need very little effort. You just need to avoid irritating factors. Electric lighting, for example, or light from a monitor.

Get busy with this. Don't exercise before bed, stop drinking coffee at night. Buy good earplugs and an eye mask. Finally, turn your bedroom into a place for relaxation, namely for deep, restful sleep.

Monitor your sleep

Finding a sleep monitoring gadget is not difficult. The market is filled with similar devices for almost any budget.

Or you don’t have to buy a new device, but install it good app for sleep tracking. We liked the Sleep Cycle program. It uses your smartphone's accelerometer and microphone to track your sleep, movement and breathing.

Of course, you can try other applications or gadgets. The main thing you need to do is understand exactly how you sleep and how long your sleep cycles last.

Abstract advice like “sleep more” and “get enough sleep” has no basis. After all, no one knows exactly how much time you need to recover. Only you know how your body works.

Sleep is an integral part of the life of any person, his natural need and the condition for his productive activity. However, in the modern and dynamic world there is less and less time for sleep, and sleep problems, including insomnia, are among the most common in the world. at the moment. Is there any way to sleep less and get more sleep?

I. General information

According to scientific definition, sleep is natural physiological state, characterized decreased reaction on the world around us , inherent in mammals, birds, fish and some other animals, including insects. In a dream the level of anabolic processes increases and catabolism decreases, that is, at this time the body restores its strength. Also Dream - special condition consciousness of humans and animals, which includes a number of stages that naturally repeat during the night (with a normal daily schedule). The appearance of these stages is due to the activity various structures brain

At the moment, science knows such sleep functions, How:

Rest of the body
Processing and storage of information (sleep (especially slow sleep) facilitates consolidation of learned material, REM sleep implements subconscious models of expected events)
Adaptation of the body to changes in illumination (day-night)
Restoring immunity, including by activating T-lymphocytes that fight colds and viral diseases

Despite popular belief that eight hours of sleep is necessary, The average amount of sleep a person gets usually depends on numerous factors: ranging from age, gender, lifestyle, nutrition and degree of fatigue, to external factors (general level noise, location, etc.). IN general case, with sleep disorders, its duration can range from a few seconds to several days, which leaves open the question of how to sleep less and get more sleep.

Despite numerous studies of the mechanism of sleep and dreams, many questions regarding sleep still remain open. This is why there are many alternative theories sleep: visceral theory, pre-Freudian concept of dreams, bimodal sleep model, theory lucid dreams and many others.

II. Human biological rhythms

Monophasic sleep, familiar to most people (about 6-8 hours of sleep at night), is historically determined. In ancient times, during the absence of electricity, staying awake at night was complicated by the lack of lighting or its difficult technical organization. The human body also reacts at a biological level to changes in lighting by producing hormones.

Some key points 24 hour cycle:
6:00 - Cortisol levels rise to force your body to wake up
7:00 - melatonin production stops
9:00 - peak production of sex hormone
10:00 - peak mental activity
14:30 - best level coordination of movements
15:30 - time better reaction
17:00 - best work cardiovascular system and muscle elasticity
19:00 - the most high level blood pressure and the most high temperature body
21:00 - melatonin begins to be produced to prepare the body for sleep
22:00 - work calms down digestive system as the body prepares for sleep
2:00 - deepest sleep
4:00 - the most low temperature body

III. Polyphasic sleep

However, there is an alternative to the standard sleep model - polyphasic sleep . This is a sleep pattern in which Sleep time, unlike single-phase or biphasic sleep, is divided into several periods during the day. It is noteworthy that polyphasic sleep has been widely used by some outstanding people, and there are several reliable sources to confirm this.

Basic sleep modes:

Monophasic (habitual) - 1 time at night 7-10 hours
Biphasic - 1 time at night for 5-7 hours and then 1 time 20 minutes during the day
Everyman (regular person mode) - 1 time at night for 1.5-3 hours and then 3 times for 20 minutes during the day
Dymaxion — 4 times for 30 minutes every 5.5 hours
Uberman (superhuman mode) - 6 times for 20 minutes every 3 hours 40 minutes
Tesla (in honor of Nikola Tesla, who supposedly used it) - 2 hours at night and 20 minutes during the day

However, the very first documented transition to polyphasic sleep was made by Buckminster Fuller. Fuller experimented with sleep in the mid-1900s and developed a sleep regimen called “Dymaxion” (Fuller gave the same name to his trademark, combining several inventions). In the October 11, 1942 edition of Time Magazine there was a short article devoted to this method. According to her, the author maintained this schedule for two years, but then he had to stop because “his schedule conflicted with the schedule of his companions, who insisted on sleeping like normal people" The doctors who examined him concluded that he was healthy.

In 2006, American blogger Steve Pavlina lived in polyphasic sleep mode for 5 ½ months ( Uberman), posting detailed reports on the progress of his experiment on his blog. His recordings are still the most comprehensive guide on the transition to polyphasic sleep mode. In the process of adjusting to polyphasic sleep, Steve identifies the stages of physiological and psychological adaptation. After spending several weeks adapting, Steve reports the complete disappearance of negative side effects(drowsiness, physical ailments, etc.). Having adapted to the polyphasic regime, the author conducts (and describes in detail) a number of experiments (stretching phases, skipping one of the phases, studying the effect of coffee on the body of a polyphasic sleeper, etc.). After 5 ½ months of polyphasic sleep, Steve returns to monophasic mode, explaining his decision by the lack of synchronization with the outside world, living in monophasic mode.

There is also special shape daytime sleep - siesta. This is an afternoon nap, which is a common tradition in some countries, especially with hot climates (Spain, Greece). Dr. Eduardo Estiville confidently states: “For children under 5 years of age, this is simply necessary, and for adults nap recommended, but in any case it should be short. No more than 30 minutes." The problem is that in most countries where the siesta is common, the lunch break significantly exceeds this limit. This proves that a siesta lasting no more than 30 minutes (a longer one can disrupt natural biological clock and cause insomnia at night) improves health in general and blood circulation in particular, and also prevents depression, increased blood pressure and stress. In addition, it improves memory and the learning process, helps prolong working capacity and makes the body stay awake until late in the evening, despite accumulated fatigue.

For those who have decided to start practicing polyphasic sleep, there are various websites and applications that clearly explain how to sleep less and get more sleep. One of them is SmartSleep, which helps control your sleep patterns.

IV. Dream and art

The theme of sleep appears very often in art. Several films where sleep is the lei-motif of the entire film:

Driver
Somnia
Awakening (TV series)
The Babadook
Dreams
Escape from sleep
Jacob's Ladder

He led the most right life. He was sleeping.(L.N. Tolstoy)

IN different times scientists and simply brave experimenters were looking for various ways reducing the number of hours spent sleeping without compromising physical and mental state.

To reduce the duration of sleep, it is enough to ensure that even sleep lasting less than 8 hours brings rest and restores strength. And recommendations on how to do this have been known for a long time.

Maintaining a sleep-wake schedule

No matter how trite it sounds, but having gotten used to falling asleep and waking up at the same time, the body gets by with much less sleep, and the person feels more rested. You need to follow the regime regardless of whether you need to go to work, or whether it’s a bad day, or whether the person is on vacation or visiting, and this is sometimes the most difficult thing. After all, the temptation to “sleep it off” is so great! And as a result, the well-functioning circadian rhythm and such a dream does not bring the desired additional.

Go to bed earlier and get up earlier

Nighttime sleep should be between 10 pm and 6 am. Moreover, it is advisable to go to bed before midnight, then without any problems you can get up not only at 6, but even at 4 in the morning and feel rested. But such a regime rarely suits the majority of people who came out of junior school age. They call the time before midnight “childish” and stubbornly refuse to go to bed. “ Good night, kids!”, and the price they pay for it is far from kind. By following this regimen, you can reduce the amount of sleep your body needs by 1-3 hours!

Sleep is a time of relaxation and rest. Many people dream of prolonging this pleasure as long as possible. At the same time, in the world latest technologies, being in a constant rush, humanity is thinking about how to sleep less and get enough sleep. And now the answer has been found.

Studying the stages of sleep and understanding them will help answer all the necessary questions. It is known that there are 5 stages of sleep, which are night rest person. Having done some simple mathematical calculations, we can draw the following conclusions:

the average duration of one sleep phase is 100 minutes;
real relaxation occurs only in the 3rd and 4th phases of sleep;
after three hours of sleep, the 4th phase begins, which is actually the desired result;
then everything happens again, and the phases begin to repeat, but do not reach stage 4.

From all these calculations it can be concluded that short nap, which lasts about 4.5–5 hours is ideal option for those who want to sleep less without harming their health.

If you want to train yourself to sleep less, you need to carefully analyze the activity of the whole day and part of the night; pay attention to the stages of your sleep to determine how your body lives; take all measures to feel good throughout the day. To do this, you need to eat right and exercise, even if you only have 15 minutes of free time.

Time for sleep

To understand what hours are best to sleep, you should pay attention to own feeling internal time, which, like no one else, will tell you when it’s best for you to rest. If your work schedule does not allow you to rest during the day, make sure you get a productive night's sleep.

Favorite activity instead of sleep

If you decide to reduce your sleep time, you must be 100% sure that you will find something to do to fill your free time. Otherwise, there is simply no need to reduce sleep. Scientists have long advised planning your sleep in the same way as scheduling your time. To do this, keep a “sleep diary”, in which you will record hours of activity and bouts of sleep during which it is impossible to do anything with yourself.

Not many people set a goal to reduce sleep. Sometimes circumstances force us to do this. If you are faced with the choice to stay on the most better job or fall asleep on the go, pay attention to medical supplies, which will help keep the body in good shape when necessary.

To such medicines often include central nervous system stimulants, which reduce feelings of fatigue, improve mood, and also increase performance. You should take such drugs only on the recommendation of a doctor in case of absolute necessity.

You should not focus on energy drinks, they greatly affect the functioning of the heart. If you want to sleep little and get enough sleep, stick to strict regime, namely:

fall asleep and wake up at the same time;
do exercises in the morning;
when it's hard to wake up, open the curtains and let sunlight enter the room;
drink plenty of fluids to fill your body with the necessary elements;
do not drink alcohol, nicotine, coffee, or a lot of dark chocolate.

By following these tips, you can sleep little and get enough sleep without harm to your health.

1) Sleep less using Leonardo da Vinci's method.
Leonardo da Vinci's recipe for minimum sleep: 15 minutes of sleep, then 4 hours of work, then again a short nap. And so on day after day, year after year. At the same time, I slept well.

Unfortunately, this method does not take into account not only the maintenance period of the body, but also the duration of deep and slow sleep phases. So you can forget about the harmlessness of the method, at least from the point of view of the accumulation of toxins in the body.

2) Sleep reduction mode "Dymaxion".
A certain Bucky Fuller began to sleep thirty minutes 4 times a day every six hours, which totaled only two hours of sleep. At the same time, he said that he had never felt more energetic. Doctors examined Bucky after two years of this cycle and declared him completely healthy.

This experimenter also did not continue to sleep according to his system, returning to normal life at the request of his wife and business partners.

As you can see, we have increased the duration of one stage of sleep by up to half an hour. This is twice as much as according to Leonardo’s method - but this is already more like the truth, since at least half an hour can accommodate both fast and slow phase sleep. ABOUT full cycle No one talks about maintenance - but, nevertheless, the minimum is already met.
Read the article about.

3) A recipe for minimal sleep from Salvador Dali.
They say that in order to sleep less, the artist placed a metal tray on the floor next to him, and between the large and index fingers hand hanging over the tray, clutching a spoon. As soon as he dozed off, the spoon would fall onto the tray with a clang and wake him up. The state, intermediate between wakefulness and sleep, refreshed Dali, and he furiously returned to work.

This method was known to the ancient Greeks and Macedonians. Thus, descriptions have been preserved of how Alexander the Great was taught not to sleep long time in the same way - he sat in front of a copper basin and held in his hand big stone. When he began to fall asleep, the stone fell out of his hand, rattled against the copper basin, and the young conqueror woke up.

4) Sleep mode "Siesta".
This dream is practiced by many high school students and college students (probably you are familiar with it too). The technique is very simple: 5-6 hours of sleep and one nap during the day for 90-20 minutes, respectively. These 5-6 hours can fit multiples of most people's repair sleep cycles, so this option is by far the healthiest of all the options listed.

Moreover, in this case, siesta is good option reduce sleep duration by one repair cycle. That is, 5-6 hours of the main cycle accommodate 2 repair cycles of 2.5-3 hours each (just average values). So siesta is a good option for a gradual transition to greater productivity.

— How to sleep less and get more done.

Human sleep is divided into phases. The most important for us are the third and fourth, which occur in the first 2–3 hours of sleep.

The methods that I will talk about were invented by the scientist Alexander Vein. Their essence is to achieve maximum stay in the fourth phase of sleep.

Before you start practicing, you should know the following:

Before using the first technique, you must not sleep for 1–2 days. Then you will have to sleep strictly certain time, otherwise your efficiency will tend to zero.

During the experiment, you must have a minimum of three hours of rest per day. Take a walk in the park, have a cup of tea with someone, spend time with your family, do meditation. No physical or mental stress.

Method 1.
First, you need to understand when your sleep is most effective. To do this, set aside a few days free from urgent matters (for example, weekends).

On the first day you should go to bed at your usual time. You wake up, do your business, but at exactly 12 o’clock at night, start researching.

Listen to your feelings. Soon you will notice that you don’t always want to sleep, but with a certain frequency. We will identify it.

Rate your desire to sleep on a three-point scale:

1 - want to sleep;
2 - I really want to sleep;
3 - I feel unbearably sleepy.

Record such sleep attacks in a notepad or phone.

At 24:00 next day(that is, after a day) the experiment can be considered completed. Now you can lie down, get a good night’s sleep, and start analyzing everything the next morning.

Review your entries. Of all the sleep attacks, choose the longest ones, and from them - the two strongest ones. You should have two time periods when you were simply knocked out.

This could happen to you at different times, but usually people experience the first strong and prolonged desire to sleep between one in the morning and six in the morning, and the second during the day. For example, if you have an irresistible desire to sleep at 4 o'clock and at 16 o'clock, then your sleep schedule will be as follows.

Go to bed at four in the morning and set your alarm clock so that it rings in 2–2.5 hours. During this time, you will stay in the fourth phase of sleep for the same amount of time as those who sleep 8–10 hours a day, and you will be fully rested. At 1 p.m., sleep for another hour.

As a result, you will sleep 3–3.5 hours a day, but you will stay in the fourth phase of sleep even more than ordinary person for an eight-hour rest.

The main thing here is accuracy. If you fall asleep at 4:15 instead of 4:00, you won't get enough sleep or even hear your alarm. Although it is possible that these 15 minutes will help you find your optimal time for falling asleep. Listen to your body.

— What should I do to get a good night’s sleep?

1) Consistent sleep schedule.
You should get up at the same time every day. If on weekdays you need to get up at 6 am, then on weekends you need to do the same. At least approximately. Not at six, but at seven - half past seven for sure. The reason is simple. The body “gets used” to getting up at the same time + going to bed at the same time. Don't forget what is described in general theory about the time of awakening.
IMPORTANT! You need to wake up in the REM sleep phase. How will you find it? Just move your alarm clock back and forth for 10-20-30 minutes throughout the week. And you will definitely find a time when it is VERY easy for you to get up.

2) Exercise in the morning.
Serious exercise that will make you sweat (don't forget to shower after). Exercise seriously increases body temperature, and therefore the performance of the body and brain, if it is part of your body.

3) Need more light.
Yes, you need a lot of strong, bright light. Preferably real sunlight, if not possible, bright (naturally, not blinding) light in the workplace. Melatonin is destroyed in the light, and you want to sleep less. If you don't work in the brightest conditions, go somewhere outdoors for lunch.

4) Required physical activity during the day.
If you have the opportunity to go for a run after work (or during), go to gym or swimming pool. This must be done to keep the body temperature high enough, then the body will be active and the brain fresh. Find out!

5)Drink plenty of water.
The body needs a lot of water. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but at least a couple of liters a day just for normal operation kidneys and liver. When the body has enough of everything, it can relax enough during sleep. It's about about WATER, and not about any liquid.

6)Do not drink: alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, energy drinks.
The above substances and liquids have a very negative effect on your sleep system. The body cannot relax during sleep, and if you sit too hard on the last two, then even without them the body will no longer be able to gather itself.

7) If you feel sleepy at lunchtime, sleep... for 20 minutes. Maximum 30.
During the day it’s quite possible to take a nap if you really can’t bear it. The main thing is to wake up BEFORE your body enters the phase deep sleep. In the REM sleep phase, which you should focus on in this case, the body also rests and relaxes well. By the way, it is after lunch that people tend to fall asleep; at this time, most people experience a slight drop in body temperature. Don’t forget, the main thing is to set the alarm clock for a time in 25-30 minutes. If you have a lockable office at work and an hour lunch break, half of it can be used for sleep.