BackStop Worrying So Much About Getting Eight Hours of Sleep a Night
Stressing about your lack of sleep will only make it worse.
PremiumWSJ’s Life & Work team presents a holiday-season series about one secret to happiness: lower expectations of yourself and others. Up now: sleep stress.
Everyone knows that getting eight hours of sleep is the key to health and happiness.
We’re better parents, partners and friends when we sleep well. Small issues during the day get brushed off quicker and we are able to focus more easily.
And research from the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health have shown that lack of sleep corresponds with higher rates of heart attack, stroke and other diseases.
Too bad it’s nearly impossible. More than a third of Americans don’t get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But one of the worst things you can do about your lack of sleep is to stress out about it, say scientists and doctors. Forcing yourself to try to sleep better will backfire.
“The more you focus on going to sleep, you’re not able to sleep," says Dr. Reena Mehra, director of sleep-disorders research at Cleveland Clinic. “It works against the individual."
For the first 35 years of my life, the ability to sleep anywhere was my superpower.
I’ve slept through two dormitory fire alarms, one nearly capsizing ferryboat ride, and dozens of other harrowing and loud moments. Then, we had our first child about five years ago.
Since then, I haven’t slept eight hours multiple days in a row. Turns out a crying or restless child is my sleeping kryptonite.
Searching for an answer to my sleeping woes—and, maybe, yours—I chatted with researchers, scientists, psychologists and several other people in the business of sleep last week. The resounding answer was to relax.
These sleep professionals say we are in the midst of a newfound American sleep obsession. It used to be that not getting enough sleep was a badge of honor that we proudly proclaimed to our bosses and friends.
Now, getting a full eight hours is a status symbol.
And so many of us aren’t getting enough sleep because of work or children or social media or many of the many reasons.
A recent study looking at sleep and longevity found that going to bed and waking up at consistent times mattered more than how long you slept. Even six hours, if consistent, was associated with a lower risk of early death than a bad eight hours.
So, that’s my plan. Focus on the routine—consistent bedtimes and limiting interruptions—and try to relax.
Dr. Shelby Harris, a clinical associate professor of neurology and psychology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, says patterns and routines are important. Do them as often as you can, but then don’t be so rigid where you can’t sleep at all if you have to break the routine for a work project or sleepless kid.
She also reminded me that humans were actually able to sleep before we had all these things that helped us sleep (drugs and technology among them).
“The pressure we put on ourselves is making sleep worse," says Dr. Harris.
Write to Geoffrey Rogow at geoffrey.rogow@wsj.com
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