4 myths about sleep
- Your sleep must be continuous – FALSE
No one sleeps a whole night without waking up. We don’t remember the quick awakenings the next day. You have to be awake for ten minutes or more to remember it. But not anymore either, waking periods ruin your sleep. In fact, there is a lot of talk about the two phases of sleep, and it is quite natural to wake up between them. This is also where the body releases most of the well-being hormone prolactin. So instead of stressing about waking up, enjoy being able to lie under the covers and think lovely thoughts.
- The need for sleep decreases significantly with age – FALSE
The need for sleep does not decrease very much, on the contrary, your ability to sleep well does. Therefore, many elderly people find that they sleep less and worse. Where a 25-year-old has approx. 25% deep sleep in a night, an 80-year-old has only 5%. Poor sleep is actually one of the reasons why we die.
- Exercise in the evening ruins your sleep – TRUE
Exercise releases adrenaline, which is a stress hormone. And stress and sleep just don’t go well together. Therefore, you may find it difficult to fall asleep if you exercise up to three hours before your bedtime. Yoga, meditation and a walk in nature is the only evening exercise that does anything good for your sleep.
- A bath just before bed helps you fall asleep – FALSE
If you take a bath just before bed, it must be cold. When we sleep, our body temperature drops a little bit. A cold bath speeds up that process and makes it easier to fall asleep. For the same reason, you can take off the duvet at night if you can’t fall asleep. If you prefer a warm evening bath, you must take it at least 30 minutes before bedtime. In this way, the body gets time to cool down – and that process also makes you tired.
