Sometimes the reason why you wake up tired is not related to how many hours you have slept but to something that happens around you at night without noticing
A new study, conducted with young adults, shows that heat, light, and noise in the bedroom can be linked with difficulty sleeping and with more frequent sleep interruptions, even when the total length of sleep does not change.
This distinction is especially important for people who wake up tired in the morning, although they have slept a seemingly many hours.
What did the study with 372 participants reveal?
Researchers followed 372 young people over two weeks. Each morning, the participants reported whether they had felt very hot, very cold at night, whether the room had been too bright, or if they were disturbed by the noises.
They also held on to the wrist a device recording sleep patterns.
On average, ten nights were analyzed for each of the participants, enabling scholars to compare not only different individuals but also better and weaker sleep nights with the same person.
High temperatures resulted from the most disturbing factors
The more stable finding was related to the extremely high temperature in the bedroom.
Those who reported more often than felt heat at night, on average, spent more time awake after falling asleep and having lower sleep efficiency.
Even in the same person, the nights experienced as too warm were linked to less efficient and less likely sleep so that he could be valued as good the following morning.
However, the study did not indicate that inappropriate conditions in the room necessarily cut the total length of sleep.
How do light and noise affect at night?
Light and noise produced somewhat different results.
Participants who reported more often that the room was too bright to sleep and wake up later.
Meanwhile, noises within the environment were linked to a weaker estimate of the quality of sleep by participants themselves.
However, these results do not mean that setting thicker curtains or using ear corks can heal insomnia.
The study was an observer, while the concerns were appreciated by the participants themselves. Therefore, the results show links between environmental factors and sleep, but do not necessarily testify to the cause-passing relationship.
Photo: drazenphoto
Three Simple Changes That Can Improve Sleep
The bedroom is a good place to start improving rest conditions without the need for large expenses.
During several nights, take note of three elements:
- Temperature: If you wake up sweating or feel heat, try easier covers, ventilation, and a slightly cooler temperature.
- Lightlight: If street light penetrates the room or screens stand on fire, use curtains that block light or mask for the eyes.
- ZZ palm: Turn off the TV, disable phone reports, and, if noises cannot be avoided, try soft taps for your ears.
There is no single ideal temperature for all. The goal is to create a comfortable environment, not constantly control the thermometer.
What do experts recommend for a better sleep?
U.S. National Institutes of Health ( NIH) recommends that the bedroom be quiet, dark and relatively cool.
Keeping a regular bedtime schedule and limiting the use of bright screens before going to bed is also recommended.
One practical way is to change just one factor for some nights and observe how you feel in the morning. So you can understand more easily what really affects the quality of your sleep.
When can fatigue present a health problem in the morning?
If difficulties for sleeping, frequent wakes, or daytime drowsiness continue even after improving the conditions in the room, the cause may not be limited to the environment.
Strong snoring, breathing interruptions during sleep, headaches in the morning, or drowsiness that prevents driving and work are reasons for consulting the doctor.
Improving room conditions may help in the quality of sleep, but it does not replace medical evaluation when it is suspected of its disorder. /Telegraphy/