Our body needs only a certain amount of sleep and can react badly to too much sleep as well as too little sleep. It will tend to “readjust” our schedule of sleep and wakefulness by not “allowing” us to fall asleep when we should remain awake. Apparently, we need long period of wakefulness to achieve other important biological functions (eating food, exercising, tending to other bodily functions)—and equally as important interpersonal functions (caring for other people, being cared for by other people, bonding and loving other people). As Matthew Walker (2017, p. 264) notes in Why We Sleep:
“Wakefulness in the correct amount is evolutionarily adaptive, as is sleep. Both sleep and wake provide synergistic and critical, though often different, survival advantages. There is an adaptive balance to be struck between wakefulness and sleep. In humans, that appears to be around sixteen hours of wakefulness and around eight hours of total sleep, for an average adult.”
What is the right amount for each of us? The scientists propose (as they often do) that there is a curvilinear answer to this question: “We can get too little sleep and too much sleep”. They offer a second, common (and often frustrating) answer: “It all depends.” As I have often done in previous essays, I suggest that we become our own sleep scientists. We test out differing amounts of sleep and determine what is the right amount for us, based on our assessment of such matters as cognitive functioning, emotional stability – and an overall sense of personal wellbeing. We might even ask the significant people in our life to assess which person they like most. Is it the person who gets 7 hours of sleep or the one who gets 9 hours of sleep?
Finally, there is the matter of our plans for sleep running aground. We go to bed but can’t fall asleep. We return to our experts at the Harvard Division of Sleep Medicine (2019): “Struggling to fall [a]sleep just leads to frustration. If you’re not asleep after 20 minutes, get out of bed, go to another room, and o something relaxing, like reading or listening to music until you are tired enough to sleep.” In many ways this advice aligns with that given in previous essays regarding multiple sleep segments. Rather than struggling to fall back asleep in the middle of the night, get up and so something soothing and rewarding before returning to bed. The Harvard folks are saying something similar about failing to fall asleep at the beginning of the night.
To Nap or Not Nap: That is the Question!
The second activity (or non-activity) to consider concerns previous sleep during the day. Should we take a nap in the afternoon? That is a question that is often broached. The answers are contradictory and often of little use. In some cultures, the afternoon nap (often called a “siesta”) is commonplace. Shops close down for several hours and everyone heads off for a brief period of sleep. This practice is particularly common in countries near the equator where daytime temperatures can remain quite high. A heavy dose of humidity can also make retreat to a cool bedroom or hammock on a shared porch that much more attractive. Furthermore, we often find that the nap time is balanced by later dinner times and cooler late evenings spent in conversation and activity. In many instances, we should note, this practice of taking a nap is in decline as those living in these cultures become more “Westernized” and must adjust to global business practices.
