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The Crucial Role of Sleep

Man sleeping in a bed

Adequate sleep plays a crucial role in overall well-being, directly influencing physical health, cognitive function, and mental health:

  • Physical Health: Sleep allows your body to repair and restore itself, strengthening your immune system, regulating hormones, and lowering your risk of chronic conditions like heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.

  • Cognitive Function: A well-rested brain performs better, enhancing attention, concentration, reaction time, problem-solving skills, and creativity. Sleep is also critical for memory consolidation (converting new information into long-term memory).

  • Mental and Emotional Health: Sleep is crucial for processing information and managing emotions. When well-rested, you are more likely to better manage your emotions, make good decisions, and cope effectively with change. Insufficient sleep is linked to increased irritability, stress, and a higher risk of developing anxiety and depression.

What is Adequate Sleep?

Adequate sleep means both hours slept and quality of sleep. The amount of needed sleep per night varies by age group, as shown in the table on the right. Most healthy adults typically need 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. Infants, young children, and teenagers, should get more sleep to support their growth and development.

It is also crucial to have high-quality sleep, not just a long duration. Quality sleep means falling asleep in 30 minutes or less; waking up no more than once per night and falling back asleep within 20 minutes if  you do wake up; and, feeling rested and energized in the morning.

 

Why We Want People to Sleep

Table explaining the amount of sleep needed per night based on a certain age group
Woman falling asleep at her desk

Data shows a lot of people don't get adequate sleep, which can be detrimental to their health and well-being. In the United States:

  • 35% of adults report sleeping less than 7 hours per night;
  • 14.5% have trouble falling asleep;
  • 17.8% have trouble staying asleep; and
  • 25% of adults experience daytime sleepiness.
 

This data shows there is work to do to educate and empower individuals to prioritize sleep as a vital pillar of health. We want people to be intentional about their sleep habits, which means making a conscious effort to prioritize sleep in order to achieve better health and well-being.

How to get better sleep

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)

There are many well-studied practices that can help a person sleep better. One of the most effective recommendations is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I). CBT-I helps identify thoughts and behaviors that cause sleep problems and replace them with habits that support sound sleep.

Sleep Hygiene

The behavioral part of CBT-I is focused on adopting good sleeping habits and a sleeping environment that are conducive to getting quality sleep, also known as sleep hygiene. Every person can tailor their sleep hygiene practices to suit their needs. There are five (5) key components of sleep hygiene:

  1. Consistent Schedule
  2. Optimized Sleep Environment (Sleep Sanctuary)
  3. Beneficial Daytime Habits
  4. Avoid Sleep Disruptors
  5. Relaxing Bedtime Routine and Wind Down

Thought Reframing

The cognitive part of CBT-I teaches you to identify and change beliefs that affect your ability to sleep. Since thoughts are learned, they can be unlearned. It's possible to improve sleep by learning new, healthier ways to think through thought reframing. There are four steps to thought reframing:

  1. Learn about sleep in order to have a more accurate view about sleep.
  2. Write down negative thoughts when they're occurring. This will help you get into the habit of noticing and taking action against negative thoughts as soon as they arise.
  3. At a later time, review your list and observe how your thoughts are negative or inaccurate. Write down a more accurate/positive thought for each negative thought you have.
  4. When you find yourself thinking negative thoughts, replace them by thinking to yourself the more accurate and realistic thoughts from your list.

Helpful Tip/Resource: To help ensure you are being intentional about adopting new sleep habits, keep a sleep diary to identify possible obstacles. We've created one you can download: Sleep Diary Example

Look for patterns between your behaviors and thoughts, and your sleep duration or quality that may help you identify factors that are interfering with your sleep. Daily practice will result in better sleep!

 

When to Talk to a Doctor

Adopting new sleep habits can take time and patience. While these strategies can significantly improve sleep, they may not be enough for chronic or serious problems. If you have ongoing trouble falling or staying asleep, it may be a sign of an underlying sleep disorder. Talk with a healthcare provider or sleep specialist for proper diagnosis and treatment options. 
Learn more about Sleep Health from Johns Hopkins Medicine
Woman patient talking to a woman doctor

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