How you perceive the quality of your sleep might be just as crucial for your physical and mental health as the number of hours you spend sleeping. Surprised? So was I.
A good night’s sleep is often depicted in our society as eight hours of uninterrupted sleep and when you wake up feeling immediately refreshed. However, this is rarely a reality for most.
If you believe this is the standard and fail to meet it, it could impact your perceptions of your sleep quality, including how satisfied you are with your sleep, and our research findings suggest this could in turn impact your health.
Understanding and defining ‘optimal’ sleep
Optimal sleep is essential for both physical and mental health, wellbeing and productivity. While most people acknowledge this, defining what “optimal sleep” is can be complex.
Despite common beliefs, eight is not the magic number of hours of sleep required for everyone. According to the American National Sleep Foundation, adults generally need between seven and nine hours of sleep to function well and be healthy. However, this number can be anywhere between six and ten hours, depending on the individual and circumstances.
But sleep duration is just one of many indicators of optimal sleep. Have you also considered the importance of the quality of your sleep? Indicators of sleep quality include how long it takes to fall asleep, the regularity of your sleep pattern, how alert you feel during the day, and how satisfied you are with your sleep.
Our study
We assessed how common poor sleep is among young Australian adults considering both duration and indicators of sleep quality. Over 1000 young Australian adults completed self-report questionnaires and an overnight sleep study. We also investigated which indicators of suboptimal sleep were most strongly linked with poorer physical and mental health outcomes.
Some key findings:
- Sleep duration: Around one in three young adults reported sleeping less than six hours a night.
- Sleep onset: 18 percent were taking more than 30 minutes to fall asleep.
- Sleep regularity: 60 percent lacked regular sleep patterns.
- Sleep satisfaction: One in four young adults were not satisfied with their sleep.
Unexpected insights
There were some interesting findings when we explored which indicators of sleep were most strongly associated with poorer physical and mental health. Sub-optimal sleep duration (measured during the overnight sleep study) was linked to poorer health outcomes. This finding is consistent with previous research.
What was unexpected was that young adults who reported not being satisfied with their sleep, and who felt excessively sleepy during the day, were also much more likely to have poorer physical and mental health.
This suggests that how young adults perceive the quality of their sleep and how alert they feel during the day are potentially just as important for their physical and mental health as the number of hours they get each night.
Where to from here?
Our findings highlight the need for public health interventions to support young adults to improve their sleep, similar to those that have been rolled out to support Australians to stop smoking and practice sun safety. Education about what constitutes ‘optimal’ or ‘healthy’ sleep is likely essential to support realistic expectations or goals. Healthcare clinicians could also assist by screening for suboptimal sleep that could be impacting health. A few simple questions about sleep satisfaction and daytime alertness could be a good place to start.
There are also key takeaways for all of us. The next time someone asks how you slept, stop for moment and remember that your assessment of your sleep quality matters – and it can impact your health. Importantly, if you don’t regularly get eight hours of sleep at night, it doesn't mean you sleep poorly.
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