We all know the importance of getting seven to eight hours of snooze time at night. The reality is, though, those hours don\u2019t mean much if you\u2019re waking up not feeling rested to start your day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If that\u2019s the case for you, then chances are you aren\u2019t getting enough quality sleep<\/em>. To reap the benefits of sleep, counting solely on the number of hours you spend catching Z\u2019s won\u2019t do you much good\u2014even if you think<\/em> you slept well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first step to improving your shuteye is understanding what we mean when we talk about sleep quality. Keep reading to find out what sleep quality is, how sleep quality is measured, and what you can do to improve your sleep quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sleep quality and sleep quantity are two different things. Sleep quantity measures how much sleep you get every night, while sleep quality measures how well you sleep. [1]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sleep quality also shouldn\u2019t be confused with sleep satisfaction, which is your own perception of how well you sleep. [2]<\/sup> Many lifestyle factors contribute to sleep quality, including living with certain health conditions, what you eat or drink before bed, your sleep environment, and how you manage stress.\u00a0[2]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, a September 2017 study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health<\/em> showed that high stress levels are associated with poor sleep quality. Researchers found that medical students who weren\u2019t suffering from stress were less likely to have poor sleep quality, while the risk of poor sleep quality was almost four times higher in those who had a much lower grade point average (GPA). [3]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n It can be a little tricky to determine your sleep quality\u2014but with some careful attention to your sleep, you can quickly figure out just how restorative\u2014or not\u2014your shuteye actually is. Here are the four main things to look at it when it comes to measuring sleep quality: [4]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re wondering what your quality of sleep is, there\u2019s a formula to figure it out. Here\u2019s how to do it: Identify your total time in bed (in minutes) and subtract how many minutes it took for you to fall asleep as well as how many minutes you spent awake in the middle of the night. This is how much time you\u2019re actually asleep at night. Then, take this number and divide it by your total time (in minutes) in bed. Finally, take that number and multiply it by 100 to get your sleep efficiency percentage. [8]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, let\u2019s say you spend about 420 minutes (seven hours) in bed at night. It takes you 30 minutes to fall asleep and you spend another 30 minutes awake during the night. That\u2019s 360 minutes you\u2019re actually sleeping at night. Now, divide that number by 420, which is 85. Multiply that by 100 and you get 85% sleep efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By taking into account these four factors, you can gauge just how good or poor your sleep quality is. Being diligent about making changes to your lifestyle to support these tenets of sleep quality can help you feel rested and energized the next morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Formula to measure sleep quality: Identify your total time in bed (in minutes) and subtract how many minutes it took for you to fall asleep as well as how many minutes you spent awake in the middle of the night. Take this number and divide it by your total time (in minutes) in bed. Take that number and multiply it by 100 to get your sleep efficiency percentage.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n With the four tenets of sleep in mind, some signs of poor sleep quality are taking longer than 20 minutes to fall asleep, waking up frequently during the night, and not being able to fall back asleep quickly if you wake up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another red flag is feeling tired in the morning, even after you get the recommended amount of sleep<\/a> for your age. For example, adults aged 24 to 64 years old should get seven to nine hours of sleep at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As mentioned, many lifestyle factors can contribute to poor sleep quality, such as age, subpar sleep hygiene<\/a>, sleep disorders or health conditions, having young children, and occupation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What you do during the day can affect how well you sleep at night. For example, consuming too much caffeine<\/a> and alcohol can affect your ability to fall and stay asleep. [9]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Drinking too many caffeinated beverages, such as coffee, tea, soda, and energy drinks, throughout the day can keep you wide-eyed through the evening. And although alcohol is a sedative<\/a> and may help you fall asleep quickly initially, it can cause more sleep wakings and make it difficult for you to fall back asleep. [10]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, exposing yourself to a lot of blue light<\/a> from your phone (raise your hand if you\u2019re guilty of scrolling through Instagram<\/a> late at night), computer, or TV before bed can interfere with your melatonin levels (the sleep hormone), making it harder for you to fall asleep when you\u2019re ready to hit the hay. [11]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Eating high-fat foods<\/a>, such as cheeseburgers and fries, and heartburn-triggering dishes, like spicy hot wings, can also keep you up tossing and turning. [12]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, not going to bed and waking up at the same time can mess with your circadian rhythm and disrupt how your body regulates sleep and wakefulness. [13]<\/sup> Parents of babies and small children, and those who work night shifts or have irregular work schedules, like doctors, nurses, and people who work in hospitality or retail, are prone to having irregular sleep. [14, 15, 16]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n People who live with sleep disorders<\/a>, like sleep apnea and insomnia, have a harder time getting good quality sleep at night. People with sleep apnea, for instance, may wake up gasping for air during sleep, and people living with insomnia from anxiety or depression may find it difficult to fall and stay asleep. [17]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Having a thyroid disorder, like hyperthyroidism (an overactive thyroid), can also make you feel more anxious and increase your body temperature, making it difficult to snooze well. [18] <\/sup>On the other hand, people with diabetes<\/a> may experience interrupted sleep at night from restless legs syndrome<\/a>, peripheral neuropathy, and excessive thirst. [19, 20]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n As you age, your body undergoes changes to your metabolism and hormones that can affect your sleep quality. For example, taking certain medications may cause older adults to wake up frequently during the night to pee. [21]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Older people<\/a> are also more likely to develop insomnia because they live with chronic pain from arthritis or fibromyalgia and have back or hip pain. [21]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Poor quality sleep can lead to a variety of negative health effects, including stress, anxiety, depression, a weakened immune system, and decreased cognitive function. [22]<\/sup> So it\u2019s important to address these issues head-on and work toward making lifestyle changes that\u2019ll improve your sleep quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although there are certainly some things beyond your control, there are steps you can take to improve your sleep quality and support consistent and restorative sleep. [23]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Good sleep quality means sleeping restfully with minimal disruptions. This includes falling asleep within 10-20 minutes, having limited wake-ups during the night, staying awake for less than 20 minutes if you do wake up, and achieving at least 85% sleep efficiency (time asleep vs. time in bed).<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a few steps you can take to get more quality sleep. Limit screen time an hour or two before bed, reduce caffeine and alcohol intake, eat sleep-promoting nutrients, and establish a calming bedtime routine with activities like yoga, meditation, or journaling. A comfortable sleep environment, including a supportive mattress, a cool room, and minimal noise, can also help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consistency. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends. This routine helps align your body\u2019s internal clock, promoting regular, high-quality sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The first step to improving your shuteye is understanding what we mean when we talk about sleep quality. Keep reading to find out what sleep quality is, how sleep quality is measured, and what you can do to improve your sleep quality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":26572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[389,390],"tags":[],"coauthors":[463],"guest":[],"host":[],"class_list":["post-26571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sleep-health","category-sleep-tips"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saatva-node-stage.tsc-starts-coding.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saatva-node-stage.tsc-starts-coding.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saatva-node-stage.tsc-starts-coding.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saatva-node-stage.tsc-starts-coding.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saatva-node-stage.tsc-starts-coding.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26571"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.saatva-node-stage.tsc-starts-coding.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34123,"href":"https:\/\/www.saatva-node-stage.tsc-starts-coding.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26571\/revisions\/34123"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saatva-node-stage.tsc-starts-coding.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saatva-node-stage.tsc-starts-coding.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saatva-node-stage.tsc-starts-coding.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saatva-node-stage.tsc-starts-coding.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26571"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saatva-node-stage.tsc-starts-coding.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=26571"},{"taxonomy":"guest","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saatva-node-stage.tsc-starts-coding.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/guest?post=26571"},{"taxonomy":"host","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saatva-node-stage.tsc-starts-coding.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/host?post=26571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What is sleep quality?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How do you measure quality of sleep?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Use this formula to determine your sleep quality<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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What is poor sleep quality?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Poor sleep hygiene<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Health conditions and sleep disorders<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Age<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How to improve your sleep quality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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FAQs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s considered good sleep quality?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How do you improve quality sleep?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s the golden rule of sleep?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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