One of the most frequent questions that I get asked or for any of the people working in sleep would be “How many hours of sleep is needed for the body?” 😊
You must have heard the magic number 8 for sure. 🌟. I have talked with quite a few people who swear to get the magic number on their trackers.
I would like to quote an analogy here. If you have a car, does the car give the same mileage? 🚗
The answer is No. 😄. It varies on multiple factors can be shown in the below diagram:
Are all your days the same when it comes to the factors in play?
Similarly, the requirement for sleep😴 is not a constant number at all and cannot be a constant number.
A fun fact: The duration of Day and Night is equal only 2 times a year. 🌞🌚
I was listening to an interview of Tracy Hannigan (Tracy The Sleep Coach – Insomnia Coaching for Adults – Tracy The Sleep Coach) a Sleep coach who emphasized the fact that the more we obsess about the perfect number, the harder it becomes. 🎙️
So, for people using sleep trackers use this just like you use your mileage tracker and not as to impress the software with numbers that you had a perfect night’s sleep. 🛌📊
How to interpret tracker data?
My personal recommendation is to not use a tracker because none of these devices are good enough and then they also induce the concept of comparison of sleep.
- A comparison of your today’s sleep with yesterday’s sleep cannot be a true metric because the conditions that you have today are way different than yesterday.
- Comparison of your sleep with someone else on the internet. The fact of the matter is your sleep requirement may be completely different than someone else on the internet.
But in case you want to use it. Use it as a benchmark. In case you want to improve your sleep consider joining the Free NewsLetter from the Home Page.