Tips to help stay awake even if you sleep less

Studies have shown that just spending a few nights sleeping 7 hours or less is enough to make our brains become less alert and react significantly slower.

However, psychology professor Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire (UK) has revealed two simple, but extremely effective tips to help us temporarily maintain alertness and avoid some harm. due to less sleep. That is to comply with the 90-minute rule of sleep and sleep naps during the day.

Rules of sleeping 90 minutes

Talk to sleep researchers, you will soon discover that most of them use a little-known trick to feel awake the next day. The secret is based on the knowledge that our sleep cycle consists of 5 separate stages, in which the final stage is rapid eye movement (REM), associated with dreams.

Each of these sleep cycles usually lasts nearly 90 minutes, followed by a short rest period, when we are relatively awake, before a new sleep cycle begins. This process is often repeated in a total of 4 - 5 sleep cycles per night. In other words, if we sleep completely naturally, without the alarm clock or other sleep disturbances, we will often wake up after a period of multiples of 90 minutes.

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This means you will be more alert when you wake up at the end of a 90-minute sleep cycle. Because at that time, you will be near the most normal awakening state.

To maximize your chances of getting this, you need to be aware of the time when you want to wake up, then count back each time for about 90 minutes to find the time close to your desired bedtime. For example, if you want to wake up at 8 am and go to bed at around midnight, the back count is as follows: 8am> 6h30> 5h00> 3h30> 2h> 0h30> 23pm. In this example, you should go to bed at about 11:00 or 12:30 pm to feel especially alert when you wake up at 8 am the next morning.

Sleep naps during the day

Hundreds of experiments and studies have shown numerous benefits of naps during the day . According to experts, letting your head rest for even a few minutes a day will help you have a better memory, be more alert, improve reaction time, increase labor productivity and contribute to maintaining. Good health condition for you.

It is important to know the best time to nap during the day. The natural circadian rhythms in the body affect our energy levels during the day, so the best time to sleep is when energy levels drop. This time depends on when you wake up in the morning.

Here is a simple table to help guide you:

Time to wake up in the morning Perfect time to sleep 6h 13h30 6h30 13h45 7h 14h 7h30 14h15 8h 14h30 8h30 14h45 9h 15h

Don't worry if you can't fall asleep at the ideal time of sleep. Studies show that just lying down with the intention of taking a nap is enough to make your blood pressure drop in a beneficial way.

If you want to be very alert immediately after a brief nap, take another cup of caffeinated coffee or drink right before bed. Caffeine will start to work about 25 minutes after taking it, just when you begin to wake up.