Why sleeping in will create another type of sleep debt
The type of sleep debt you are creating by sleeping up late is NOT replaceable by the type of sleep you get by sleeping in.
Our sleep follows a pattern of 90 min cycles. But overnight, the structure of this cycle changes as the night progresses.
In the first part of the night, the 90 min cycles are filled with mostly NREM deep and restorative sleep.
As the night progresses, the NREM sleep makes room for REM sleep, which will dominate a big part of the 90 min.
If you go to bed generally at 10:30 PM but stay up late until 12 AM, you will lose 1 sleep cycle of MAINLY DEEP, restorative NREM (Stage 3 and Stage 4) sleep.
If you sleep in in the morning, you will get more REM sleep, so even if you slept 8 h, you would NOT feel physically refreshed.
The sleep debt you created in the few days of sleeping poorly during the week can’t be compensated by sleeping in on weekends. You will never catch up with the type of sleep you lost.
The type of sleep debt you are creating by sleeping up late is NOT replaceable by the type of sleep you get by sleeping in.
Binaural beats for better sleep
Are you having trouble relaxing at night? Try this tip to put your brain in a deeply relaxed state…
Have you heard before about the binaural beats?
The binaural beat is an audio phenomenon. When you hear two tones of slightly different frequencies simultaneously in your BOTH ears, your brain creates an additional tone. This tone’s frequency is equal to the difference between the 2 tones you hear in each ear.
For example, if you listen to one tone at 300 hertz (Hz) and the other at 310 Hz, the binaural beat you hear is 310 Hz - 300 Hz = 10 Hz.
This third tone is called a binaural beat.
Why is this important?
In my last post, I talked about different brain waves and how they are linked with different states of arousal and sleep. Delta and Theta waves are linked with deep sleep and relaxation. They are low-frequency waves. When binaural beats are sustained over a period of time, they can synchronize with your brain waves. As a result, binaural beats can alter your brain wave activity, changing your arousal levels.
How to use them?
The binaural beat can be heard if the frequency of each tone in your ears is less than 1000 Hz and the difference between the two tones is less than 35 Hz.
For inducing sleep or improving sleep quality, choose binaural beats ranging from 2 Hz to 8 Hz
How to create?
You MUST have sound coming in EACH EAR to hear the binaural beat.
Use headsets or earbuds.
If you take out one of your earbuds, you’ll no longer hear the binaural beat.
There are multiple audio tracks on the internet or apps making different types of binaural beats available.
Each person has a different reaction to sounds. Experiment with different tracks and lengths and see what works for you
What is the right time to go to bed?
What is the right time to go to bed?
As always: IT DEPENDS! I guess you hate this answer already.
So it depends on what?
What time do you need to wake up?
What is your chronotype (are you an early bird or a late owl)?
What’s your age?
What’s your biological gender?
All these factors dictate when you need to go to bed and how much time you need to sleep.
But let’s talk in general. A good rule of thumb is to sleep 7-9 h a night.
While 8 or 9 hours is hard to achieve for most people because of life demands, aim for at least 7 h of sleep each night. If you can do more, then it is great.
To know when you need to go to bed, calculate your sleep time by counting back-words.
A precise way to calculate the time you need to sleep based on the number of sleep cycles/night.
A sleep cycle is on average 90 min.
We should aim to get at least 4 if not 5 sleep cycles/night.
We should add an extra 20 min (which is the average time to fall asleep).
The formula would look like this:
90 (min) x 5 (cycles) + 20 (min) = 470 min
If you need to wake up at 7 AM during workdays, your bedtime should be 11:10 PM or as close to this time as possible.
Try to be consistent with this schedule, even during weekends.