Do you recommend that you sleep less? Do you recommend that you don't sleep less?

Yesterday, Zhang Chaoyang's suggestion that everyone sleep less caused controversy on the hot search.

In recent years, Zhang Chaoyang has been promoting the benefits of sleeping less and urging everyone to sleep less. He said in a live broadcast that the first two hours of sleep are deep sleep, and after three hours, the human brain begins to have various nightmares. People have no reason to control the process of nightmares, so we often have trouble sleeping because we spend our time in nightmares. Sleeping too much is harmful to people. It is recommended that everyone sleep less, and sleeping six hours is best. If you can sleep four hours, it would be perfect.

But is it really good to sleep less? Is sleeping four hours a day really suitable for ordinary people?

How much sleep is healthy?

For most people, can 4-5 hours of sleep satisfy the body's need for rest? I'm afraid the answer is no.

People have different needs for sleep at different ages. When they are young, they need more sleep, and as they age, their sleep time gradually decreases. But even for the elderly, 4-5 hours of sleep is still obviously insufficient .

According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults should sleep 7-9 hours, and older people should sleep 7-8 hours. Less than 5 hours of sleep is not recommended at any age.

The National Sleep Foundation recommends sleep duration

Image source: Sohu

The "Healthy China Action (2019-2030)" advocates that the average daily sleep time for adults should reach 7-8 hours from 2022 to 2030. In other words, the optimal sleep time recommended by China's authoritative organizations is 7-8 hours .

Of course, the above recommended sleep time is for most people, and there are always exceptions. Some people are born with a lower need for sleep, and 4-5 hours of sleep a day is enough.

However, the number of people with "congenital lack of sleep" is very small, less than 5% of the world's total population , so they will not be discussed separately here.

In addition to the length of sleep, when to sleep is also important. Current research results show that the best sleep time is from 11pm to 6am the next morning, among which 11pm to 3am the next morning is the golden time for sleep. In order to maximize the benefits of sleep, it is necessary to calculate the time to go to bed.

What are the consequences of not getting enough sleep?

Seeing this, you may ask, is such a small thing as sleep worth discussing over and over again for so long?

In fact, the reason why we need to emphasize the necessary sleep time every day is because the harm of insufficient sleep is too great. The harm it brings is far more than just "sleepy" and "poor spirit".

Long-term lack of sleep will gradually weaken the memory organs in the brain, thus hindering the establishment of lasting memories ; it is easy to become depressed, unable to control one's emotions, and produce thoughtless and inappropriate emotional reactions, leading to emotional out-of-control.

It can also lead to hormone disorders in the body, causing irregular eating, increased appetite, increased food intake, and weakened ability to control impulsive behavior, ultimately leading to weight gain .

It will cause the skin to secrete a large amount of oil, clogging the pores and forming acne and blackheads ; at the same time, it will also affect the production and distribution of melanin in the epidermal cells, forming various pigmentation spots.

The Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) published a large study of more than 460,000 people, the results of which showed that insufficient or excessive sleep will increase the risk of myocardial infarction. People who sleep less than 6 hours have a 20% increased risk of myocardial infarction.

Another study showed that lack of sleep is absolutely devastating to the developing teenage brain and can lead to memory, concentration and mood problems later in life.

For people who already suffer from chronic diseases, the harm of insufficient sleep is even greater. Someone once conducted an experiment to continuously observe the sleep patterns of more than 10,000 British civil servants and record their health conditions over a period of 20 years.

Data shows that for people with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, when sleep duration is reduced from 7 hours to less than 5 hours, the patient's mortality rate nearly doubles, which shows the great harm of lack of sleep.

Precisely because of the importance of sleep to health, the "Healthy China Action (2019-2030)" specifically gives a recommended range for sleep duration (7-8 hours), which also reminds us not to ignore the value of adequate sleep.

Young people today have high work pressure and many entertainment options, so it is normal for them to have insufficient time. This may be the reason why various short sleep methods have attracted attention online. However, the cost of reducing sleep time is damage to health, so saving time in this way is really not worth it.

Adequate sleep is very important for health. Unless you are a gifted genius, copying Zhang Chaoyang's 4-hour sleep method is tantamount to repeatedly testing the brink of death.

For the sake of your health, put down your phone early and go to bed well.

Review expert : Peng Zhiping, Chinese Sleep Society.

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