Regardless of which health expert you ask, all will say that sleep is vital to your overall mental and physical wellbeing. As such, most doctors and sleep experts recommend that adults require an average of 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. However, for various reasons, many people struggle to achieve this amount of sleep and instead get an average of 3 hours per night.
While you might be able to get by on 3 hours of sleep for a short time, it’s not feasible for your long-term health and wellness. Not getting enough sleep each night could lead to a weakened immune system, putting you more at risk of getting sick. Inadequate sleep could also lead to weight gain, high blood pressure, impaired cognitive function and much more.
How much sleep do we need each night?
Adults are recommended to get between 7 and 9 quality hours of sleep each night to maintain their physical and mental health. While this is the recommended average, there are additional factors that determine how much sleep you should get per night.
Age
While it’s true that the older you get the less sleep you need, there are limits to this rule. For example, children ages 6 through 12 should get an average of 9 to 12 hours of sleep, and teenagers from 13 to 18 should get 8 to 10 hours of sleep. However, people over 18 still need at least 7 to 9 hours of sleep.
Lifestyle
Your lifestyle is the second factor determining how much sleep you should get. People with a more active lifestyle or high-stress jobs should get more sleep. This includes athletes, pilots, crane operators, those who work out frequently and others with busy or demanding jobs. The more sleep these people get, the more focus, strength and stamina they will have.
While these are the general guidelines for minimum sleep requirements, sleep requirements vary from person to person. While some people can function on 3 to 6 hours of sleep, others need upwards of 9. Failing to get enough sleep will make you feel tired, sluggish, excessively sleepy and cognitively impaired.
What happens when you regularly get only 3 hours of sleep per night?
Sleep plays a significant factor in your health and wellness, both mentally and physically. Here are some side effects of not enough sleep:
Physical Effects of Inadequate Sleep
In the physical sense, sleep helps your body and brain regulate their autonomous functions such as metabolism, breathing, blood pressure, memory consolidation and the removal of neurotoxic proteins. Therefore, if you don’t get adequate sleep, your body has difficulty regulating these functions, potentially resulting in the following health issues.
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- Unwanted Weight Gain
Your body burns calories while you sleep. In so doing, sleep helps regulate your metabolism and body weight. As a result, when you don’t get enough sleep, it can lead to unexpected weight gain and related problems. Chronic sleep deprivation also reduces the energy you’ll have during the day, making it more difficult to want to exercise or work out.
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- Blood Pressure and Heart Disease
In addition to burning calories and regulating your metabolism, sleep also helps regulate your heart rate and sugar levels. Only getting 3 hours of sleep for a prolonged time can lead to increased inflammation, elevated blood pressure and a higher resting heart rate. As a result, people who don’t get enough sleep are more prone to heart problems and diseases than those who get enough sleep.
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- Hormone Deficiencies
Your brain releases important hormones that contribute to your health and wellness while sleeping. This includes testosterone, estrogen, growth hormones, and many more. Sleep deprivation triggers our body’s stress response system, which can lead to a rise in the stress hormone, cortisol, making it even more difficult to fall asleep.
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- Build-up of toxic neuroproteins
Sleep deprivation can reduce a vital function in the brain, where during deep sleep the glymphatic system clears out neurotoxic proteins that are produced during wakefulness. Over time, a build-up of toxic proteins forms, such as amyloid beta—the main component of the plaques that form in the brain during Alzheimer’s Disease. As glymphatic function is found to be dependent on sleep, it highlights just how protective and important the sleep state is.
Mental Effects of Inadequate Sleep
If the physical complications of not getting enough quality sleep aren’t worrying enough, there are also mental health side effects. These side effects happen because your brain recharges and strengthens while asleep. You can experience:
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- Increased risk of depression
- Confusion, mind fog, and sluggishness
- Mood swings and irritability
- Increased stress and anxiety
Why do some people think 3 hours of sleep is enough?
While every person is different and requires different amounts of sleep, more than 3 hours is certainly required. Some people can function better than others with only 3 hours of sleep or taking frequent naps, but more is always better. People often make the mistake of thinking they’ll have more time if they sleep less and they can be more productive. However, this is untrue, and people soon discover the importance of a good night’s sleep.
“Sleep is not a waste of time. Sleep is important for basically all the cells in your body and all the systems in it. There is no way to replace it with anything else.”
— Dr Steven Laureys, Head of Scientific Advisory Board at BeSophro.
What about Polyphasic Sleep?
Polyphasic sleep is where you break up the sleep you would get during the night throughout the day. This means taking several one to two-hour naps throughout the day rather than sleeping for 7 to 9 hours at night. While polyphasic sleep is a decent way to cope with not being able to sleep more than 3 hours at a time, especially for those who work shifts or new mothers, it shouldn’t be considered a permanent substitute for deep sleep at night.
Can you train yourself to function on less sleep?
Although it’s true that your body can somewhat learn to function with less sleep, it will never fully adapt to being chronically sleep deprived. Sleep has certain mental and physical benefits that you can’t replace any other way. Therefore, rather than forcing your body to try to adapt to 3 hours of sleep, you should find ways to increase the amount of sleep you get each night.
Here are some ways you can gain more energy if you experience less sleep:
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- Get 30 to 45 minutes of exercise during the day
- Reduce the amount of caffeine you consume
- Make your room as dark as possible at night
- Reduce noise and visual distractions while you’re trying to sleep
- Invest in a comfortable bed
- Do something you enjoy before bed
- Regulate the room temperature, so it doesn’t get too warm
- Practice meditative techniques and deep breathing exercises to calm your mind and body before going to bed
One of the best ways to fall asleep at night and ensure you get a deep sleep is to practice Sophrology. Sophrology is a mental wellbeing practice which combines relaxation, breathing, gentle movement, meditation and visualisation to balance body and mind through the nervous system and enhance performance.
With Sophrology, we become aware of the present moment, learn to let go of negative thoughts and emotions, learn how to respond to stressful situations and physically relax both body and mind, which is the key to restful sleep.
Sophrology can be introduced to your bedtime routine with just 10-minute practices per day to prepare you for deep sleep and support your overall health.