Adequate sleep is essential for good health. It is known that a complete sleep cycle at night should be seven to eight hours, but it is often impossible to meet this norm and end up with five hours of sleep.
"Five hours is just too little sleep, especially if you make it a routine," says Shelby Harris, clinical psychologist.
"If you have no external pressures and you can sleep as soon as you feel sleepy, sleep because this is a sign that the body needs sleep. Then, you can wake up without needing an alarm because you feel rested,” says Dr. Bhanu Kolla, a physician at the Mayo Clinic.
Experts recommend at least seven full hours of sleep at night so that you feel energized and rested the next day. Babies and children need much more sleep than adults. Sleep needs can vary based on a person's genetics, health, environment, etc.
In other words, there are people who sleep less than six hours a night and function normally without feeling tired, but this is a small group of people.
Problems resulting from the lack of full hours of sleep:
Cognitive function
In addition to being sleepy the next day, you may have difficulty concentrating, memory, slower reaction to different situations and irritability.
Car accidents
The less sleep, the greater the risk of accidents, experts say, because you don't have concentration on the wheel. People who sleep less than six hours are more likely to have high blood pressure, heart attacks, diabetes, etc.
Depression and other mental problems
Research has shown that lack of sleep is associated with an increased risk of psychiatric illnesses, including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, as well as neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's.
Source: Today
