Why 8 Hours of Sleep Is Such A Big Deal

Going a week and a half straight on seven hours of sleep per night produces the same test results as 24 hours with zero sleep. If someone is awake for 19 hours straight, they are as impaired as someone legally drunk. After only four hours of sleep, a driver is six times more likely to run his car off the road than someone who had 8 hours of sleep.

These are just a few statistics about sleep that Nate Dallas shares in his book, “You’re Too Good to Feel this Bad”. From topics on sleep, breathing, exercise, mindset, medication, work, money, and more, Nate covers various areas of life where he believes that “you’re too good to feel this bad and you know it”.

The first chapter of the book is on sleep and that’s intentional because “if there’s a single goal in this book that we shoudl be militant about mastering, it’s achieving high-quality sleep”. Sleeping well helps so many areas of life including your memory, focus, lowering anxiety, improving relationships, healing, creativity, protection from sickness and more.

You might be wondering if you’re getting enough sleep to improve those things. Here’s some questions to right from the book to help you determine if that’s the case.

If the power went out and your alarm clock never sounded in the morning, would you sleep past your wake-up time?
Did you hit the snooze button before getting out of bed?
Are you groggy in the morning upon waking, taking a while to ramp up to a functional level?
Do you require a second or third cup of coffee during the day to keep going strong?
Do you forget parts of your day, like driving?
Do you struggle to finish your workout?
Do you know what day it is right now?

You have probably heard of the suggested 8 hours of sleep. That’s a good starting point after considering those questions but may need to be tweaked. If you’re thinking, “but I’m fine on 7 hours nightly” shall we return to one of those first statistics?

“Going a week and a half straight on seven hours of sleep per night produces the same test results as 24 hours with zero sleep.”

While 7 hours may be fine for a night or two, it’s not ideal, especially over long periods of time.

If you’re questioning the 8 hours, let’s dig into some science below on where that even comes from.

There are two main areas that determine what time of day of sleep and how deep that sleep will be when we do it. They’re called circadian rhythms and adenosine accumulation.

You may already know that circadian rhythms have to do with your internal clock. This internal clock helps prepare your body for sleep by making adjustments throughout the day by in our temperature, metabolism, and energy. It helps to give us energy during our awake hours and help us wind down for sleep.

Adenosine then is a chemical that builds up during the day during our waking hours. The higher the levels the more sleepy we get. After about 16 hours of this chemical build up, we need to sleep for 8 hours to prevent damage from occurring from the build up.

That’s where the 8 hours comes from. Seven hours isn’t long enough to clear the adenosine buildup fully in most average adults. You need 8 or potentially more.

So how can you improve your sleep? Dallas shares a few tips in the book that I’ll outline below.

Full Commitment – Determine a bedtime and wake up that allows for a full 8 hours of sleep every night for two weeks and stick to it with absolutely full commitment.
Reduce Lighting – Put the night setting on the phone, reduce lights and brightness after dusk each day, use black out curtains, and wear Blue Light glasses. The more light you reduce, the better you are leaning into letting your body know it’s beginning to be wind down time.
Make it Cool – Our body temperature must drop about 3-5 degrees each night for ideal sleep so keep your room cool and dress lightly for sleep.
Don’t Nap in Bed – Your bed is for sleeping. Don’t confuse yourself and nap there.
Reduce Caffeine – Don’t drink it after the 1-2 cups you have after waking.
And Alcohol – This should be for a special occasion, not a regularity.
Routines – Keep routines surrounding bed and wakeup time so your body knows what’s next. No big meals before bed and try to work out 3 hours before bed or it can impact your ability to sleep.
Limit Your Screen Time – We all know this but especially before bed. Put the phone on the other side of the room. Grab a book. Not a kindle ideally because you want less screens. Keep your lamp on, but in a low non LED.
Set an Alarm For Bed – Just like a wake up alarm but a bedtime one. Maybe one for getting ready for bed and one for actual bed since we know there’s a transition involved.
Wind Down – If you can’t sleep and have been attempting for 15 minutes and are still wide awake, continue part of your bedtime routine until you’re tired again. Grab that book or journal.

Depending on what state your sleep routine is currently, this may feel like a lot. When I was reading this book, I tried to do about 1 chapter / month so I could learn the information but then begin applying it.

Some easy baby steps I took were setting the alarm on my phone for bedtime prep and then actually falling asleep. I worked backward from my wakeup time (6 am), determined when I needed to be asleep by (10 PM), and worked backward to start the wind down at 9:30 PM. After some time, we realized by the time we let the dogs out, do the 10 minute downstairs tidy, get ready for bed and read, that’s not enough time. So ideally for me, we actually start wind down at home around 9 PM so we have enough time for everything and it’s not impacting the 8 hours of sleep.

I also have had the rule for quite a few years to not nap in bed. I nap on the couch (aka why it’s called the napping couch). We also do not have a TV in our bedroom and I try not to read on my kindle or phone before bed. I opt for a physical book and read for about 15 minutes or 1 chapter of fiction (but not scary) before bed. If I can’t sleep I will read again and then attempt to fall back asleep. Same if I wake up wide awake at 2 or 3 am. We live in an older house, so the heat by default doesn’t get to the upstairs rooms as strongly as it does the downstairs, so our room is usually colder. In the summer we do turn on the AC before bed. I don’t work out before bed so this one isn’t hard to keep for me, but on the random times I work out after my workday, I try to do it right after I wrap up so it doesn’t impact my sleep.

I can still improve in these areas and the consistency surrounding them since we don’t always get to bed right at 10 or always get an exact 8 hours of sleep but we are cognizant of it and try to be intentional on making sure we get good rest.

So look at the tips above and consider your own sleep routine. How much sleep do you think you’re currently getting each night? Is it enough? What 1-2 tips could you implement to better your sleep routine which will positively impact many areas of your life?