Many people around the world are sleep deprived – and in stressful times like we are in currently, it doesn’t get easier.
In fact, 39.8% of Australian adults or 7.4 million Aussies, don’t get adequate sleep.
Creators of BLUbox Katie and Andy Mant provide info on the five sleep myths destroying immunity.
“It’s important to know how much and what kind of sleep you need,” says Ms Mant.
“Even more so right now when everyone wants their immune system to be strong and healthy.”
However, there are a lot of myths surrounding sleep and Katie and Andy put a pin in the most common.
- Alcohol before bed will improve your sleep. “I’m not going to get schoolmistress-y about this one.” Katie says. “Here’s what Dr Steven H. Feinsilver, director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, says, ‘Not only is that tremendously wrong, but it’s also pretty dangerous. It’s really terrible for sleep’.”
- Counting sheep will help you get to sleep. Visualising calming relaxing scenes, like waterfalls do help some people. The boring, repetitive task of counting sheep doesn’t. This was found by researchers at Oxford University in 2001.
- Watching TV is a great sleep inducer. “No screen will help you sleep, so reading an e-book, watching movies on a tablet or hanging out on TikTok will do any good either. Screens emit blue light. Blue light inhibits your body’s production of the hormone, melatonin, which regulates both your quality and quantity of sleep.”
- Your brain resets when you’re asleep. “In fact, your brain does a lot of necessary restorative work as well as processing information. Lying in bed with your eyes closed is therefore not almost as good as sleeping. That’s another myth.”
- Your brain and body can learn to function normally with less sleep. “All the research says this is just not true. Not enough sleep can make you less alert and affect your coordination, judgement, and reaction time. If you drive, it can be like driving a bit drunk.”
