What Are Some Common Sleep Myths?

We are all aware that sleep is linked to our well-being, mood and emotion, and health. A bad sleep results in more than simply being grouchy in the morning. It might lead to poor performance at work or school in the short-term. However, persistent sleep deprivation can cause major health concerns, including an increased risk of heart attack and premature death.

According to sleep experts, more effort is needed to be done to educate the public about healthy sleep habits and debunk myths about bad ones. It’s no wonder that sleep misconceptions continue, even in a culture that is more concerned with sleep health and has greater access to sleep knowledge than ever before.

Despite advances in research, misinformation regarding sleep is still widespread, whether it’s communicated online, on social media, or through word-of-mouth. Some of this erroneous information is repeated so frequently that it becomes a common misconception.

Incorrect sleep beliefs or misinformation may be extremely harmful to your health and well-being. One of my main goals is to dispel common sleep myths so that everyone may sleep better and manage their sleep better.

So let’s review these myths and find ways to help get the sleep that you need.

Sleep Myth #1Getting More Sleep Is Better

While most sleep concerns center on sleeping too little, there are also issues that might come from sleeping too much.

Hypersomnia or sleeping too much, can be just as hazardous for you as Insomnia, or not sleeping enough. In fact, oversleeping is associated with many of the same health issues as not getting enough sleep.

People who are recovering from sickness may require additional sleep, but excessive sleep in general might be an indication of a health condition. If you habitually sleep for nine hours or more every night and still don’t feel refreshed in the morning, you are oversleeping and may have an underlying sleep disorder.

Sleep Myth #2Staying in Bed if You Are Having a Hard Time Falling Asleep

Staying in bed is actually the worst thing you can do if you can’t sleep and have tried several tactics like counting sheep. If you can’t fall asleep after 20 minutes, sleep experts recommend getting out of bed. Instead of tossing and turning in bed, get up, do something quiet and relaxing, dim environment, and then attempt to get back to sleep.

The idea is to divert your attention away from sleep for a few minutes in order to promote a speedy and simple sleep onset when you return to bed.

Sleep Myth #3Drinking Alcohol Before Bed Can Help You Sleep Better

Even though alcohol has sedative effects, drinking a glass or two of it can be calming, inducing drowsiness that makes it easier to fall asleep at first. The issue is that the quality of sleep suffers significantly after consuming alcohol.

Sleep problems are widespread among people who rely on alcohol to sleep, and alcohol usage has been linked to disorders such as insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, and circadian rhythm irregularities.

Because of the damaging impact it has on sleep, limiting or eliminating alcohol use before bedtime is widely acknowledged as an important aspect of sleep hygiene.

Sleep Myth #4Hitting the Snooze Button for Extra Rest

If you didn’t get enough sleep the night before, the last thing you want to do in the morning is keep pushing the snooze button. Snoozing can provide what appears to be valuable minutes of sleep in between alarms, but this time is unlikely to produce significant rest. Deep sleep is required to feel relaxed in the morning, which cannot be obtained by clicking the snooze button.

Whether you feel rested or not, it’s critical to get up with your alarm so you can decrease sleep inertia and be better ready to face the day.

Sleep Myth #5You Can Function Better with Less Than 5 Hours of Sleep

Everyone is leading a very busy life—may it be at work, school, in your family or with friends. However, some would regard sleep as a hindrance to work, and some even boast about how much they can do with only a few hours of sleep.

You’ll probably feel sleepier during the day after a few nights of poor sleep. Without proper sleep, this increase in daytime sleepiness may settle over weeks or months. This doesn’t mean that your body has successfully adjusted to the lack of sleep. But being regularly sleep deprived, on the other hand, has a negative impact on your daily performance, affecting your decision-making, and memory.

As a consequence, even if it appears that you are becoming accustomed to sleeping too little, your body’s inability to obtain the rest it requires may be collecting more significant health problems.

Have any of these sleep myths hindered you from getting the rest you need? Mistakes may always be corrected and learned from so that you don’t make the same mistakes in the future.

You deserve a good night’s sleep every night, whether you require a new pillow, a different sleeping posture, or even therapy for a sleep condition. But if you’re planning to change your full sleep system, SleepHive is here to help you get the best sleep every night. Check our selection of sleep systems below.