What Does Quality Sleep Entail?
Both amount and quality matter when it comes to sleep. Even if you may be receiving adequate hours of sleep, the quality of your sleep may not be optimal.
Read More: Sleep Quality Improvement
To feel rested when they wake up, most adults require seven to nine hours of sleep each night, and a lot relies on what precisely happens during those hours. Your ability to acquire the necessary physical, mental, and emotional advantages from your sleep depends on the quality of your sleep. Along with length, contentment, and consistency (regularity), sleep quality is a crucial aspect of overall sleep health.
Caring for Quality Sleep
Most people are able to classify their sleep as excellent, poor, or indifferent. Numerous components of the quality of your sleep may really be seen firsthand. Four main categories largely encompass how you characterize your sleep or the data that sleep tests and technology may gather:
How long does it take you to fall asleep? Sleep Latency
Awakenings: the quantity of times you wake up at night
Wake After Sleep Onset: the duration of time you stay awake following your initial descent into slumber
Sleep efficiency is the proportion of sleeping to resting in bed.
Following a thorough evaluation of 277 research publications, an expert committee led by the NSF determined these four components, which were then published as a consensus guideline in Sleep Health. When a scientist, expert, spokesperson, business, organization, or other source discusses sleep quality, they could not be adhering to the most comprehensive and recent guidelines if they exclude these sorts of details.
How Is Sleep Quality Measured?
The most widely used in-lab sleep test for both research and therapeutic purposes, the polysomnogram (PSG) is the most widely recognized method of measuring the four components of sleep quality. Nearly all of the sleep aspects that are measured in the in-lab PSG may now be measured in at-home sleep testing because to recent technological advancements. Some of these same sleep data may be captured by other devices with other sensors, which can be classified into the following categories:
Wearables are electronic devices that we put on our bodies, such as hybrid clothing pieces, headbands, rings, and watches.
Nearables: Technology that monitors our body temperature, respiration, and movement that is attached to our beds or in our bedrooms
Airables: Technology that tracks sleep using sound, radar, and ambient data via wireless signals
In order to guarantee that sleep devices collect accurate data on an individual’s quality of sleep, NSF collaborated with the Consumer technical Association® (CTA) to release a new technical standard in 2024. The goal of this fifth NSF and CTA standard for sleep devices is to provide guidance to product developers, producers, and consumers on what is expected of a product that claims to evaluate sleep quality.
So, What Kind of Sleep Do You Get?
Let’s ask: how is your sleep quality now that you are aware of what sleep quality is, how to assess it, and how technology might affect it? After a night of sleep, one can score their own quality of sleep on all fronts: sleep efficiency, waking after sleep onset, awakenings, and sleep latency. The NSF suggests age-based criteria as a useful benchmark. Congratulations if you can say “yes” to the majority of the questions below! You probably get decent-quality sleep.
Adults (ages 18 to 64):
In less than thirty minutes, did you fall asleep?
Did you awaken throughout the night one or fewer times?
After going to sleep, did you spend a total of twenty minutes or less awake?
For the most of the eight hours that you were in bed, were you asleep?
Seniors (65 years of age or older):
In less than thirty minutes, did you fall asleep?
Did you wake up in the middle of the night more than twice?
Did you spend more than thirty minutes awake after your sleep?
For the most of the eight hours that you were in bed, were you asleep?
Enhancing the Quality of Sleep
Don’t worry if you’re worried about the quality of your sleep; there are a few things you may try. You might start by trying to alter some of your afternoon and evening habits. Six easy actions you may do both throughout the day and at night are included in the framework to assist you get the necessary amount of restful sleep. For example, doing five days a week of exercise, avoiding electronics just before bed, and eating your meals at regular times can all be beneficial.
Second, you can think about incorporating a few tried-and-true goods or services into your regular routine. Choosing which solutions could satisfy your own demands for high-quality sleep is made easier by asking yourself these simple questions:
Are suggestions supported by data or professional judgment?
Is there data or study to back up a product’s claim to monitor or enhance sleep quality?
Are the claims made for the product or service in line with the NSF/CTA standards of quality sleep?
Third, you should see a healthcare provider if you’re experiencing particular symptoms or if you’re still not getting the sleep you need despite trying some of these methods. If you think there may be a medical issue causing your sleep issues, your doctor can assist identify the cause and work with you to select the best course of action.
If you want to wake up feeling invigorated and prepared to take on the day, improving the quality of your sleep is essential.