You may have grown up hearing your mother or grandparents reminding you of different notions about different things to do and to avoid – especially about sleep.
We used to believe them as kids, didn’t we?
But, thanks to our sleep scientist, we now have answers behind all of the myths.
In this article, we will debunk 15 sleeping myths that you may have held for a long time.
📎 Myth #1: Snoring Can’t be Cured
📎 Myth #2: Late Workouts Impact Sleep
📎 Myth #3: Staying in Bed Helps in Falling Asleep
📎 Myth #4: I can Catch up on Sleep During Off Days
📎Myth #5: 8 Hours Sleep Per Night is Necessary
📎Myth #6: Sleep Requirement Decreases with Age
📎Myth #7: More Sleep is Better
📎Myth #8: Sleeping with wet hair results in blindness.
📎Myth #9: Eating before bed can give you nightmares
📎Myth #10: Drinking Warm Milk Can Make You Sleep
📎Myth #11: Overtired kids can make sleeping easy
📎Myth #12: Eating a fast-food meal during lunch breaks can give you a nap
📎Myth #13: Drinking wine can put you to sleep
📎Myth #14: A nightly warm shower lulls you to sleep better
📎Myth #15: A 15-minute alarm snooze can make you energetic
Have you recently awoken gasping for air?
Have you been hearing your partner complain about how loudly you snore?
Have you been waking up at work because your colleagues caught you snoring?
If you suspect that you snore or are already aware that you snore, it is time to consult a doctor.
Snoring is not something that should be laughed at or ignored because it could be a sign of obstructive sleep apnea.
People with this condition can usually be heard making a rattling sound followed by a period of silence when their breathing stops, it is due to the muscles in the back of the throat block the airways.
However, there is always a cure for your snoring problems by changing your lifestyle, such as engaging in physical exercises or meditation.
Snoring is common in obese people; losing weight helps to reduce snoring, avoiding alcohol and nicotine consumption, you can also wear oral appliances while sleeping, changing position by lying on your side is best and the important thing, consult your doctor for the best treatment plan; they may recommend a CPAP (Continuous positive airway pressure) machine or surgery.
Workouts are essential for living a healthy lifestyle, but they can be difficult to fit into our daily schedules, which is why we tend to workout at night after a long day at work.
However, the downside of night workouts can harm your sleep, this is due to your body releases hormones that can make you stay alert.
In contrast, a recent study discovered that exercising an hour and a half before bedtime results in a deeper sleep and fewer mid-night awakening episodes.
Though there are still a conflicting study yielded around the best time to workout, it is best to engage in less strenuous activities such as yoga or walking.
We are sure, most of you would have heard that if you aren’t feeling sleepy, then it’s best to keep lying in bed, and the sleep fairy will magically grant you a restful sleep.
Unfortunately, staying in bed doesn’t induce sleep, in fact, it is counterproductive.
If you are unable to fall asleep after trying for 20 minutes, then get out of your bed and take a walk around the house.
Alternatively, you can also try reading or listening to your favorite tunes, but make sure they are calm and soothing.
Do you always overwork yourself during the weekdays and then plan to catch up on lost sleep on the weekends?
If you think of doing this on your days off to recover from a week of sleepless nights is a false sense of sleep recovery.
In fact, Harvard researchers discovered that it reduces focus and increases reaction time.
Keep in mind that inadequate amount of sleep can have serious health consequences.
As important as it is to invest in our future by working hard to avoid debt, sacrificing your sleep can jeopardize your plans.
Many people advise that in order to get the most out of our day, we should sleep 8 hours every night, or else our brain won’t function at its peak.
The question is, is 8 really the magic number when it comes to restful sleep?
Nope! It isn’t!
The optimum amount of sleep depends on our bodies and age group.
To feel completely refreshed, each of us requires a different amount of sleep.
Most of the times, the magic number is between 7 to 9 for an average adult of 26-64 of age, while kids require at least up to 15 hours of sleep, younger adults require at least up to 9 10 hours of sleep and our elderly group requires at least 7-8 hours.
Regardless of the age, it is important to maintain proper sleep hygiene.
Many people believe that with age sleep requirement goes down because, usually, the elderly don’t use as much energy as the adults or the youngsters do.
Regardless of how much energy a person expends, 7-9 hours of sleep, or whatever the body requires, is essential for proper mental and physical health.
Hence, sleep requirement doesn’t go down with age.
The only thing about sleep that age messes up is the waking frequency during the night, which goes up!
How many of you have heard, ‘get more sleep!’, whenever you complained about a headache or any other issue with your health?!
For most of you, the answer would probably be in double figures!
In fact, Extra sleep adds extra pounds.
Long sleepers are more likely to gain 11 pounds more in the next six years than average sleepers.
Extra sleep is also connected to depression and diabetes.
When I was younger, my grandmother always told me not to sleep right after I took a shower, else I’ll be blind the next day.
This may appear superstitious, but the cause of blindness can be an eye problem such as cataracts, glaucoma, or other known illnesses associated with it.
While, the fact of sleeping with wet hair, can increase your chances of developing fungal infections in your scalp, such as dandruff, dermatitis and scalp ringworm.
In addition to that, our hair is less vulnerable, especially when wet, which can result in hair breakage, hair loss and hair dehydration.
It is advisable that you dry your hair before going to bed, or just simply you do not wash your hair before going to bed.
Asia has been known to have more superstitious beliefs; these customs have been passed down from generation to generation, despite of the modern technology we have nowadays.
One of these urban legends is that eating late in the evening can cause nightmares. Though some studies have shown that it is correlated, others have shown that this is false.
A study conducted by Harvard Medical School on individuals who ate before going to bed found inconsistencies between nightmares and late-eating, however late-night-eating has resulted to sleep disruption and can cause night sweats or chronic acid reflux.
The fact is that eating before you sleep slows down your metabolism, causes indigestion and heartburn, and reduces the quality of your sleep.
It is recommended to eat at least 3 to 4 hours before going to bed and to avoid high-fat dairy products, sweets, and anything spicy.
When Daphne couldn’t sleep in one of the Bridgerton Netflix episodes, she went in search for a glass of warm milk.
Perhaps an old wives’ tale, but the reasons why milk are considered to give you a better sleep is due to its amino acid content (tryptophan), melatonin, magnesium and the physiological effect that it will help in inducing sleep.
Though there is no concrete evidence that warm milk can help you sleep, if it makes you feel sleepy, why not give it a try?
Although, some parents would agree, but this myth is not true.
When your child is overtired, they are more likely to stay up later and become irritable, frustrated, moody, clingy and whiny.
Inadequate sleep for children, as with adults, can lead to sleep deprivation and, in the long run, can cause serious health issues.
Being a parent requires patience and dedication, it’s important to understand what your kids feel and how to calm them before bedtime.
Few parenting tips are: giving them a bedtime stories – by the way my son’s favorite book is Stone Soup, lullabies are scientifically proven to put children to sleep, set bedtime hours and always be consistent, bedtime environments are also important – sleep expert suggest setting the thermostat to 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit is the ideal room temperature, a darker room can also signal to children that it is time to sleep; and gadgets should be avoided at least 2 hours before bedtime
A German philosopher, Ludwig Feuerbach, once said, “We are what you eat”,
We choose what we eat at all times of the day, and eating too much junk will lead to cardiovascular issues, weight gain, and other serious health problems.
According to National Center for Health Statistics, 36.6% of adults in America consumed fast food every day.
And the most common fast-food meal purchased was lunch.
The fact that including fast food meals into your daily routine can have an impact on your sleep and increase your junk food cravings.
It is recommended that you begin adopting a healthy lifestyle and cleaning up your eating habits – you can also try to practice a healthy food mantra, such as “Just because it looks yummy, doesn’t mean I have to eat it.”
A standard glass of red wine contains an average of 12 percent alcohol, which is enough to put you to sleep quickly.
Alcohol has sedative effect that can induce relaxation to your brain for a very short period of time, but the faster you sleep due to the alcohol effect, the more disrupted your rapid eye movement (REM) sleep will be.
In 2015, researchers concluded that alcohol may disrupt sleep homeostasis, resulting in poor sleep quality.
Once the sedatives have been flushed from your system, alcohol can also disrupt your circadian rhythm.
It does not only give you a restless night, but it also causes you to have low energy in the morning.
It is always refreshing to take a shower in the morning; it helps you shake off sleep inertia.
However, there are still some arguments that lies on evening shower.
According to sleep experts, when our brain signals our body that it is time to sleep, our body’s temperature begins to drop hence when you take a hot sauna or warm shower before sleep can raise your body temperature, which affects your circadian rhythm.
If you still can’t get rid of the habit of taking shower at night, try taking it at least 1-2 hours before going to bed.
We’re all guilty of this; we tend to snooze our alarms several times.
However, doing so will only make you more sleep deprived, making you feel more drowsy and tired throughout the day.
Like the SCN (suprachiasmatic nucleus) sends a signal to the brain to produce melatonin, which helps us sleep.
SCN also triggers our brain to wake up, signaling to our bodies that it is time to wake up.
If we have a habit of drifting and hitting the snooze button, our bodies will more likely get used to it.
According to Sleep experts doing multiple snoozes will make your brain more confused and can result to sleep inertia, so even if you had enough sleep, snoozing your alarm and getting a quick sleep will just make you feel worse, so instead of hitting the alarm snooze, get up and do small exercises to freshen your mood.
Do you like what you’re reading? You might also be interested in our article on Sleeping Beliefs and Legends Around the World
Also, don’t forget to share any other interesting myths that you might have heard about.
Don’t let the rumors keep you awake!
