Several times a day, my patients ask me if they are getting enough sleep. For most, my answer is, “You’re not getting nearly enough.”

The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) guidelines advise that the average healthy adult needs 7-9 hours of sleep per night. For seniors, they recommended 7-8 hours.

How are we doing? Unfortunately, Americans seem to be going in the wrong direction. In 1942, we slept 7.9 hours a night; today, we only get an average of 6.8 hours. According to the NSF, about 35% of U.S. adults report sleeping less than 7 hours per night.

What’s contributing to sleep deprivation?

There is no doubt that we are a sleep-deprived population. Artificial light, electronic screens that connect us to whatever we want whenever we want, and the lengthy time demands of work and family have all made sleep much more elusive for many of us.

Sleep deprivation leads to many health consequences, including slow cognitive processing, inattention, memory problems, diabetes, and obesity. Furthermore, several large studies have shown that sleeping five or less hours increases your risk of fatal and non-fatal heart attacks by 45% and death by 15%.

Understanding sleep efficiency

Say you typically go to bed at 10 p.m. and wake up at 5 a.m. That’s 7 hours, right? In actuality, it’s probably not.

Most people are unaware that when we talk about “sleep,” it needs to be defined in terms of what we call “sleep efficiency.” Sleep efficiency is the percentage of time you were actually asleep while in bed. We consider a good sleep efficiency to be 85% (meaning 85% of the time you spent in bed, you were asleep), while 90% is excellent. Sleep efficiency is never 100%. It might take you some time to fall asleep, and you likely wake up during the night.

Using our 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. example and applying an 85% sleep efficiency, you are likely only sleeping 6 hours, while 1 hour was spent awake (either at the start, the middle, or the end of your sleep time). With a 90% sleep efficiency, you get 6.3 hours of sleep.

Tips to get a better night’s sleep

• Make sure your bedroom is dark, quiet, and kept at a cool temperature. Try using earplugs or a sound machine to block out exterior noise.
• Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends. This helps reinforce your body’s circadian rhythm.
• Unplugging from electronic devices earlier or more fully in the evenings is one good way to improve your ability to get the recommended amount of sleep. Along these lines, there was an interesting research study published in 2014. As part of a television program, five adults lived in a Stone-Age settlement without electricity, running water, or any modern amenities. Before the study, participants slept 5.7 hours a night. During the study, they slept 7.2 hours a night.
• Adopt a pre-sleep routine to help you relax, such as listening to soothing music, reading a book, meditating, taking a warm bath, or doing breathing exercises.
• Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and large meals before bedtime.
• Get regular exercise, which can help you fall asleep more easily at night.

If you consistently struggle to get enough sleep, speak with your primary care providers about doing a sleep study, which can determine if sleep apnea may be playing a role in disrupting your sleep.

For more tips to cope with insomnia and improve your sleep, check out this article, “Sleepless Nights: How to Help with Insomnia.”