Key Indicators of Good Sleep Released by National Sleep Foundation

The National Sleep Foundation guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations to the public regarding indicators of good sleep quality across the life-span.

Highlights

The National Sleep Foundation has released some guidelines on key indicators of good quality sleep.
The NSF guidelines on sleep duration and quality provide consumers with the resources needed to understand their sleep.

Key indicators of good sleep quality has been released by an established by a panel of experts from the National Sleep Foundation (NSF).

The key indicators of sleep complements the data provided by the sleep technology devices thus helping millions of consumers interpret their sleep patterns.

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‘Sleep quality can be improved by making use of various sleep technology devices in combination with the guidelines from National Sleep Foundation.’

Sleep is a blissful state of inactivity and unawareness that provides the required rest and rejuvenates an individual for the activities of the ensuing day with increased vigor.

The sleep-need is individualistic.

The amount of sleep that one needs is that optimum amount which allows one to function throughout the day without feeling drowsy, even under conditions that promote sleep.

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During infancy and adolescence, there is an increase in sleep- need that is brought on by developmental changes. For infants the need is 14-15hrs and for school-age children it is 10-11hrs.

The average need for adults is 7-8 hrs, but the requirements vary. Few people feel fine with as little as 5hrs of sleep while others require more than 10hrs to feel refreshed and alert.

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The report comes as the first step in NSF's effort to spearhead defining the key indicators of good sleep quality.

The indicators are:

Sleeping more time while in bed (at least 85 percent of the total time)
Falling asleep in 30 minutes or less
Waking up no more than once per night
Being awake for 20 minutes or less after initially falling asleep

NSF's recent Sleep Health Index revealed that as many as 27% of people take longer than 30 minutes to fall asleep.

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Max Hirshkowitz, PhD, DABSM, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NSF stated, "Millions of Americans are sleep technology users. These devices provide a glimpse into one's sleep universe, which is otherwise unknown. The National Sleep Foundation's guidelines on sleep duration, and now quality, make sense of it all--providing consumers with the resources needed to understand their sleep. These efforts help to make sleep science and technology more accessible to the general public that is eager to learn more about its health in bold new ways."

The use of sleep technology combined with the NSF guidelines will help people gauge their sleep and even improve the sleep quality. The NSF's recommendations are necessary to the continued development of such consumer technologies.

"In the past, we defined sleep by its negative outcomes including sleep dissatisfaction, which were useful for identifying underlying pathology. Clearly this is not the whole story. With this initiative, we are now on a better course towards defining sleep health," noted Maurice Ohayon, MD, DSc, PhD, Director of the Stanford Sleep Epidemiology Research Center.

The key findings have been endorsed by the American Association of Anatomists, American Academy of Neurology, American Physiological Society, Gerontological Society of America, Human Anatomy and Physiology Society, Society for Research on Biological Rhythms, Society for Research of Human Development, and Society for Women's Health Research.

They key determinants of quality sleep are included in a report published in Sleep Health.

To identify and outline additional indicators of good sleep quality across age groups, further research is needed.

References

Maurice Ohayon et al. National Sleep Foundation's sleep quality recommendations: first report. Sleep Health ; (2017) doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2016.11.006
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