Go to bed at this time for the perfect night’s sleep (Image: Getty)
Do you ever go to bed incredibly early because you need to wake up on time for work – then feel even more exhausted in the morning?
Well, you might be approaching it wrong.
Don’t simply assume that by getting more hours of sleep, you’ll be more refreshed in the office the following day. Apparently it’s somewhat more complex than that.
However, fortunately for us, someone has developed a ‘sleep calculator’, being utilised on home decor site Hillarys, so we can determine when we need to turn in with the click of a button.
Apparently it’s all to do with sleep cycles rather than getting more hours of sleep. If you wake up at the incorrect time during a sleep cycle, you’ll find yourself more fatigued – even if you were asleep for longer.
If you need to get up at 7am
Going to bed early could actually be worse for you (Image: Getty Images)
Need to ensure you’re awake and getting out of bed at 7am? Then you need to go to bed at either 9.46pm or 11.16pm.
If you’re having a late night and you don’t fancy either of these, then 12.46am and 2.16am will also suffice.
The sleep calculator accounts for the average of 14 minutes it takes people to naturally fall asleep, so you don’t necessarily need to be in bed by this time.
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If you need to get up at 6am
To get up at 6am, you’re looking at a bedtime of 8.46pm, 10.16pm or even 11.46pm or – if you’re feeling like a real night owl – 1.16am.
These tricks should mean you wake up feeling rested (Image: Getty)
Don’t need to get up particularly early to get to work on time? Have no fear. Here’s what time you need to go to bed for an 8am rise: 10.46pm, 12.16am, 1.46am or 3.16am.
A sleep cycle lasts approximately 90 minutes, during which time we progress through five stages of sleep – four stages of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and one stage of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
We transition from light sleep in Stage 1 to a very deep sleep in Stage 4. It is challenging to rouse someone in Stage 4 of a sleep cycle, which is why you might feel more drowsy if you wake up during this phase.
The fifth stage, REM sleep, is when most dreaming takes place.
You can even be really precise
For instance, if you know getting at 6:35 is the ideal time so you can catch the train and be on time for work, enter it into the sleep calculator and you’ll receive a result.
For a 6.35am wake time, go to bed at 9.21pm, 10.51pm, 12.21am or 1.51am.
The Sleep Calculator website states: “Getting a good night’s sleep is about more than simply going to bed early – it’s about waking up at the right time too.
“Using a formula based on the body’s natural rhythms, the Sleep Calculator will work out the best time for you to rise or go to sleep.”
The calculator operates on the principle that everyone sleeps in about five or six cycles which last roughly 90 minutes.
Waking up midway through a cycle can leave you struggling to sleep and feeling irritable the next day. The concept is to wake up in between cycles and feel rejuvenated in the morning.
