How long does it take you to fall asleep at night? The answer could unlock secrets of your health
When your head meets the pillow, do you go swift and sweet into dreamland — or do you lie awake, plagued with existential dread and struggle to snooze? The answer to how you spend your nights may reveal startling insights into your general health.The amount of time it takes your body to achieve a restful state is known as “sleep latency,” and while that figure is somewhat flexible, there are some parameters for optimal shutdown for shuteye.
Sleep experts agree that either extreme — falling asleep too fast or too slow — can cause concern.“The ideal amount of time for the body to fall asleep truly varies from person to person.
The National Sleep Foundation suggests that it should take about 15 to 20 minutes for a healthy person,” Kristen Casey, a licensed clinical psychologist and insomnia specialist, told HuffPost.“However, people are complex, so we may have more issues that stop us from falling asleep soundly that are likely out of our control.” Proper sleep hygiene can help mitigate those factors beyond our control, according to experts.“Decades of sleep science research shows that having excellent sleep hygiene is your best bet to regularly fall asleep, stay asleep, and feel and function your best while awake,” sleep guru Jeff Kahn, the Chicago-based CEO and co-founder of Rise Science, maker of the sleep and energy tracker app RISEKahn, told Fox News Digital.Common best practices include keeping a regular sleep schedule, cutting off caffeine 12 hours before bedtime, avoiding late meals and alcohol, getting sunlight every morning — and keeping your bedroom as cool, dark and quiet as possible.Research suggests some measure of pre-slumber physical activity can also help improve sleep quality, The Post previously reported.
Experts note that going lights out within a few minutes is not explicitly cause for alarm but could indicate some lifestyle factors that need amending.A few probable causes for falling fast: “Falling asleep too quickl...