Sleeping well is essential for perform better in all aspects of our lives. There are several studies like A meta-analysis of sleep and work performance: a review of moderators and mediators from the Journal of Organizational Behavior which establishes a direct causal relationship between good sleep and greater productivity at work, a better state of mind, and healthier and more cultured personal relationships.
The problem is that not all of us know what a good dream is. We talk a lot about sleeping eight hours a day, but it depends on our age and our activity. Moreover, going to bed at ten o’clock at night and waking up at six o’clock in the morning is not the same thing as going to bed at four o’clock and waking up at noon. Curiously, there is an interesting relationship between getting up late and, paradoxically, being more tired and less efficient. The important thing here is determine the best time of night to go to bed and wake up to optimal rest.
Many of us – and I include myself – neglect this essential aspect of our health. To improve ourselves, we can help ourselves with science and the practical application of it that the Apple Watch does. Sleep science is a field that studies our patterns, behaviors and disorders related to rest. Thanks to it, we know certain data that allow us to establish hours of sleep that optimize our rest and make us live better. The Apple Watch uses this science with its sleep mode, giving us clues as to what’s best for us.
The science behind sleep
You’ve probably heard of sleep cycles before. When we sleep, our body goes through a series of stages — or cycles — that alternate more or less regularly. They are the awakening, the REM, the essential and the deep. Each of them has a specific function. and it is important that our body goes through all of them every time we go to bed.
This first wake cycle is that space of time between when we go to bed, close our eyes, and actually fall asleep. Moreover, although curiously we do not know it, we wake up periodically throughout the night
The REM cycle, which comes from the English “rapid eye movement”, is a stage that plays a fundamental role for memory, the brain and its rest. It begins about 90 minutes after starting to sleep, and as a curiosity this is the phase in which most of the dreams we made. Plus, as you might have guessed from the name, our eyes move side to side in the meantime.
It is in the essential phase of sleep that our muscular activity is the most reduced and that we lower our body temperature. Normally, most of our sleep occurs during this phase. This is colloquially known as “light sleep”, although is equal to or greater than the rest of the cycles.
Finally we come to deep sleep. This is what allows our body to repair itself, and during this time we secrete hormones essential to our development. If you’ve ever heard that children grow taller when they sleep, it’s true, and it’s in this phase when they do it. It usually lasts longer during the first half of the night and our body enters a state of maximum relaxation, which makes it very unlikely that we will wake up.
Does science say anything about when we should go to bed? Well yes. There are countless studies on the subject, but the most important is that of the European Association of Cardiology in 2021. They had the participation of 88,926 adults with an average age of 61 years old.
They spent almost six years monitoring their activity, and eventually concluded that going to bed between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. led to a lower risk of cardiovascular problems. Going after 11 p.m. increases the chance by 12%, from 12 p.m. it goes up to 25% and going to bed before 10 p.m. increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease by 24%.
We wanted it or not We all have a clock inside of us known as the circadian rhythm.. It’s like our personal trainer. It tells us when it’s time to be awake and active, and when it’s time to sleep and rest. It’s a cycle of about 24 hours – hence the name ‘circadian’, from the Latin ‘circa diem’ which means ‘about a day’.
During this time, our body undergoes a series of physical and mental changes, commanded by this “personal trainer” of which I speak. We each have our own, and it works differently, but if we don’t have regular sleep, we could modify it, which ends up creating problems for our health.
The Apple Watch: our little weapon against poor rest
When the Apple Watch was introduced, we weren’t entirely clear which direction it would eventually go. At first, it was nothing more than an extension of our iPhone on the wrist. However, little by little he became a personal health prodigy
One of the innovations launched by those of Cupertino in watchOS 8 was sleep monitoring. It is a function that lets us know how we resthow long we do it, and how long is each of the cycles that we talked about before the end.
Thanks to its accelerometer, it detects and records each of our movements, which allows you to know exactly what stage of sleep you are in. In addition, with the Apple Watch Series 8 we can also know our body temperature when we sleep, and with the rest of the models, our heart rate. Indeed, the latter recently saved the life of a woman.
Finally, the Apple Watch and iPhone both include a feature to set a time to fall asleep. Remember that one of the most important things for good sleep is regularity. This mode allows us to set a time to go to bed every day and a time to wake up. When the time comes, it will put our iPhone into Do Not Disturb mode and set an alarm for the time we set for the next morning.
So we can take advantage of everything our Apple Watch offers to improve our sleep
The Apple Watch collects data about our sleep, but that’s only the first part of the equation. NOW we must know how to interpret them to improve our rest. It is something simple, but many do not stop to analyze it, and this is a serious mistake, since we must take advantage of all the tools at our disposal. We had never lived in such a technologically advanced world, so we better use that to our advantage, right?
If you just started using sleep tracking on your Apple Watch we recommend experimenting a bit. Spend a few days or even a week going to bed at a fixed time and analyze your sleep cycles. Then try going to sleep a little earlier or a little later to see if there’s any variation.
If you notice that your awake time has decreased or your deep sleep time has increased, the change has been for the better and it would be a good time to sleep for you. If, on the other hand, the results were reversed, you might want to consider reverting to the original situation. It is experiment until you find what works best for you.
Once you find your optimal rest time, you’ll need to establish a routine for your body to get used to. Believe me, once you have made this adaptation, you will never need an alarm again, because you will wake up on your own at the time you are used to, even if it is something that takes a lot of time. To help you establish this routine, the sleep reminder feature we talked about earlier can be very useful, although ultimately it’s up to you whether you go to bed or not.
It is also good for you to regularly monitor the sleep cycles collected by your Apple Watch. Over time, they may change, and you may need to create a new routine that accommodates any changes you’ve had that necessitate a different sleep schedule. There are factors such as stress and diet that can cause this type of alterationsso you should also pay special attention to it.
Good sleep is one of the best things we can do for our bodies, and best of all, it’s free. Besides, who doesn’t like to sleep? In a way It does not stop being a vital activity rather than eating or playing sportsand it is important that, like the rest of the activities, we do it in a healthy way.
The science that studies our sleep is fascinating and teaches us that “when” is just as important as “how much”. Each of us has a unique circadian rhythm.and adapting our routine to it will not only allow us to sleep better, but also increase our performance during the day and ultimately our overall health and happiness.
The Apple Watch can be invaluable if you know how to use it. Technology has changed the way we interact with the world, and now the way we interact with our sleep is changing. Apple’s smartwatch allows us to adapt our sleep routines to our specific needs and, in short, improve our general well-being.
Sleeping well is one of the most important things we can do, and with the right tools and knowledge, we can determine when is the best time to go to bedknow if the quality of our sleep has been good, find ways to improve it and ultimately lead a healthier life.
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