Your Sleep Quality Probably Sucks. How to Know and What to Do.

Stressed? Sluggish? Irritable? Exhausted? Unhappy? All signs you may not be getting efficient, quality sleep. Fix the problem and spend less time in bed and more time enjoying life.

When you’re asleep, it’s kinda hard to know how well you’re sleeping. Genetics and the challenges of everyday life — things that might seem largely out of our control — can conspire to disrupt the quality of your slumber without you realizing it.

Poor-quality sleep can be just as bad for you as not getting enough hours of shut-eye, research finds. The consequences range from annoying to deadly.

Among the signs your sleep quality is suffering:

You feel tired or unproductive, lacking the energy or focus for work or play.
You’re frequently in a bad mood, cranky, perhaps losing your temper too easily.
You sleep in on weekends, trying to catch up (which doesn’t really work, by the way).
Stress or anxiety are constant companions.
You’re not, in a word, happy.

What you won’t realize is that over time, low-quality sleep puts you at greater risk of a host of debilitating physical and mental diseases, emotional instability and early death — stuff I describe in detail in my book, Make Sleep Your Superpower. Let’s not let that happen.

Focus on efficiency, not hours

The great thing about sleeping more efficiently is that you can actually spend less time in bed and get more out of it. Or, to think of it another way, the time you do spend in bed will be far more productive and healthy — you’ll fall asleep faster and sleep more soundly instead of counting sheep or tossing and turning.

So how much sleep do you actually need?

One of the many sleep myths I see repeated often is the notion that you need at least eight hours every night. Sure, eight can be a reasonable number, and most adults do require around seven or eight hours of sleep for optimal health. But there’s no perfect amount for all people. Genetics and other factors (including sleep quality!) can mean one person needs more and another does fine on less. There’s no firm minimum threshold, but if you sleep less than six hours a night, research indicates conclusively that you’re at higher risk for chronic diseases and premature death. Conversely, if you sleep a lot more than eight hours a night, and you’re not a kid or a young adult who actually does need a lot, it’s likely a reflection of poor-quality sleep.

For the moment, put the question of ideal duration out of your mind.

If you establish good sleep habits and sleep efficiently, duration will largely take care of itself. You’ll wake up relatively refreshed around the same time each morning, feel good as you head out to conquer your day, and therefore get stuff done (and have fun!) and be ready and able to relax in the evening — all elements of a healthy sleep-wake cycle.

Deep, rejuvenating sleep

Quality sleep depends on cycling through four stages of sleep that range from light to deep, and going through each cycle four to seven times a night.

Deep sleep is critical. During deep sleep, chemicals are released to rejuvenate and repair muscles, organs and cells throughout the body and — in a relatively recent discovery — the brain is literally cleaned of misfolded proteins and toxins that build up during the day when you’re doing all that heady thinking. Then during the rapid-eye-movement (REM) phase, your brain does some further cleanup, particularly by processing thoughts and emotions. Hence the dreams.

Deep and REM sleep should make up about half a good night’s sleep. Often they do not, however.

If your sleep is inefficient, you’ll spend too little time in deep sleep and REM sleep, instead mired restlessly in the less-restorative stages of light sleep, whether you realize it or not. You might toss and turn more. You might wake up and not be able to go back to sleep.

Or you might be totally unaware of your lousy sleep during the night. What you need is a way to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of your sleep.

Get your sleep score

Sleep trackers aim to measure sleep duration and quality. However, they aren’t 100% accurate, and all of them struggle to distinguish between the various stages, since they lack brain-wave monitors necessary to properly identify deep and REM sleep. They can be helpful, but if you obsess over them they can also cause stress, which is bad for sleep. There’s a better way.

In my book, I offer a simple Sleep Score questionnaire to help you figure out if you’re sleeping enough, and well enough. It goes like this:

Rate the following five factors regarding your typical night’s sleep in recent weeks, and be honest:

The ratings: 1=Never; 2=Rarely; 3=Sometimes; 4=Often; 5=Always

Soon after waking, I feel rested and ready to face the day.
In mid-afternoon, my energy level and ability to focus and get things done remain strong.
In the late evening, I’m relaxed and look forward to bedtime.
I fall asleep easily, usually within 20 minutes or so.
I sleep through the night or get back to sleep quickly after waking.

Add your ratings up to get your Sleep Score. If you score 20 or above, simply pass this article on to someone who really needs it. If below 20, you’ve got some suppressed sleep superpower to unlock. If your score is 15 or lower, you have a notable sleep problem.

Now fix the problem

If your sleep problems run deep, consider seeing a physician or sleep specialist, who can diagnose clinical insomnia or other sleep disorders.

Otherwise, armed with a better sense of your sleep quality, you can now improve it. My research into the science of sleep, including interviews with several sleep experts, yielded 20 tactics proven to help improve sleep, along with a simple strategy for selecting a handful most suited to your needs and putting them to work. Here are some of the tactics that can be the most helpful for many people, with links to other articles in which I’ve explored them in depth:

Go to bed around the same time every night and get up at about the same time every morning. Even night owls can improve on this (if they wish to — and not all do).
Go outside early and often. Natural daylight sets your body clock so your brain will release sleep-inducing melatonin at the right time each night.
Get at least 22 minutes of moderate physical activity every day, or 2–½ hours a week. Brisk walking, sports, dancing, whatever gets your blood pumping.
If you struggle with stress or anxiety, make stress management a priority.
Turn lights down or off in the evening, and avoid stressful activities like doomscrolling, horror films, or the horror of checking work email.
If you need help relaxing in the evening, explore mindfulness meditation or enjoy some soft, mellow music at bedtime.
Stop eating several hours before bedtime. No late-night snacks!
Avoid or eliminate alcohol. Really. It’s bad for us, even in small quantities, and terrible for sleep (I’ve tested this one thoroughly, by the way, so I’m not being preachy).

Adopt the behaviors you deem to have the greatest potential for you, give it a solid effort for at least three days and nights (I call this the 3x3 Sleep Challenge) and my bet is you’ll find your Sleep Score improves. You’ll feel better, sharper, more in control of your emotions, more ready to face whatever comes your way. You might even be a little bit happier.

Your support makes my health and wellness writing possible. You can sign up for emails when I publish on Medium, or join Medium to directly support me and gain full access to all Medium stories, get my health news briefs on Mastodon, or check out my book: Make Sleep Your Superpower: A Guide to Greater Health, Happiness & Productivity (paperback or Kindle version). — Rob