Do you feel tired and groggy in the morning even though you had eight hours of sleep? Well, maybe you’re not sleeping at the right times.
A doctor has gone viral on TikTok after explaining that not all eight hours are the same, and you must sleep during the ‘golden window’ for the best rest.
‘Golden window’ of sleep
Dr. Sermed Mehzer responded to a video in which a man said that going to bed at 2am and waking up at 10am is not the same as going 10pm to 6am.
“That’s right, not all eight-hour sleeps were made equal,” he said. “One of the huge reasons for this is because there’s a golden window of sleep between around 10pm and 2am.”
He explained that this period is when your body’s sleep hormones like melatonin are at their highest, and the stress hormones like cortisol are at their lowest.
Your human growth hormone, which helps to give your body a second wind of energy, is also at its highest during this time.
Mehzer explained that sleeping during this golden window allows your body to use this “second wind of cellular energy” for repair, creating memories and removing toxins.
We also need to have the right balance of REM to non-REM sleep to be fully rested, and the doctor said we get this balance better when sleeping at these times.
However, this obviously isn’t always possible. For example, those who work night shifts are often unable to sleep between 10pm and 2am. The most important thing is that you get enough sleep.
MedlinePlus says most healthy adults should get around seven to eight hours per day. Sleep allows your body to process new information, stay healthy, and feel rested.
Lower heart attack and stroke risk
Going to sleep at 10pm could have huge positive effects on your health too.
A 2021 study in the European Heart Journal found that people who went to sleep between 10pm and 10.59pm had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.
The study analysed analysed 88,000 adults for six years and found that people who went to sleep an hour later, from 11pm to 11:59pm, had a 12% greater risk.
This rose to 25% among those who fell asleep at midnight or later. Interestingly, people sleeping before 10pm also had a 24% risk increase.
“The body has a 24-hour internal clock, called circadian rhythm, that helps regulate physical and mental functioning,” the study’s co-author, neuroscientist David Plans, told NBC News.
“While we cannot conclude causation from our study, the results suggest that early or late bedtimes may be more likely to disrupt the body clock, with adverse consequences for cardiovascular health.”
Dr. Sermed Mehzer is a qualified medical practitioner working for the NHS in London, who gained his MBChb Medicine (Hons) from the University of Manchester.
