If you are over 10 years old, chances are that someone has told you to drink a glass of warm milk at night or count sheep to be able to fall asleep faster.
How much of that is truth versus what we’ve been told over and over again by television, movies, and old wives’ tales? Here are seven sleeping myths that have been kept alive by popular culture, and information about how true they really are:
- You’ll Be Able to Catch Up on Sleep
Sleep is so important. It resets our brains, re-energizes our bodies, it even helps us fight off diseases like high-blood pressure, and cancer, according to WebMD. With each adult requiring 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night at minimum, why do we constantly think that we can get by on less?
Society today tells us that the more you accomplish the more you’ll succeed, and there’s a limited amount of hours in the day, so just forge ahead and use the weekend to catch up. Unfortunately, if you become sick or even diseased due to your body’s lack of ability to fight off infection and illness, you’ll be losing even more work time when you’re in the hospital.
It’s so important to keep a regular and basic amount of sleep each night, and not to try to catch up on the weekends.
- The Older You Get The Less You Need To Sleep
If you’ve ever traveled with your grandparents on vacation you know that older people tend to wake up at 5am ready to start their day, unable to go back to sleep. Most people think that this is because they need less sleep, but it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Likely, they’re waking up because of decreased bladder size and function, arthritis, or other various aches and pains, but sleep is just as important the older you get, if not more so, according to Sleep Foundation.
- Watching TV Helps you Fall Asleep
My mother falls asleep every single night with the TV blaring 1970’s sitcoms. She says it helps her feel comfortable enough to fall asleep because it helps tune out the distractions and worries of her everyday life. She’s not alone, there are a lot of people out there who sleep with the TV on, but this is a dangerous habit, according to Cultbox.
Not only do the flashing lights and sounds overstimulate your brain and keep it from getting deeply involved into a proper REM cycle, but the blue glow can also trick your body into thinking it’s daytime, reducing the release of the proper hormones needed to regulate your body’s activity. This can have dangerous effects in the long term, like increased risk for heart disease and cancer.
- Drinking Alcohol Will Give You a Better Night of Sleep
It’s a common misconception that drinking makes you feel relaxed, and therefore relaxation leads to an easier time falling asleep. While drinking does, in fact, make you fall asleep more quickly, it doesn’t sustain your sleep throughout the night.
Most times, when alcohol is a factor, you’ll wake up throughout the night and be unable to fall back asleep. This has to do with your body going into overtime to metabolize the sugar, and also with the fact that alcohol naturally dehydrates you.
- Eating Turkey Sends You Right to Sleep
We’ve all heard the urban myth that eating turkey will send you right to sleep. There’s even a Seinfeld episode about it. This undoubtedly stems from the idea that most people pass out in an armchair after a Thanksgiving dinner.
The truth is, that turkey has no more tryptophan than any other meat at the dinner table, and the excessive amount of carbohydrates are likely what’s responsible for people’s crash.
- Eating a Large Meal Right Before Bed Will Cause you to Doze Off
With that said, eating a large meal is also a reason that takes the blame for that holiday slumber, and while eating a large meal can be a good way to fall asleep for a daily nap it’s not good for sleeping through the night.
You can get heartburn, indigestion, acid reflux, and a myriad of other intestinal issues by not allowing your body to digest such a large chunk of food before you shut it down for the night, according to the LiveStrong Foundation. Not to mention, you can subject yourself to weight gain.
- Sleeping on a Proper Mattress isn’t Important
You spend up to one-third of your life on your mattress, so it’s almost of a higher quality than any other item you own. It’s so important to invest in a high-quality mattress that’s right for you. Recently, memory foam mattresses have become the champion in the fight for best mattress, and if you aren’t sure which one is right for you, here’s a list of the top models in 2017 by Sleep Advisor.
Now that you know what’s real (and what isn’t) you’ll be able to do the correct things to get a good night of sleep, so that you’ll be able to seize the day each and every morning, and go dispel some other popular myths!