One Factor Matters More to Great Sleep than 'How Many Hours'

Happy National Sleep Awareness Month! 

At CBDistillery, we're extremely passionate about sleep and like to call it “the golden thread of all health.” We're thrilled to see more and more people taking sleep seriously and realizing that it really does affect your longevity and everyday life in so many ways.   

We all know that sleep is vital for good health, yet many of us still struggle to consistently get a good night’s rest. A combination of increasing screen time, longer working hours and the all-too-common "work hard, sleep later" attitude has led to a global sleep crisis, with more than 1 in 3 American adults reporting not reaching the recommended daily hours.   

We bet you didn’t know the number-one most important thing when it comes to sleep health... and no, it’s not the number of hours you sleep each night! 

How much sleep you get is important, but the time that you go to sleep and wake up is most crucial. Going to bed and getting up at consistent times lowers your risk of chronic disease and death, and later sleep timing is associated with more harmful health effects. 

One study even showed that going to bed after midnight was associated with a greater risk of osteoporosis. Being consistent with your bedtime is strongly linked to good cognitive performance, and studies looking at college students have found that those with more consistent and earlier sleeping hours performed better academically. 
 
Sleeping outside of your normal circadian rhythm will make your sleep far less restorative. There are a range of metrics that can be used to gauge sleep quality, from the amount of time you spend in REM or deep sleep (the more the better), to how restless you are and how many times you wake up in the night, which you should aim to minimize. 

Other helpful sleep tips:  

• Make your room cool
• Wear a sleep mask 
• Supplement with a CBD gummy or CBD oil 
• No blue light 1 hour before bed 
• Don’t eat too close to bedtime