DAY 4

Person sleeping with eye mask, text overlay about sleep formula.

Key takeaways

Sleep needs are personal and influenced by age and lifestyle.

If you struggle with falling asleep and staying asleep, try not to spend too much time in bed.

Deep and REM sleep are vital for memory, immunity, and healing.

Find your ideal sleep by going to a stress free environment for a week, such as on vacation, stick to a consistent bedtime, and wake up naturally.

If sleep feels elusive no matter how much time you spend in bed, you’re not alone. But spending more time in bed to get the sleep you need may actually be a major part of the problem. This can result in associating your bed with not sleeping. While experts recommend 7-9 hours of sleep per night for adults, you should only spend about a half hour more time in bed than this amount to reach your unique biology sleep need.

Key takeaways

Sleep needs are personal and influenced by age and lifestyle.

If you struggle with falling asleep and staying asleep, try not to spend too much time in bed.

Deep and REM sleep are vital for memory, immunity, and healing.

Find your ideal sleep by going to a stress free environment for a week, such as on vacation, stick to a consistent bedtime, and wake up naturally.

Gradient horizontal line from blue to purple on white background.

What’s Your Perfect Sleep Formula?

Not everyone needs the same amount of sleep, and that’s okay. Genetics, age, lifestyle, and even stress levels influence how much sleep you need to feel fully rested. The goal isn’t to hit an arbitrary number of hours but to uncover your personal baseline—the amount of sleep that allows you to wake up refreshed and stay alert all day. Paying attention to how you feel during the day, rather than focusing solely on hours spent in bed, is a great way to gauge your sleep needs.

How Sleep Changes as We Age

Fewer Deep Sleep Stages: As we age, the amount of slow-wave, restorative deep sleep naturally decreases. This shift can make sleep feel lighter and less refreshing.
Increased Wakefulness: Falling asleep and staying asleep can take longer as we get older, leading to more interruptions and lighter sleep.
Varied Sleep Needs: While the recommended range for most adults is 7-9 hours, older adults might require as little as 5 or as much as 9 hours, depending on their individual needs and health conditions.

These changes are part of the natural aging process, but they don’t mean you have to settle for poor sleep.

Table showing recommended sleep hours by age group.

"Graph showing recommended sleep durations by age group."Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about/. Accessed December 18, 2024.

The Good News

While it’s normal for sleep to change with age, there are proven ways to improve it. Strengthening your circadian rhythm—your body’s internal clock—can help you fall asleep more easily, stay asleep longer, and spend more time in the restorative deep sleep stages. Even small adjustments to your routine can make a big difference. This program is designed to guide you through those changes, helping you wake up feeling genuinely refreshed and ready to take on the day.

Why Sleep Quality Matters

Deep sleep and REM sleep are more than just a part of your nightly cycle—these sleep stages are essential for overall health. During the deep sleep stage, your brain clears out waste, consolidates memories, and performs critical repair processes. Deep sleep also supports immune function, regulates hormones, and reduces the risk of conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. REM sleep is also essential to integrating new memories from the previous day, promoting a healthy immune system, and regulating your emotions. By improving your sleep quality, by increasing deep sleep and REM, you’re giving your body the tools it needs to heal, recharge, and thrive as you age.

Table showing deep sleep requirements by age group.

"Diagram illustrating the stages of sleep."Sleep Cycles & Stages: What You Need to Know, AlignLife, https://alignlife.com/sleep-cycles-are-more-important-than-you-think/. Accessed December 18, 2024.

Find Your Unique Sleep Need

To figure out how much sleep your body truly requires, try to take a break from your daily stressors or recall a time that you did this. Go to bed at the same time every night, skip naps during the day, and let yourself wake up naturally without an alarm. After a few days, you’ll start to notice a consistent pattern—this is your body’s natural rhythm revealing your ideal sleep duration. Your goal should be to get this much sleep on a regular basis and only spend about 30 minutes more than this in bed. So for example, if you determine that your sleep need is 7 hours, you should strive to spend 7 hours and 30 minutes in bed. If you spend close to 100% of the time in bed asleep, this may be an indication that you are asleep deprived.

Remember, sleep isn’t just about surviving the night; it’s about thriving during the day. By understanding and addressing your unique needs, you can take control of your sleep health and transform how you feel, think, and live.