The amount of time you sleep has an impact on both your physical and mental health.
SAN ANTONIO — We all know getting enough sleep is imperative to quality of life. But your quality of sleep is just as important as how much sleep you get.
Quality sleep refers to the depth and continuity of your sleep, meaning not just the physical but also the mental and emotional benefits from your rest. How you sleep impacts all of those benefits, not just while you sleep but in your waking hours too.
Dr. Suhaib Haq, a sleep medicine specialist with University Health told KENS 5, “That’s when we rest, relax, repair, rejuvenate, replenish.”
Stress is a huge factor in life that affects sleep in a huge percentage of the population.
“When stress is continuously activating parts of our brain and we do not have a way to diffuse it, the stress wins the war and sleep loses the war,” said Haq.
Sleep Cycle looked at sleep data from all major metropolitan areas in the country. San Antonio reported the lowest sleep quality among all major U.S. metros at slightly more than 71%. In contrast, San Antonio residents also reported relatively low stress with only 7.36% of sleep sessions affected by a stressful day.
Compare that to cities like Philadelphia and Chicago with stress affecting about 9% of sleep sessions.
“The American Academy of Sleep Medicine reminds everyone not to bring their worries to bed,” said Dr. Haq.
Dr. Michael Gradisar, head of sleep science at Sleep Cycle told KENS 5, “This means the differences in sleep quality we found could indicate other underlying issues, such as lifestyle factors that aren’t necessarily perceived as stress but still disrupt sleep.”
Haq added, “On many occasions, the stress created by seemingly never-ending list of task we have can prevent people from getting good night’s sleep, eventually you know poor productivity and performance and even risking into getting into accidents.”
Gradisar also said good sleep is a must to lead a healthy life, as it restores your immune system, regulates your mood, consolidates memories and supports cardiovascular health.