Have you ever thought about how much of your life you spend “sleeping”?
How much sleep we need varies from person to person, but if you sleep 8 hours a day, a third of each day is spent asleep.
Over an 80-year life,
8 hours × 365 days × 80 years = about 230,000 hours.
In years, that works out to roughly 27 years spent asleep.
Seen this way, sleep can hardly be called mere “time spent doing nothing.”
In fact, precisely because it takes up such a large part of our lives, isn’t sleep worth caring about, just as we care about what we eat and how we exercise?
Your Brain and Body Keep Working While You Sleep
While we sleep, our conscious mind may be at rest, but not all activity in the brain and body comes to a stop.
Sleep is linked to many functions, including memory and learning, emotional regulation, immune function and physical recovery.
For example, information and experiences gained during the day are also processed during sleep, and sleep is known to play an important role in consolidating memories.
That’s why, when you’re short on sleep, it isn’t just that you feel “sleepy”;
“I can’t concentrate,”
“my judgment feels off,”
“I get irritated easily,”
“my body feels heavy,”
you may notice various changes like these during your waking hours, too.
The time you spend asleep is also time spent shaping who you’ll be tomorrow.
It’s Not Just About “How Many Hours You Slept”
So is sleeping 8 hours every day enough?
Sleep duration is certainly important, but when it comes to sleep, looking only at “length” isn’t enough.
For example,
“I slept a long time but don’t feel refreshed,”
“I wake up several times during the night,”
“it takes me a long time to fall asleep,”
“I’m still sleepy when I get up,”
some of you may have experienced this.
The amount of sleep people need varies, and it also changes with age.
So it isn’t that you “absolutely must sleep 8 hours.”
What matters is getting the amount of sleep you need while creating conditions in which you can sleep as steadily and comfortably as possible.
Because it takes up about a third of your life, rather than “just going to sleep,” try paying attention to your sleep environment and how you spend the time before bed.
Good Sleep Begins “Before You Get into Bed”
When you think of caring about sleep, you may picture an expensive mattress or pillow.
Of course, bedding matters, but that isn’t everything.
Looking at your smartphone right up until bedtime, having caffeine late at night, carrying work and worries with you into bed.
How you spend your days like this is also connected to your sleep.
To sleep comfortably,
• dim the lights a little before bed
• spend less time looking at your smartphone
• be mindful of when you have caffeine
• relax your body with a bath or similar
• keep your sleep schedule as regular as you can
in these and other ways, it’s important to gradually shift your body from “activity” to “rest.”
Sleep doesn’t suddenly begin the moment you get into bed.
How you spend the time before sleep is also part of taking care of your sleep.
Dry Head Spa and “Getting Ready to Sleep”
You’ve finished work and chores and gotten into bed, and yet
“in my head, I’m still thinking about work,”
“my body is tense,”
“my neck and shoulders are bothering me, so I can’t settle down,”
many people feel this way.
That’s why, at La HEAD, we value time to step away from the tension in your head and body and simply be, without thinking about anything.
A dry head spa is a relaxation treatment that slowly loosens tension, centered on the head, without using water.
At La HEAD, we care for not only your head but also your neck, shoulders and arms as one connected whole.
Many guests drift off to sleep during the treatment, and we value creating a space where you can step away from the busyness of daily life and let your body relax.
Of course, a dry head spa is not a treatment for sleep disorders.
Still, we believe that relaxing body and mind and making time to step away from the day’s tension is one way to prepare for restful sleep.
Rather than trying hard to fall asleep, letting yourself naturally reach a state of rest.
Making time like that in your daily life is another way of caring about your sleep, don’t you think?
Caring About Sleep Is for Your Waking Hours
At 8 hours a day, that’s about a third of your life.
Over 80 years, about 27 years.
We spend this much time asleep.
But the reason to value sleep isn’t just to make the hours you’re asleep more comfortable.
You rest well, greet the next morning and go to work.
You meet people.
You enjoy the things you love.
You move your body.
In other words, taking care of your sleep also helps make the remaining two-thirds of your life, the time you’re awake, even better.
Instead of cutting back on sleep to push through each day, value your sleep so you can live each day better.
Because it takes up such a large part of your life, why not start caring a little more about your “sleep” from today?
At La HEAD, in a calm, fully private room, we offer a time for you to let your mind and body rest at their own pace.
We look forward to welcoming you.