According to the American Sleep Association, 50 to 70 million adults nationwide have a sleep disorder, with insomnia being the most common. And while the association reports that adults need seven to nine hours of sleep each night, Harvard Health Publishing points out that factors such as stress, pain, and diet can keep people from falling asleep easily each night.
Those who are looking for tips and tricks on how to improve sleep quality may want to take some notes from Healthline. The wellness website lists 20 ways to fall asleep quickly, like adjusting your bedroom’s temperature, keeping to a schedule, trying meditation, listening to relaxing music, and getting in the right position.
So, we know that many people struggle with actually dozing off and getting adequate rest, and we know some methods that could help in this area. But how long should it really take a person to fall asleep?
A general sleep onset latency is between 5 and 20 minutes
The time it takes someone to fall asleep is called sleep onset latency, and Dr. W. Chris Winter, who wrote The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep Is Broken and How to Fix It, told PureWow that this is usually between five and twenty minutes. “The main idea here is that falling asleep instantaneously is not necessarily healthy and that taking a little bit to fall asleep is perfectly fine.”
On the other hand, those who are able to drift off easily may be wondering if they are doing something wrong. “Really short times to fall asleep often suggest significant sleepiness or sleep debt from insufficient sleep on prior nights,” Dr. Alex Dimitriu of Menlo Park Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine told PureWow.
To combat this problem, try to get in extra zzzs when and where it is possible by taking naps and sleeping in on the weekends, as reported by Verywell Health.
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