It goes without saying (recognizing I’m about to say it…) that sleep is important. Sleep is a basic requirement for life and is the cornerstone of physical and mental health, cognitive functioning, energy, motivation, you name it—our very existence depends on sleep.

We know that insufficient sleep is correlated with a number of very serious medical and mental health conditions, as well as performance degradation. This is especially important for those for whom peak cognition is important to us all (e.g., transportation workers, medical personnel, law enforcement, military, all of the other drivers on the road—you get the idea). As a descriptive example, sleep-deprived drivers are WORSE drivers than intoxicated drivers. Bottom line, sleep is important for all of us in maintaining health, and safely and effectively accomplishing our day-to-day activities.

Although adequate sleep keeps us functional, good sleep enables us to optimize both our physical and cognitive performance and increase our safety, effectiveness, and well-being. Elite athletes and other professionals are well aware of this and make sleep a high priority in their lives. But whether you are an elite professional or not, making sleep a priority in your life is a game-changer. This blog will focus on our cognitive potential when we harness the power of sleep.

First, let’s look at how much sleep you need. For almost all adults, the magic number is somewhere between seven and nine hours. You might be saying to yourself, “That’s a pretty big range,” and you wouldn’t be wrong. We are each a bit different; thus, the key is to figure out your personal number. How much you need is a critical piece of information for you personally, and consistency is key. Even one night of restricted sleep in adults (under six hours) results in impairment in sustained attention the next day.

Although sleep quantity is important, sleep quality is equally so. A good night’s sleep is one in which we achieve continuous sleep, and cycle between deep sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) phases. The various sleep phases play crucial roles, including regulating stress hormones, clearing metabolic waste, and facilitating both physical and cognitive recovery and growth.

REM sleep is the phase of sleep in which most dreaming happens and is a key component of healthy emotional and cognitive processes. REM sleep plays a role in the regulation of our mood and processing of emotional experiences and memories, and plays key roles in learning and memory consolidation. These processes are related to the old adage, “sleeping on it” (referring to a problem or difficult decision), as it is believed that neuronal processes which depend on the restorative functions of sleep enable us to incorporate new information and learning, facilitating more effective problem solving and decision making.

Although deep sleep also has cognitive health properties, this phase of sleep is extremely important for physical health. It is during this phase that bone, muscle, and tissue reparation occurs and the immune system is strengthened. Deeper sleep occurs mostly in the earlier phases of sleep, while REM increases over the course of the night. Together, they are a force for cognitive and physical health.

How can you use this information?

New technology in the form of wearables is permitting all of us to become much more aware of our sleep, allowing us to fine-tune our sleep decisions and experiment with a variety of strategies. By using a wearable/sleep tracker, we are now privy to some information that previously required a sleep lab. Most wearables report total duration of sleep, map out our sleep phases over the night and how much time we spend in each, and provide an overall sleep score. This allows us to make changes in our individual approaches to sleep and to gauge strategies to optimize our sleep and thus our own cognitive function.

As a reminder, there are tried-and-true actions that enhance our ability to sleep and those that interfere with sleep. Things that enhance sleep are consistent bed and wake times; bedtime routines; a dark, quiet, and cool bedroom; regular exercise (but not right before bed); and a good mattress and pillow. Things that detract from good sleep are stimulants (e.g., caffeine, nicotine), alcohol, viewing electronic devices, and large meals before bedtime.

If you believe that you have a sleep disorder or other medical problem, please consult with your primary care provider.