Everything you need to know about sleep wellness and why it’s important

Paid for by Sleep Number

There’s no shortage of guidance to be discovered about how many hours of sleep you should be banking and how to achieve that consistently, because to state it plainly: Sleep is really important. But what’s to be said about quality sleep and how slumber not only affects but drives your overall health and well-being?

Sleep health is at the heart of Sleep Number’s mission — the brand has been committed to improving everyone’s lives through sleep health, science and research for decades. Sleep Number partners with the world’s leading experts to validate their research and their Sleep Number 360® smart bed and SleepIQ® technology are helping to make millions of lives better. The brand’s purpose overall is to improve the health and well-being of society through higher quality sleep.

And as sleep continues to be a major concern, with a third of U.S. adults reporting that they aren't getting adequate rest, figuring out ways to boost and maintain sleep health is critical to the holistic well-being of society at large.

To demystify how great shut-eye is achieved, sleep's role in your everyday life and action steps to better sleep health, the experts at Sleep Number offer the following advice.

Your overall health is inextricably tied to the quality of your sleep, and experts say that sleep deprivation can indeed be lethal. And so it's important to focus on your "sleep health," a concept that Sleep Number defines as a critical part of overall health and well-being. Sleep health can be optimized by focusing on three pillars: duration, timing and efficiency.

Individuals are at an increased risk of developing serious health conditions including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity if they consistently sleep less than seven to eight hours per night. A sweet spot is the recommended seven to eight hours of rest. Thus, slumber needs to be among the highest priorities in your everyday life for optimal body and brain function.

Nights of consistent quality rest may also help keep you grounded and centered. Life’s stresses are numerous and unexpected, and consistent, quality rest can calm you and help you manage any pressures.

Myth: Your sleep quality is unaffected by your menstrual cycle.

A person’s menstrual cycle affects their body in a number of ways, due to the hormonal changes that occur during that time. And if hormones are shifting, there’s a large chance that sleep is affected. So any notion that sleep is unaltered during the cycle is false, due to a decrease in the hormone progesterone that directly impacts sleep quality and a person’s body temperature. There are many ways to try and make sleep more restorative during this time, from regular exercise to getting out in the sun, which can help boost your circadian rhythm.

Myth: Your job satisfaction is not influenced by your sleep quality.

It’s pretty common to have moments of dissatisfaction with your job, but a long-lasting feeling of malaise with your work is an opportunity to first take a look at your health and how that might be playing a role in your day-to-day life. And if you’re getting less sleep than you’re accustomed to or having lower-quality sleep due to stress and other factors, your job performance and the way you show up will suffer as a result. A Swedish research study revealed that employees who were tired because of sleep loss perceived their workplaces as being worse than they are. But the study also revealed that those who work in stressful work environments get less sleep.

Myth: You can use the weekend to catch up on sleep you missed during the week.

Sleep debt is defined by the aggregate result of not getting enough rest, and it’s a problem for more than a third of American adults, according to the CDC. Unfortunately, lost hours of sleep aren't something you can catch up on over the weekends when your time is free or when you're on vacation — but you can restore your rest. To holistically restore rest, you will need to routinely get seven to eight hours of sleep over multiple nights — not just over a two-day weekend period.

A consistent bedtime and nighttime routine

Circadian rhythm is defined as your body’s internal clock. One of the keys to high-quality sleep is to keep that rhythm consistent and in sync with a steady rest schedule, even over the weekends. Some may suffer from social jet lag, given the propensity to stay up later on Friday and Saturday nights. But this disruption in your sleep routine can lead to increased drowsiness during the day and can lead to a poor mood and even poorer health. By using SleepIQ® technology, you can learn your ideal schedule based on your circadian rhythm and the insights will help you to maintain it.

Exposure to natural light during the day

Night and day are natural signals to your body to both wake and rest. So, if you’re not being exposed to the sun’s rays in the daytime and experiencing a lack of light at nighttime, your body may become confused about what to do and when. This is especially pertinent with so many working and attending school from home, as well as the rise of a remote working economy. So to ensure you get good rest every night, get out into the sun during the daytime and open your windows to create that differentiation for your body by letting in sunlight.

Regular exercise

Moderate aerobic exercise boosts the amount of deep sleep — also known as Stage N3 sleep — you can achieve. It's an important stage in the sleep cycle, because your brain slows and works to restore the body and improve immune function.

Regulated room temperature

The temperature in your room is an important factor that affects sleep quality, and although each individual has their own preference, making sure your room is set to a cool temperature (at or around 65 degrees) for rest is optimal to achieve healthful and high-quality slumber.

The right sheet set can play a part in temperature regulation. The True Temp™ sheet set from Sleep Number® features 37.5 technology made from volcanic sand particles that continuously adapt and remove moisture to reduce spikes in heat and humidity.

The right bed

You’re spending at least a third of each day in bed, so it's important that your resting place be comfortable and high-quality. The Sleep Number 360® smart bed is the choice of some of the highest-performing athletes in the world.

And the bed works hard for its owners, as a HealthIQ® Wellness Report is delivered each month that offers deeper sleep insights and coaching with the goal of boosting overall health and wellness. The report gives the smart bed owners a comprehensive summary of their cardiovascular health, circadian rhythm stability, respiratory health and sleep health with their SleepIQ® score.

Soothing beverages

Mindfulness can play a role in restorative sleep, and one way to get into a more calm frame of mind for bed is to indulge in calming beverages that invite peace and tranquility. Usher in relaxation with a cup of tea and avoid caffeinated beverages and alcohol a few hours before bed. Like diet and exercise, quality sleep has a profound impact on our physical, emotional and mental well-being.

From Sleep Number:

Sleep Number’s purpose is to improve the health and well-being of society through higher quality sleep. And sleep science and data are the core of our innovations. Our award-winning 360® smart beds benefit from our proprietary SleepIQ® technology — learning from over 11 billion hours of highly accurate sleep data — to provide effortless comfort and individualized sleep health insights, including your daily SleepIQ® score. For life-changing sleep, visit sleepnumber.com.

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This article was paid for by Sleep Number and created by Yahoo Creative Studios. The Yahoo Life editorial staff did not participate in the creation of this content.