How Long Should It Take to Fall Asleep?

Hi there, welcome back to Sleep Hacks. I'm Alexa from DubsLabs and today we're going to dive into how long it should take you to fall asleep and what those time variations mean for your sleep health and overall health.

You'd be surprised how much of an indicator to your sleep health your duration of time falling asleep actually is. Now, of course, none of us are actually timing ourselves as we fall asleep hooked up to an EEG but one of the sleep councils 2018 studies revealed that people who think they take 10 to 15 minutes to fall asleep actually do have better sleep. So what does this mean in regard to how long it should actually take you to snooze? Let's find out.

The feeling of actually getting sleepy comes from a chemical in your brain called Adenosine. This chemical builds up in your brain as a direct result of how long you're actually staying awake. So of course, staying up later than normal or pulling an all nighter can lead to a tricky level of Adenosine not really being allowed to drain out of your body through sleep through the lymphatic system. You may think that it's better to fall asleep abnormally fast overlaying awake for an extended amount of time but it turns out that both extremes are signs that your daily habits or potentially a sleep disorder is disturbing your sleep and overall health.

Researchers have found that the ideal length of time it should take you to fall asleep is between 5 and 15 minutes. You shouldn't regularly be out as soon as your head hits the pillow, just as you shouldn't spend hours laying awake at night.

Now that you know the ideal time for falling asleep, be sure to check out our other videos covering topics like how to adjust your bedtime routine to fall asleep faster and sleep better.

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