{"id":4052,"date":"2017-10-27T10:17:45","date_gmt":"2017-10-27T17:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/?p=4052"},"modified":"2020-01-16T00:30:35","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T08:30:35","slug":"how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-asleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-asleep\/","title":{"rendered":"How long should it take to fall asleep?"},"content":{"rendered":"

How long did it take you to fall asleep last night? Were you down for the count before your head hit the pillow? Or did a busy mind keep you tossing and turning for hours? And how long should it take to fall asleep anyway?<\/p>\n

Sleep scientists say between 10 to 20 minutes<\/a>. If it takes longer, it\u2019s probably because a load of worry is keeping you awake, or you had too much caffeine, or your body clock is out of whack for whatever reason \u2014 or all of the above. Any of these sound familiar?<\/p>\n

And if you routinely fall asleep within 5 minutes<\/a>, guess what? You\u2019re not getting the rest you need. In that case, you\u2019re on notice that you should make it a priority to get more snooze time<\/a>. If you don\u2019t, it\u2019s bound to catch up with you \u2014 and not in a good way. Sleep deprivation has been linked to illnesses like heart disease and obesity, not to mention a chronic case of brain fog.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not very good at gauging our sleep<\/h2>\n

But here\u2019s the thing: You may think you\u2019re out before your head hits the pillow, or that you spend hours staring at the ceiling. But the truth is, you probably have no clue how long it takes to fall asleep.<\/p>\n

Surprised? Don\u2019t be. It\u2019s not uncommon to think you\u2019re awake when in fact you\u2019re actually asleep. Studies have shown that we\u2019re notoriously unreliable at accurately estimating<\/a> how long it takes us to nod off. Sleep scientists call this \u201csleep state misperception.\u201d They found that around 50% of people who are awakened out of light sleep believe they are awake!<\/p>\n

So how can you get a true snapshot of your sleep patterns? Assuming your sleep partner won\u2019t be keen to stay up and watch you fall asleep and take notes, a better idea would be to put a sleep tracker to work.<\/p>\n

A sleep tracker, really?<\/h2>\n

Just like a fitness tracking app that logs your steps or monitors your heart rate, you can get an app for bedtime. These apps can track your sleep by detecting and analyzing muscle movement during the night. The types of movements determine your sleep stage since various sleep phases have telltale markers.<\/p>\n

Sleep apps, the kind you install on your smartphone, work in a similar way. But instead of wearing a device to bed, you simply place your smartphone on your mattress while you sleep. Though it\u2019s not foolproof, tracking your resting time will give you a more accurate picture of your sleep habits than your own best guess.<\/p>\n

Is something wrong with my sleep?<\/h2>\n

If you track your sleep and find that you don\u2019t fall within the normal range, keep in mind that everyone has a restless night here and there.<\/p>\n

However, if you\u2019re tossing and turning every night for weeks or months on end, you may need to re-think your bedtime routine and\/or talk to a professional, since chronic sleep problems can be a sign of other health issues.<\/p>\n

Bonus reading: Is Chronic Insomnia Affecting Your Health?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How long did it take you to fall asleep last night? Were you down for the count before your head hit the pillow? Or did a busy mind keep you tossing and turning for hours? And how long should it take to fall asleep anyway? Sleep scientists say between 10 to 20 minutes. If it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":4072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,9],"tags":[153,290,408,39],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/d3toagd7ypryjs.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-asleep-featured.jpg","acf":{"post_type":"post","post_subtitle":"Here\u2019s what to expect and what to do if you\u2019re not getting enough rest.","post_hero_image":{"ID":4073,"id":4073,"title":"how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-asleep-hero","filename":"how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-asleep-hero.jpg","filesize":36624,"url":"https:\/\/d3toagd7ypryjs.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-asleep-hero.jpg","link":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-asleep\/how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-asleep-hero\/","alt":"A woman lies fast asleep on her side, her head on a white pillow.","author":"49","description":"A woman lies fast asleep on her side, her head on a white pillow. ","caption":"How long should it take to fall asleep? Here's what you should know, and what to do if you're not getting enough Zzzs.","name":"how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-asleep-hero","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":4052,"date":"2017-10-26 21:47:38","modified":"2017-10-26 21:49:40","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":960,"height":400,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/d3toagd7ypryjs.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-asleep-hero.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":63,"medium":"https:\/\/d3toagd7ypryjs.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-asleep-hero.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":125,"medium_large":"https:\/\/d3toagd7ypryjs.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-asleep-hero.jpg","medium_large-width":640,"medium_large-height":267,"large":"https:\/\/d3toagd7ypryjs.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-asleep-hero.jpg","large-width":640,"large-height":267,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-asleep-hero.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":400,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-asleep-hero.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":400}},"mobile_content":{"mobile_story_label":"Featured","mobile_post_title":"How long should it take to fall asleep?","mobile_carousel_image":"https:\/\/d3toagd7ypryjs.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-asleep-mobile-carousel.jpg","mobile_hero_image":"https:\/\/d3toagd7ypryjs.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/how-long-should-it-take-to-fall-asleep-mobile-featured.jpg","mobile_content_body":"

How long did it take you to fall asleep last night? Are you sure?<\/p>\n

Sleep experts say it should take around 10 to 20 minutes. If it takes longer, it\u2019s probably because worry is keeping you awake, or maybe you had too much caffeine, or your body clock is out of whack.<\/p>\n

If you routinely fall asleep within 5 minutes, guess what? You\u2019re not getting enough rest, which is bound to catch up with you \u2014 and not in a good way. Sleep deprivation has been linked to heart disease and obesity, not to mention a chronic case of brain fog.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not very good at gauging our sleep<\/h3>\n

But here\u2019s the thing: You may think you\u2019re out before your head hits the pillow, or that you spend hours staring at the ceiling. But the truth is, you likely have no clue how long it takes you to fall asleep.<\/p>\n

Sleep scientists call this \u201csleep state misperception.\u201d Which is just a fancy way of saying we\u2019re terrible judges of how long it takes us to fall asleep, and also how much sleep we get each night.<\/p>\n

So how can you get a true snapshot of your sleep habits?<\/h3>\n

One way is to put a sleep tracker to work. It can detect and analyze muscle movements during the night, which indicate your various sleep phases.<\/p>\n

Though not foolproof, sleep tracking will provide a more accurate picture than your own best guesstimate.<\/p>\n

Why you should try sleep tracking<\/h3>\n

Keep in mind that everyone has a restless night here and there.<\/p>\n

But if you\u2019re tossing and turning night after night for weeks on end, you\u2019ll probably want to re-think your bedtime routine and\/or talk to a professional, since chronic sleep issues can indicate other health problems.<\/p>\n"},"post_cta_status":"true","post_conclusion_status":"false","post_co_branding_status":"false","card_title":"How long should it take to fall asleep?","header":"Worth the look","footer":"2 minute read"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4052"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.castlighthealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}