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Many people agonise over how to get a better night's sleep, but now scientists believe they have come up with a formula that simplifies the problem.Researchers have come up with the formula by considering a person’s tiredness, bedtime, mattress comfort, their number of waking hours, noise, light, heat, and duvet thickness.
The formula scores the person’s sleep quality from ‘great’ to ‘tossing and turning all night’.
Researchers have come up with a formula by considering a person's tiredness, bedtime, mattress comfort, their number of waking hours, noise, light, heat, and duvet thickness
The researchers hope it will also help people work out what they need to do get to sleep quicker, and to stay asleep for longer.
The formula, developed by the University of Manchester in association with The Fine Bedding Company is - sleep quality = [(T x Bt) + C ] / [ Ha + S + L + (H x D)]
A score of two is a great night’s sleep, one is average and zero is tossing and turning all night.
The ‘T’ stands for tiredness and is calculated by working out the number of hours since your last overnight sleep, minus the number of hours spent napping, plus the hours of physical exercise undertaken during the day.
‘Bt’ means bedtime and is calculated by taking a person’s bedtime that night and dividing it by their normal bedtime.
‘C’ stands for comfort and is calculated as pillow, plus bedding, plus mattress, minus nine. Scores for each item of bedding are worked out by rating them from one (very uncomfortable) to five (very comfortable).
‘Ha’ stands for the average hours awake - this is how long you spend awake on an average day. For most people it will be about 16 hours.
‘S’ represents sound and includes any sounds except white noise or soothing sounds you’ve found to lull you to sleep. It is rated from one (very soft sounds) to five (very loud irregular disturbing sounds).
The researchers hope the formula will help people work out what they need to do get to sleep quicker, and to stay asleep for longer
‘L’ is light and includes any light in the room, including illuminated clocks, natural lights and LEDs (where 0.1 is very soft light and 2 is very bright blue spectrum light).
‘H’ represents heat and is calculated by working out the number of degrees different from 16 to 17 Celsius the temperature is, and then dividing it by ten.
‘D’ stands for duvet appropriateness for room temperature - a good duvet can help us to maintain a comfortable body temperature while we sleep even if the room is a bit too warm or too cold.
If it is highly breathable it can also prevent moisture from accumulating.
Duvet appropriateness is determined by a self-rating from zero (compensates perfectly for room temperature) to three (does not compensate well and leaves you far too hot or too cold).
Dr Penny Lewis who runs The University of Manchester’s sleep lab said: ‘It is always fun to try and boil down a very complicated process into something really simple, and that is what we have attempted with this equation.
‘We wanted to keep things easy, but sleep is complex and there are lots of factors that we haven’t included, for instance the psychology of how you feel about the room you sleep in.
‘Also, the extent to which the things we have put in influence sleep varies hugely from person to person, so this equation really should be viewed as a guide that may make people think about some simple ways they might be able to improve their sleep.’
Her suggestions for a good night’s sleep include keeping a regular bedtime schedule - so your bedtime and get up time are about the same every day, avoiding napping, and getting plenty of exercise.
Other key variables are heat, sound and light Dr Lewis suggest people make sure their room is cool -about 16 to 17 degrees Celsius - and that their duvet is breathable to keep their body at the right temperature without allowing moisture to accumulate.
She also suggests people keep their room as dark and as quiet as possible throughout the night.
Finally, she says comfort is very important to sleep quality so recommends people make sure all their bedding is comfy.
HOW CAN I WORK OUT WHETHER I WILL SLEEP WELL?
The formula is - sleep quality = [(T x Bt) + C ] / [ Ha + S + L + (H x D)]
A score of 2 is a great night’s sleep, 1 is average and 0 is tossing and turning all night.
The ‘T’ stands for tiredness and is calculated by working out the number of hours since your last overnight sleep, minus the number of hours spent napping, plus the hours of physical exercise undertaken during the day.
‘Bt’ means bedtime and is calculated by taking a person’s bedtime that night and dividing it by their normal bedtime.
‘C’ stands for comfort and is calculated as pillow, plus bedding, plus mattress, minus nine. Scores for each item of bedding are worked out by rating them from one (very uncomfortable) to five (very comfortable).
‘Ha’ stands for the average hours awake - this is how long you spend awake on an average day. For most people it will be about 16 hours.
‘S’ represents sound and includes any sounds except white noise or soothing sounds you’ve found to lull you to sleep. It is rated from one (very soft sounds) to five (very loud irregular disturbing sounds).
‘L’ is light and includes any light in the room, including illuminated clocks, natural lights and LEDs (where 0.1 is very soft light and 2 is very bright blue spectrum light).
‘H’ represents heat and is calculated by working out the number of degrees different from 16 to 17 Celsius the temperature is, and then dividing it by ten.
‘D’ stands for duvet appropriateness for room temperature - a good duvet can help us to maintain a comfortable body temperature while we sleep even if the room is a bit too warm or too cold.
If it is highly breathable it can also prevent moisture from accumulating.
Duvet appropriateness is determined by a self-rating from zero (compensates perfectly for room temperature) to three (does not compensate well and leaves you far too hot or too cold).
A score of 2 is a great night’s sleep, 1 is average and 0 is tossing and turning all night.
The ‘T’ stands for tiredness and is calculated by working out the number of hours since your last overnight sleep, minus the number of hours spent napping, plus the hours of physical exercise undertaken during the day.
‘Bt’ means bedtime and is calculated by taking a person’s bedtime that night and dividing it by their normal bedtime.
‘C’ stands for comfort and is calculated as pillow, plus bedding, plus mattress, minus nine. Scores for each item of bedding are worked out by rating them from one (very uncomfortable) to five (very comfortable).
‘Ha’ stands for the average hours awake - this is how long you spend awake on an average day. For most people it will be about 16 hours.
‘S’ represents sound and includes any sounds except white noise or soothing sounds you’ve found to lull you to sleep. It is rated from one (very soft sounds) to five (very loud irregular disturbing sounds).
‘L’ is light and includes any light in the room, including illuminated clocks, natural lights and LEDs (where 0.1 is very soft light and 2 is very bright blue spectrum light).
‘H’ represents heat and is calculated by working out the number of degrees different from 16 to 17 Celsius the temperature is, and then dividing it by ten.
‘D’ stands for duvet appropriateness for room temperature - a good duvet can help us to maintain a comfortable body temperature while we sleep even if the room is a bit too warm or too cold.
If it is highly breathable it can also prevent moisture from accumulating.
Duvet appropriateness is determined by a self-rating from zero (compensates perfectly for room temperature) to three (does not compensate well and leaves you far too hot or too cold).
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