New study reveals: A Good Night’s Sleep feels Like Winning the Lottery
Winning the lottery is something few people get to experience, but if you’ve ever wanted to know what it feels like, there’s something much more feasible for the average person to do. And that’s sleep more!
According to a ground-breaking study published in the journal of Sleep, getting quality shut-eye gives us a significant boost in happiness. We already know the myriad of benefits you can get from having a good night’s sleep. Like we often point out here on Thrive Magazine, sleep is just as vital to our health as regular exercise and a nutritious diet. It allows our bodies to recover after a long day out, while also giving our brain time to process information and memories.
But here’s where it gets more interesting: the new study reveals that the sleep-derived euphoria is comparable to those who’ve won around £120,000 on the lottery. The data was based on an in-depth analysis of sleeping patterns focusing on more than 30,500 Britons over the course of four years.
Of course, there is something to be said about the euphoria of actually winning money on the lottery. Lottoland notes that the average UK Lotto jackpot currently stands at £12.3 million, while the WorldMillions jackpot is worth £8.85 million. Both these figures go well beyond the £120,000 price tag of good sleep — but other studies have shown that this may not always translate to higher levels of happiness. A study featured on the Telegraph explains that money can only really buy more free time, rather than actual possessions.
Similarly, the relationship between sleep and happiness also treads a fine line. The findings go on to show that it’s not all about the number of hours you get.
For instance, there are many myths surrounding what constitutes “good quality sleep,” one of which is that eight hours is the standard for everyone. “Sleep need is like height, we are all different and how much we need is to a large degree, genetically determined,” sleep expert Dr. Neil Stanley explains on The Independent. “If you are feeling sleepy during the day then there is most likely an issue with the quality of sleep that you’ve had during the night.”
True enough, the researchers from the University of Warwick emphasised that getting good quality of sleep is the key to making you feel like you’ve hit the jackpot. This entails a combination of snoozing for longer, better, and without much help from sleep medication. The results show that as their sleep improved over time, so did their ability to perform everyday activities. Their scores on the General Health Questionnaire, a guide typically used by health professionals to gauge a person’s psychological wellbeing, also rose.
In a world, where we always seem to be short of time, sleep often gets pushed to the bottom of our priorities.
Worse, attempts to compensate in the form of caffeine or other energy-boosters are very common. But one of the researchers, Dr. Nicole Tang, said that this study provides a good way to raise awareness on the importance of taking care of your health by getting ample rest.
“It is refreshing to see the healing potential of sleep outside of clinical trial settings, as this goes to show that the benefits of better sleep are accessible to everyone and not reserved for those with extremely bad sleep requiring intensive treatments,” Tang said.
Post featured on behalf of Samuel Jones
