The concept of 'sleep latency' was brought into light by sleep researcher William Charles Dement. He was working with his colleagues to develop a tool to assess daytime sleepiness. They observed that a person's subjective feeling of sleepiness correlated well with time taken to fall asleep in bed - sleep latency.
Sleep latency is the time duration between full wakefulness and the onset of sleep (usually light, non-REM sleep)
Causes of short sleep latency
When you don't get enough sleep, the brain tries to 'catch-up'. Both sleep quantity and quality can hasten sleep onset. A sleep latency of less than five minutes suggests sleep deprivation.Here are few causes that make you fall asleep fast.
- Excessive daytime sleepiness - There's a long list of causes for daytime sleepiness that I wrote a post on that!
- Obstructive sleep apnoea - Even when you sleep for enough hours, compromise on sleep quality can create a sleep debt.
- Insomnia - Regardless of whether it is due to a sleep disorder or an environmental factor like noise pollution, lack of sleep makes you prone to fall asleep quickly.
- Narcolepsy - People with narcolepsy fall asleep suddenly and often without much warning.
- Tiredness
If you are worried about your sleep latency, you can take the 'spoon test' at home and calculate your sleep latency. If it is less than 10 minutes, you need to evaluate how much sleep you are getting. And anything less than 5 minutes needs more attention. If better sleep hygiene can't reverse it, then you need to see a doctor to get checked for a sleep disorder.
If you are fighting insomnia, then these following posts might ease your burden.
- Natural remedies to overcome insomnia
- Quick remedies for insomnia
- Pay your sleep debt
How long does it take you to fall asleep? Does it reflect the quality and quantity of your sleep?
