Dreaming about your perfect career first requires a good night’s sleep. It’s only when our sleep pattern becomes disrupted that we realize just how important a good night’s sleep is. Getting a consistent amount of sleep every night is a challenge at the best of times, and a downright impossibility at the worst. Thankfully, scientists have been concerned with sleep research for many years and have been aiming at improving sleep quality.

But before we even consider how to get a good night’s sleep, it’s important to understand what a good night’s sleep looks like. The National Sleep Foundation recently explained exactly what a good night’s sleep is with these four factors:

1. You take half an hour or less to fall asleep.

2. You wake up no more than once per night.

3. If you do wake up in the middle of the night, you fall back asleep within 20 minutes.

4. You’re asleep for at least 85% of the time you spend in bed.

If you are regularly meeting all four of these factors, then in general, you don’t have any problems with sleep. But if you are regularly failing to meet one of the factors, then it’s likely your sleep pattern has room for improvement.

[RELATED: 9 Ways to Avoid Looking Tired at Work]

For more information about the science behind a perfect night’s sleep, check out the following infographic created by UK hotel company De Vere on with 7 small things you can do to make sure you get your nightly zzz’s.

7 Ways to Improve Your Sleeping Habits

It’s important to remember that not every night’s sleep will be perfect. Just like in other areas of your life, dealing with failure is a part of success. While in general, how tired you feel during the day is a good measure of how you’re sleeping, if you want to study your sleep pattern more closely, consider keeping a sleep diary.