Can't sleep? 9 simple tops to improve your sleep
“I love sleep. My life has a tendency to fall apart when I’m awake, you know.”
Ernest Hemingway
WHY DO WE NEED SLEEP?
Sleep is the foundation for good health; an important part of our daily routine as we spend about a third of our lives doing it. When talking with clients who suffer from depression and anxiety, I explain that one of our first steps in finding balance is to regulate their sleep. As with food and water, quality and quantity of sleep is essential for a healthy life.
Many things happen within our bodies while we sleep. Heart rate slows down between 10 and 30 beats per minute during sleep, which generally results in a decrease in blood pressure. Cells and tissues use this time to break down toxins and release them for removal, to be taken away for elimination by the blood vessels. Overall, while we sleep, the body undergoes an intense process of repair and detoxification which is vital for our health and wellbeing.
Sleep also enhances brain function. This down time enables our brains to form and maintain pathways that assist in learning and memory by enhancing brain cell communication. During sleep our brains do some serious housekeeping; metabolizing and removing waste products that built up during the waking hours while we were burning oxygen and food to provide energy to think. When we do not get enough sleep, we are not able to fully “clean house” and we begin to get a buildup of waste products. This buildup could lead to acute memory and concentration issues or long term problems like strokes or dementia. The body also prunes its brain cell networks during sleep to assist in a more efficient brain system.
Professor Derk-Jan Dijk, a prominent sleep researcher, and his colleagues found that volunteers who got less than six hours of sleep each night over the course of a week experienced multiple changes in their genetic expression that was linked to inflammation, the immune system, and stress. Such changes may have a hand in the development of obesity, diabetes, depression, anxiety, chronic pain, heart disease, poor memory, difficulty concentrating and overall brain function. So it would be an understatement to say sleep is important; it is crucial to healthy living.
HOW MUCH SLEEP DO YOU NEED?
The National Institutes of Health suggest school aged children and teenagers need at least 10 hours of sleep a night. Adults need around 7-8 hours of sleep a night for maximum daytime productivity. This amount does vary for each individual, and some fortunate people can healthily run on 6 hours of sleep a night. But some, like myself, need 8.5-9 to fully feel rested.
Interestingly, there appears to be a sleep sweet spot, where you don’t want to get too much or too little. A survey conducted by the American Cancer Society concluded that people who sleep 6 hours or less per night, or who sleep 9 hours or more, had a death rate 30 percent higher than those who regularly slept 7 to 8 hours. Even people, who otherwise had no health problems, but slept 6 hours a night or less, had death rates 1.8 times higher than those who slept “normal” hours.
But the amount of sleep is not the only thing the matters here, quality is also an important factor. ‘Sleep hygiene’ is the term used to describe sleep habits that promote quality sleep. Considerable research has gone into developing a set of guidelines and tips which are designed to enhance good sleeping. There is much evidence to suggest that these strategies can provide long-term solutions to sleep difficulties.
HOW TO PROMOTE QUALITY SLEEP
The most important sleep hygiene practice is getting the right amount of sleep for your body. Sleep needs vary across ages and seasons, and are also impacted by lifestyle and health, so it is vital that you determine what works best for you. Take some time to adjust the times you go to bed and wake up each morning for a few weeks to determine what combination produces the best results. It is important to understand as well, that there is a genetic link to being a morning bird or a night owl, so try as much as you can to accommodate this inclination. It will support a more restful nights sleep.
Some other sleep hygiene tips that will help maximize the amount of rest you get while sleeping…
MINDFUL NAPPING.
Although 20-30 minutes a day can help improve mood, alertness and performance, sleeping any longer during the daytime will disrupt your nighttime sleep cycle.
BED IS FOR SLEEPING.
Try not to use your bed for anything other than sleeping and sex, so that your body comes to associate bed with sleep. If you use bed as a place to watch TV, eat, read, work on your laptop, pay bills, and other things, your body will be less likely to reflexively relax when you get into your bed.
GET REGULAR.
One of the best ways to train your body to sleep well is to go to bed and get up at more or less the same time every day, even on weekends and days off! This regular rhythm will make you feel better and will give your body something to work from.
AVOID STIMULANTS SUCH AS CAFFEINE OR NICOTINE CLOSE TO BEDTIME.
I recommend clients play with how late in the afternoon they use caffeine as it can take 8-12 hours to metabolize which will interfere with the quality of your sleep. Also, alcohol, although known to help people fall asleep, if taken in higher quantities near bedtime, will disrupt your sleep cycle as the body processes the alcohol.
EXERCISE PROMOTES GOOD QUALITY SLEEP.
As little as 10 minutes of aerobic exercise such as walking or cycling, can dramatically improve the quality of your sleep. To maximize your sleep time, try not to exercise strenuously close to bedtime as the release of endorphins from the exercise may interfere with your sleep. But a gentle form of exercise such as yoga, tai chi or stretching may help promote relaxation and improve sleep.
TRY TO EAT AT LEAST 3 HOURS BEFORE GOING TO BED.
Not only does eating before bed increase your risk of developing indigestion, but it also disrupts your sleep as the body is using energy to metabolize whatever you put in your stomach and took to bed with you. Heavy rich foods, fatty or fried meals, meat and cheeses are especially hard to digest and will most likely interfere with the sleep process.
PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR LIGHTING TO PROMOTE HEALTHY SLEEP PATTERNS.
Get as much natural light exposure as you can during the day and then make sure your bedroom is as dark as possible at night. For clients who do not get much light exposure, I often recommend a Happy Lamp, a lamp that mimics the light frequencies of natural sunlight to help keep their hormone cycles in check with the movement of the sun. Lighting also refers to the television, computer or tablets. I explain to clients, if the eyes see light, even through the eyelids, a part of the brain will not shut off for sleep. These producers of bright light will stimulate the brain when we are wanting it to start winding down.
KEEP IN MIND THAT TEMPERATURE AFFECTS SLEEP.
Falling temperatures generally cue sleep and help us sleep more soundly. As we sleep, our body temperature lowers Amazingly, when we enter REM sleep, our temperature regulating cells are turned off, and we rely on the ambient temperature of the room for direction. If the room is too warm we will generally wake up due to the stimulating nature of heat during sleep. Since temperature is an such important part of determining when we fall asleep, it’s interesting that during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, your brain’s temperature-regulating cells switch off and let your body temperature be determined by how warm or cool your bedroom is.
CREATE A SLEEP RETREAT.
You want to make the bedroom as inviting as you can. Make sure you have a comfortable mattress, with soft sheets and appropriate blankets. Consider using blackout curtains, eye shades, ear plugs, “white noise” machines, humidifiers, fans and other devices that can make the bedroom more relaxing. Your bedroom really should be your sacred retreat space in your home.
Some of these tips will be easier to include in your daily and nightly routine than others. However, if you stick with them, your chances of achieving restful sleep will improve. And improving your sleep will definitely improve your life.
Be well,
Lara
Lara Kain, PA-C, MPAS
TORCH Center for Wellness