Hi Friends,
How much do you pay attention to your sleep? Do you get by on less than 6 hours of sleep and a lot of coffee? Do you wake up during the night and can’t get back to sleep? I don’t think it’s unheard of to have a rough night’s sleep on a rare occasion, but we want to keep those as rare as we possibly can. Why? Well, a lack of sufficient, quality sleep can lead to numerous health issues as well as contribute to accidents on the road do to drowsiness and even falls. So, how can we support a good night’s rest? This is what I’m talking about in this blog post.
Why is sleep so important? Sleep is the time where our brains do cleanup, we get rid of unnecessary information in our brains, and our body does most of its repair and regeneration. Sleep has an effect on metabolism, stress response, blood sugar, blood pressure, productivity, mood and more. Sleep helps us think clearly and make better choices for our health. Personal experience…I had a horrible night’s sleep recently and I don’t know exactly how I made it through the day. Honestly, I had to grab some caffeine in order to function and all I wanted to eat was junk food! Yep, poor sleep leads to poorer food choices which we all know how that can end up.
So, what happens deep inside at the cellular level when we sleep? During sleep, glial cells clean up the “garbage”, cellular waste. This is the glymphatic system. You may know about the body’s lymphatic system…well this is the lymphatic system of the brain. This is part of why we think clearer and are better at quick thinking when our sleep is optimized. We’ve cleaned the “cobwebs” in our heads! We also form memory pathways to remember new things we’ve learned. Did you know that chronic insomnia can also have an effect on decision making, creativity, memory, libido, mood swings, and more!
Sleep is when our rebuilding and regenerating happens. Throughout our bodies, tissue growth and repair, cellular cleanup and more happens. Sleep is also important for immune health. Not getting enough (quality) sleep can lead to an increase risk of things like diabetes, obesity, heart disease and stroke.
Hormones are also affected by sleep. Children especially need to get enough sleep as lack of sleep can impair the production and release of growth hormones. How much sleep do kids need? Here is what the Cleveland Clinic recommends.
- Babies need about 12 to 16 hours a day
- Toddlers should get 11-14 hours a day
- Pre-school age should get 10-13 hours a day
- School age children should get 9-12 hours a day
As adults, we should be getting 7-9 hours of sleep each night. Many of us don’t get even 6 hours, and we guzzle down caffeinated beverages like coffee, soda, and energy drinks to get us through the day. As you can see, this can lead to some serious health problems. We work late or are on our phones at all hours of the night, or perhaps someone has undiagnosed sleep apnea or some other sleep disorder.
What can we do to change this? First, there are several things you can do to clean up your sleep hygiene which may be all you need to do! First off, don’t eat too close to bedtime, especially something hi in carbohydrates/sugar. This will cause blood sugar spikes, then it will drop…and probably right in the middle of the night. Our bodies see this as an emergency and, in addition to the pancreas sending out glucagon as a signal to the liver, the adrenal glands will send out epinephrine and cortisol to level out the blood sugar. Cortisol is the “awake” hormone, it should peak about 30 minutes after waking and gradually taper off throughout the day. Melatonin is the sleep hormone and general works the opposite of cortisol. In other words, if cortisol is high, melatonin is low…and if melatonin is high, cortisol is low. Next, get adequate hydration throughout the day. Something to keep in mind is your exercise routine and don’t exercise too close to bedtime. Stay clear of caffeine in the afternoons. Caffeine later in the day is known to disrupt sleep. Magnesium is something that can be helpful as it can have a calming effect so try an Epsom salt bath a few times a week. Not only is it calming, but aids in detoxification to boot…win! A big obstacle to sleep is watching a highly charged show or movie right before bed. The hour before sleep should be wind down time. No devices, no TV, no news, no stressful conversations. Some things you can do to help you wind down and let your body know it’s time for sleep is to turn off harsh lights and turn on low/soft lighting, wear amber glasses that block blue light, read from a book (a physical book, not an e-book, is best), do deep breathing exercises, prayer time, meditation or even journaling. The goal is to calm the mind, relax the body, and get better sleep!
You may try Melatonin in the lowest dose available (please discuss with your medical team before taking any supplement). You may have heard of Melatonin to help with sleep, especially help falling asleep. While it may help, it not something I like to recommend long term. In my opinion, melatonin is a short-term band-aid and it’s more important to dig deeper.
One last thing I’ll recommend here is to keep your bedroom cooler at night and as dark as possible. That has been known to help people sleep better. Try fans, cooling sheets, turning down the temp on the thermostat, wear lighter clothing and of course make sure your bed and pillow is comfortable and supportive for your sleeping position. It’s worth the investment for quality sleep, more energy, more productivity, and just better health in general! Wear an eye mask for sleep or get black out curtains to keep outside light out. Cover any lights from fans, alarm clocks, air purifiers, or whatever you might have in your room as those lights too can be disruptive to sleep. Add a plant to the room to help freshen the ais too. Sometimes it just takes some little things to make a big difference.
If you suffer from lack of sleep, try some of these tips and let me know if they helped. Keep in mind that you may need to dig deeper to find the root of your sleep trouble. You may need to do a sleep study to find out if you have sleep apnea or some other sleep disorder. This will help you know what else you can do, like use a C-pap if you find out you have sleep apnea. If you snore, this is definitely something you will want to check out as snoring can often be a sign of the sleep disorder. It is important to get to that root cause of your sleep trouble to aid in the best sleep and reduce the risk of several serous health issues.
How many of you out there have a wearable device to track various vitals, including sleep? These, while probably best taken with a grain of salt, can be helpful in noticing trends. If you wear a device, what device do you like and what have you found?
In Health my friends!
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and the information in this post is not meant to be taken as medical advice. Please speak to your medical professional if you have medical concerns.
Sources:
How Much Sleep Kids Need: Recommended Hours by Age. Retrieved from How Much Sleep Do Kids Need? Recommended Hours by Age
Watson, Stephanie and Cherney, Kristeen. August 23, 2024. The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Your Body. Retrieved from Sleep Deprived? Here Is What Lack of Sleep Does to Your Body