Its no secret that Americans struggle with sleep: one third of adults in this country have trouble sleeping every night, just over half have trouble a few nights a week, and around 40% say their sleepless nights interfere with their ability to function during the day. This may be shocking epidemic, but its not unexpected in a culture that doesn’t value rest and overvalues productivity. So even though we have lost the value of sleep and also how to do it well, our bodies have not lost the need for quality sleep/rest.
This is because while you sleep your body is busy repairing systems: brain/neurologic, hormone/endocrine, immune, and digestive. It’s converting information into memories, maintaining and repairing your muscles and bones, and getting rid of cells that are no longer functioning. These processes are absolutely essential to health and survival.
Sleep deprivation contributes to: increased risk of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, insulin resistance, weight gain, depression, anxiety, learning/memory issues, inability to think clearly and handle stress, accidents, and overall mortality. A lack of sleep impairs the immune system, rendering your more at risk for illness and can undo the positive effects of quality diet and regular exercise. Fewer than six hours of sleep can create systemic inflammation, which is the common factor in most (if not all) chronic diseases. Inadequate sleep reduces your lifespan. You will not get healthy without addressing sleep.
What the studies say…
Recent studies show even one week of poor sleep can result in changes in appetite and cravings. Poor sleep increases the desire for simple carbohydrates, a lower inhibition to fight those cravings, and decreases the body’s ability to tolerate simple carbohydrates leading to impaired insulin sensitivity and fatty liver disease. Sleep deprivation is now believed to be the best predictor of obesity in children.
New research is indicating a link between sleep and immune function. One example of such research was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. It showed that getting less sleep can substantially increase the chances of catching a cold. For 14 days, the researchers monitored and recorded the sleep time of 153 healthy men and women ages 21 to 55. Then they dripped a solution containing a rhinovirus into their noses and monitored their health for five days. Researchers found that those who got less than seven hours of sleep were almost three times more likely to have clinical symptoms than those who got eight or more and those with less sleep efficiency were more than 5 times as likely to be infected as those with higher sleep efficiency. Another study by the University of California showed sleep loss weakens the immune systems ability to respond to disease. These provide an explanation of why we seem to get sick after a few nights of poor sleep.
Studies show sleep deprivation interferes in the prefrontal cortex which can lead to several psychological conditions including depression, anxiety, and even post traumatic stress disorder. Not sleeping enough or well enough impacts memory, both long term and short term, it impacts the repair and regeneration of nerve cells impacting our ability to think clearly and moderate emotions.
The mechanics of sleep…
From the moment you wake up something called sleep pressure builds and builds throughout the day until you fall asleep at night. This helps us fall asleep and stay asleep. As the night goes on, sleep pressure decreases until you wake up in the morning. If you get less sleep than you need you wake up with a sleep debt, this leads you to start every day with an increase in sleep pressure.
Then, there are different parts of the brain working together to counteract sleep pressure called wake drive. Wake drive is controlled by our 24-hour rhythm called circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythm is highly responsive to light exposure and controls around 300 gene functions.The hormone melatonin naturally increases after sundown and during the night in a normal circadian rhythm.
So if these two systems are working well synergistically we get great sleep. If they are uncoordinated we get daytime sleepiness, problems falling asleep, and issues with sleep quality.
To what are we attributing this epidemic?
Sleep experts think it is excessive use of electronics especially in bed or near bedtime. Resting for many people means watching TV, surfing the internet, or reading a book on a tablet. Not at all restful for the brain or the body. In fact, 95% of Americans report using some type of electronics within the hour before bed, either watching TV, checking email, or scrolling social media. These devices emit a blue light that is the most melatonin suppressive and thus the most harmful to sleep. Ancestrally speaking, humans went to bed with the sun and woke up with the sun. Only in the last 150 years have we had artificial light and more recently than that (in my lifetime) have we had computers, laptops, and cell phones. Our bodies take cues from sensory input to know what to do moment to moment. Research shows that light exposure at night suppresses the production of melatonin, the hormone secreted by the pineal gland when its dark that induces sleepiness. So it makes sense that a lack of melatonin secretion would contribute to sleeplessness. But melatonin suppression has far worse consequences than poor sleep. Melatonin plays a role in cancer protection, immune system function and can possibly contribute to all of the chronic metabolic diseases like diabetes, obesity, heart disease and metabolic syndrome. Also contributing to melatonin suppression is normal room lighting. Research has shown exposure to one hour of moderately bright light at night was enough to suppress melatonin to daytime levels. This means that depending on brightness and duration of exposure, typical room light alone can have a similar suppressing effect on melatonin secretion as electronic screens.
What about sleep aids?
If you know me you already know the answer to this but let me elaborate with specific regard to sleep. First of all, just because something is available over the counter, without a prescription does not presumably make it without consequence. The side effects of sleep medications (both over the counter and prescription) can be rebound insomnia leading to dependence, dry mouth, constipation, feeling ‘hungover’ the next day and bizarre sleep behaviors. My role, and the role of this article is to help prevent a profound sleep debt. However, once in the throws of an extreme insomnia, it can be difficult to make it out without more assistance. The consequences of insomnia can be so great and multifaceted it makes sense to get something biochemical as a tool to get through a window, not as a life-long dependence.
Steps for better sleep..
To get better sleep you must prioritize it! Your efforts to improve dreamland start first thing in the morning. Step outside and allow the restorative and informative light from the sun to hit your eyes for 30 minutes or so. This is a tool to help redirect your circadian rhythm toward normalcy. Indoor lighting is enough to disrupt your melatonin production at night but it is not enough light to tell your body its a new day, the sun does that.
Caffeine has a long half life which means it takes while for it to be processed and out of your body. It makes sense to experiment with caffeine reduction or elimination if you struggle to sleep. Wean yourself over a couple of weeks (no one wants a withdrawal headache) and then spend a couple of weeks off completely to see how caffeine affects your sleep.
Alcohol has a profound affect on sleep quality. This may be confounding because the depressive nature of it may make you fall asleep more quickly but studies show it interferes in the quality of deep restorative sleep. Take 2-4 weeks off alcohol to restore deep sleep.
Develop a soothing bedtime routine. Meal timing and macro content can really aid or interfere in sleep. Right before bed, try an Epsom Salt bath, journaling about the events of the day, and a meditative practice of deep breathing.
Please, for the love, no screens 2 hours before bed. If you must interact with an electronic device within this relaxation window get some blue light blocking glasses.
Make your bedroom a place where sleep is expected, which means don’t do anything in bed except sleep and sex. Get some blackout curtains or an eye mask, keep the bedroom between 60-67 degrees, and avoid upsetting or emotionally charged conversation or information before bed.
The Benefits of good restorative sleep…
Sleeping between 7-9 hours of sleep a night can reduce the risk of all of the previously mentioned chronic diseases. It aids in weight loss, cognitive performance, athletic performance, and memory. It boosts mood, energy, and stress tolerance. It improves immune function and protects from illness. Adequate sleep makes it seem as though all things are possible. Getting high quality sleep is one of the most important but often under-utilized tools to improve your overall health.
Interesting resources…
You can test your own level of cognition and response time related to sleep and energy at www.humanbenchmark.com.
Not everyone is exactly the same with regard to sleep duration or sleep timing. You can take the quiz to find your sleep chronotype at https://thepowerofwhenquiz.com/