12 Tips for Better Sleep

It's that Lent time of year again. Though I’m not very religious myself, I usually give something up for lent. This year, I’m instituting a No Screens in Bed rule. This isn't to say I’m not going to have a few nights of staying up too late watching cute puppy videos on youtube, but if I do, I won’t be in bed when I do it. And having to get out of my warm comfy bed to watch a youtube video is going to be a real deterrent for me.

But it works! The first time I did this on a weeknight, I managed to turn my typical 5-6 hours of sleep into 8 hours and 15 minutes of sleep.

In today’s society, many of us have problems with “turning off.” With all of the advances in technology that allows us immediate access to practically all of the information and entertainment you could want, we tend to have a constant stream of stimulation. We’re over stressing our brains.

Sleep is critical. Studies have shown that lack of sleep can have significant impact on your health. Some medical conditions related to sleep include: diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, immune function, and the common cold.

“people who averaged less than seven hours of sleep a night were about three times more likely to develop cold symptoms than study volunteers who got eight or more hours of sleep when exposed to the cold-causing rhinovirus.” - Cohen S, et al. Sleep Habits and Susceptibility to the Common Cold, Arch of Intern Med. 2009 Jan 12; 169 (1):62-67.

Not only is your physical health impacted, but also your mental health. Lack of sleep can increase stress, anxiety, sadness/depression, and mental exhaustion. In turn, your emotional and mental state can impact your ability to fall asleep and sleep soundly. (http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/need-sleep/whats-in-it-for-you)

Over the years, my dad and I have discussed sleep issues extensively. Here’s a compiled list of things you can do to improve your sleep and decrease the time required to fall asleep.

1. Use your bed only for sleep or sexy time (not that I do that, Dad!). This means no reading in bed, watching TV in bed, checking your phone in bed, eating in bed, etc. Your bed should be solely dedicated to sleep, otherwise you condition yourself to expect mental stimulation while in bed.
2. Make your bedroom your sleep sanctuary. Some options include: installing blackout curtains and soundproofing windows (or using an eye mask and ear plugs if those don’t drive you crazy), painting the walls a soothing color, getting newer/softer sheets, or even buying a more comfortable mattress. If you’re a neat freak and maybe have some obsessive-compulsive tendencies, make sure you always keep your room clean, so that you’re not stressing about a mess. Make your bed every day. My grandmother always told my father that he’d sleep better in a crisply made bed, and he told me the same thing growing up. Maybe it was the power of suggestion, but it makes a difference. I get a sense of joy from the neatness of freshly turned-down sheets and curling up with smoothed sheets around me.
3. Don’t eat a large meal within two hours of bed. Eating a small snack that’s low in fat, like an apple, will be digested relatively quickly - usually within an hour. If you eat a large meal, your body will still be digesting when you’re trying to fall asleep. Also, if you’re prone to heartburn or gastrointestinal reflux, lying down while food is in your stomach makes reflux more likely. (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/ask-a-health-expert/is-it-true-i-shouldnt-eat-one-hour-before-bed/article550198/)
4. Create and follow a standard sleep schedule. Sorry, to break it to all you partiers out there, but this means no staying up into the wee hours of the night on the weekends and sleeping away half of the day. If you wake up at 6 a.m. during the week, you should wake up at 6 a.m. on the weekends, too. Not only is this useful for getting enough sleep on a daily basis, but also it’s beneficial if you’re prone to headaches - changing your sleep schedule can cause a migraine. This may be particularly bad for those of you in your 20s who haven’t quite reached the age where you’ve realized your body can’t keep up with your wild partying all the time. Another important fact to note is that you can’t “make up” all that lost sleep. Sure, if you slept badly last night, you could go to bed a bit earlier tonight to “make up” for a couple hours of lost sleep, but if you lose 2 hours a night during the work week, you can’t make up those 10 hours on the weekend. You’ll never get that sleep back.
5. Don’t take naps (unless you’re sick). This goes along with number 4. Taking a nap late in the afternoon can really mess with your sleep at night, because you most likely won’t be tired when it’s time for you to go to bed.
6. Establish an evening routine. What I mean is every night as you get ready for bed, you follow the same routine. 30 minutes before bed, I change into my PJs, wash my face (+ maybe do a face mask), brush my teeth, turn on my bedside lamp and turn off the overhead light, and then do my physical therapy stretches.
7. Avoid alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, etc. I know a lot of people have said that some alcohol at night helps them fall asleep, but alcohol can prevent you from sleeping soundly. I know for me that I can pass out pretty quickly, but I tend to be fully away by 5 or 6 am the next morning, even if I only went to sleep a few hours before.
8. Don’t exercise right before bed. Yes, you should be exercising regularly, but doing it right before bed perks stimulates the body to secrete cortisol (stress hormone) and can keep you from falling asleep.
9. Don’t stay in bed if you can’t fall asleep. If you find yourself laying in bed and feeling wide awake and frustrated about not falling asleep, do 10 minutes of meditation, deep-breathing, etc. If that doesn’t help, get out of bed and read a book for 20 minutes, or go drink some warm milk. What it comes down to is that you shouldn’t just lay in bed thinking “Ugh. I’m still awake. Why can’t I fall asleep? It’s 11:23 p.m. I have to be up at 6:00 a.m. If I fall asleep right now, I’ll only be getting 6 hours and 37 minutes of sleep. I’m going to be so tired tomorrow.”
10. Don’t stress about getting a set number of hours of sleep each night. Everyone is different and you need to find the length of sleep that leaves you feeling energized, not exhausted, the next day. One of the suggestions for a Paleo/Primal lifestyle is switching to life without an alarm clock; this is a good way to figure out how much sleep you need is to let yourself sleep until you wake up. You will have to go to bed earlier in order to make sure you wake up for work on time. Keep a sleep diary by tracking how long you sleep and how you feel periodically the next day: how do you feel when you There are a few sleep tracking apps that you can use to figure out how long you sleep each night. I use the Sleep Cycle App for Apple.
11. Steer clear of blue light at night. Blue light, similar to the type of light on your phone, tablet or computer, is associated with sunlight or daytime hours. Studies have shown that being exposed to short-wave light at night suppressed melatonin by ~50% (http://www.pnas.org/content/112/4/1232.full.pdf+html). So looking at your electronic device at night can actually make it more difficult for you to fall asleep and reach deep REM sleep. Reddish light on the other hand does not significantly affect melatonin levels. Programs such as f.lux for your PC or Twilight for your Android can be installed to mimic natural light. The program uses your location to determine the times of sunrise and sunset. When the sun sets, the screen becomes more red; when the sun rises, the reddish tint fades away to the normal screen coloring. Unfortunately, Apple devices aren’t as easy to change the screen coloring. Instead, you can try using orange-tinted safety goggles. Or you can just read a book by candle/firelight. Whatever works for you.
12. Make sleep a priority. Too often we stay awake just a bit longer to finish reading a book or watching a movie or TV episode. Recognize the importance of your sleep and stop making excuses. Good luck and sweet dreams...