My daughter often asks me what is my most favourite hobby? I almost invariably answer her the same thing every time. I would love to sleep like a baby! Sleep is a very satisfying hobby for some people and especially for me. Have you ever slept on a jute cot on your terrace or a field star gazing on a clear night sky? It is the very picture of peace and contentment for me. Do I ever get to do it now? Sadly no! For a working mother sleep is often a luxury which I can rarely indulge in. It must be the same for a lot of you reading this blog. An activity not considered essential by most but if done in less quantity is sure to spoil your entire day. If you are someone who gets up everyday groggy and unsatisfied, you know how the next day would pan out. You will be irritated and angry, lack energy and tend to gulp down more and more caffeine to keep yourself awake. Many elderly patients I meet tend to always complain of sleep deprivation and end up tossing and turning the whole night in bed. They often plead for a prescription of sleeping pills to help them sleep better. Does every one who has trouble falling asleep need these medications? Definitely no! There are several time tested sleep hygiene habits passed down from our ancestors and scientifically proven tips to help you out. Read on to learn more about these sleep hygiene tips.
Melatonin and its importance:
Marilyn Monroe famously had asked once “ Who said nights were for sleeping?”. Well Ms. Monroe nights are precisely for that! Have you heard of the sleep hormone- MELATONIN? This hormone is what makes you sleep well and is produced in our body only at night times and when it is dark. It helps maintain the circadian rhythm (SLEEP-WAKE CYCLE) and gives a signal to our body indicating that it is night time. So do you sleep with the lights on to scare the boogeyman, or whatever is lurking behind the curtains? Well, studies have shown that sleeping with even dim light can interfere with the brains’ production of the sleep hormone. If there is less melatonin there will be difficulty in falling asleep, staying asleep and result in multiple awakenings at nights.
REM and non-REM sleep:
Sleep follows a cyclical pattern of two stages- REM (Rapid eye movement sleep) and non-REM. The sleep cycles begins with the non-REM stage and then proceeds to the REM stage. In the REM stage there is rapid movement of eyeballs, your pulse quickens and blood pressure rises. This is the stage where dreams occur. REM also is the time when our brain forms new connections and learning and memory is reinforced. We need both these stages of sleep for our body to repair itself, our immunity to develop and to feel well rested on waking up the next day. So setting frequent alarms which are often snoozed repeatedly is not a good sleep hygiene habit as it disrupts your sleep stages and leads you feeling sleep deprived.
Tip: Nowadays most smart watches come with the functionality of sleep tracking as a standard feature. You could use a smart watch to track your sleep pattern if you are curious and would like to get to that level of detail using technology.
Sleep studies or polysomnographies are all the rage among medical researchers as many researchers try to unravel the mystery behind common sleep disorders like obstructive sleep apneas, where a patient is hooked to wires and electrodes and their sleep pattern is monitored along with their breathing rate and oxygen levels in the blood.
How do you know that you are sleep deprived?
In simple terms how do you feel when you wake up the next day?
1.Frequent yawning during the day
2.Excessive headache after waking up
3.Feeling irritated and frustrated
4.Feeling excessively tired during the day
5.Feeling excessively sleepy during the day
6.Dozing off easily while sitting idle during the day or performing any ‘boring’ activity
7.Problems in concentrating at school or work
Do you experience any of these symptoms everyday? Well it’s time to look closely at your sleeping habits and follow some much needed sleep hygiene tips. For those who have seen the movie ‘Insomnia’ you realise how the constant stress and cat and mouse game with lack of sleep made the main protagonist of the movie question his own sanity and mental stability. So sleep is not to be taken lightly.
What happens if we sleep less?
An adult is advised to sleep for at least 7-9 hours a day and it is much more for children. Elderly people and pregnant women have a higher requirement for sleep. Its very interesting to note that doctors often recommend pregnant women to sleep at least 2 hours in the afternoons as it helps the growing baby to gain more weight. How does your body react to chronic insomnia and sleep deprivation?
1. Weighty issues- well sleep and weight are unlikely bed partners. If you tend to sleep less than 6 hours in a day then your body does not have the time to break down the calories consumed during the day. This in turn will get stored as fat and result in excess weight gain.
2. Health risks- like early onset of type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, cancers and even stroke are linked to inadequate sleep. That’s why we see more people who work the night shifts develop these dreaded illnesses faster than their day shift counterparts. We call it shift worker syndrome in medical parlance.
3. Safety concerns- imagine starting the day feeling groggy and grumpy! Being less alert at work can make you send mails without attachments in it, review excel sheets and not pick up errors in that data, do maths sums without getting the right result, cook food and forget to add salt in it. These are just minor examples of things that can go wrong. But imagine if you are a driver or handling heavy machinery or working in the hospital handling patients. One mistake in judgement can cost a life or a limb!
4. Feeling down- lack of sleep can actually lead to low mood, feeling down and depressed. If someone is waking up very early like at 4am and unable to fall back to sleep , experiencing recent difficulty in falling asleep and having multiple interruptions during sleep this may be an indication that he/she is suffering from depression. They need immediate help and evaluation by a psychiatrist.
5. Skin problems- chronic insomniacs can develop more acne breakouts and develop dark circles and bags under the eyes resulting in faster skin ageing.
Health conditions affecting sleep
So while many sleeping problems might just be due to our faulty lifestyle and can be instantly corrected by following some sleep hygiene tips, there are many genuine health conditions which might affect our quality of sleep. It is well known that shift workers and those who are frequent fliers experience difficulty catching their 40 winks. A person suffering from hypothyroidism, a common thyroid disorder or depression might feel like sleeping for longer than usual often even during the day. If you feel breathless as soon as you lie down recumbent or wake up breathless a little while after falling asleep it might be an indication of a serious heart ailment and needs to be evaluated further. Other conditions like OSA ( Obstructive sleep apnea) can lead to insufficient quality sleep and day time sleepiness, certain medications like the simple cough/cold syrups are often highly sedative.
Sleep hygiene: What is it?
Recognising the importance of sleep and its link with greater productivity, certain countries like Japan actually encourage their employees to take a power nap in the afternoons. However, we as a community frown upon people who want to sleep extra and equate it with laziness!
A young hospital worker who met me last week told me that though he goes to bed everyday at 10pm and does not fall asleep till 2am!! Perplexed, I asked him what he does in the meanwhile? Net surfing and watching Youtube videos, he replied very nonchalantly! This very act of spending hours in front of a screen emitting blue light will reduce your melatonin production and decrease your chances of falling asleep. I have written about the effects of the blue light in my earlier post here. That’s when I realised that not many of us know much about what makes us fall asleep and what sleep hygiene tips we can follow to do so effortlessly each day. So here goes- the top twelve sleep hygiene tips that you need to follow if you would like to enjoy a good nights’ sleep everyday:
1. Have a routine: for a good sleep have a set bed time routine at night. Go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time. This makes the body adjust to a circadian rhythms and will signal the brain whenever its time to go to sleep.
2. Have a light meal at night: heavy meals at night can hamper sleep so always ‘eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a commoner and dinner like a pauper’. Also make sure that there is at least a 2 hours delay between your meal time and sleep time. Another big no no is to avoid fried foods, caffeinated drinks, sodas and highly sugary food items right before bed time. These can increase wakefulness of a person and thus needs to be avoided after 6pm.
3. Too much light ain’t right: as mentioned before the ‘blue light’ of the screens can keep your brain up and running. So do not take your devices to your bedroom. Have a 1 hour cool off period for your brain to relax before hitting the bed. If you feel that you can’t get rid of some apps from your fingertips consider an applock .
4. Light exercise: going for a short stroll after dinner, meditating or practicing breathing and stretching exercises before sleeping can help the body and mind relax.Breathing exercises are said to help to ease anxiety and stabilize the heart beat and could also aid is melatonin production.
5. Use your bed only for sleeping. How many of you have the habit of eating, studying, chatting, watching movies and snacking all plonked on your bed. This is all too familiar especially during college hostel times. To have a good sleep cycle it is important to treat your bed sacrosanct and as a dedicated place for sleeping alone.
6. Foods to help you snooze: Do you remember drinking milk every night as a child before bed? This habit can be continued as an adult as well to reap the benefits of uninterrupted sleep. Other foods to have for a good sleep is dried foods like walnuts, pistachios and almonds, drinking yogurt, fruits like banana and kiwi fruit,dark chocolate,whole grain cereals,fatty fish like mackerel,tuna and salmon. However if you are following any diet for improving sleep check for hidden caffeine content that could be counterproductive.
7. Listen to soothing music. Just like a baby loves a good lullaby so does the adult mind crave for some soul soothing music to calm the mind. For many adults and babies white noise helps to fall asleep sooner. To know more about white noise click here:
8. Avoid stress: stress and sleep cannot go hand in hand. Even a small argument with your friend or spouse can be very stressful and lead to sleeplessness. So as the adage goes ‘do not go to bed angry’! Make your peace with anyone and anything bothering you before you ‘hit the sack’. If impending work deadlines are keeping you awake learn to plan, prioritize and prepare a working ‘to do list’ to avoid last minute hiccups. To learn more about stress management read this post.
9. Reading books: the common joke doing the rounds is that medical textbooks can put any hardcore insomniac right to sleep. Jokes apart any book especially the fictional ones are a great way to ease into a fascinating dream filled sleep. So get back to the habit of reading light fiction right before bedtime and let the words do their magic.
10. Do not do any heavy form of exercise, smoke a cigarette, watch horror movies or listen to depressing news channel telecasts right before bed time. So hitting the gym late at night is not a great idea. All these activities keep the brain running and agitated. Dedicate a time in the day for workout sessions well before sleep time.
11. Mattresses and pillows: If comfortable sleep is what you desire, then fret not for there are a variety of mattresses and pillows to help you out. Memory foam, latex, spring, gel, poly foam or hybrid the list goes on and on. Choose a mattress that is firm to support you and give adequate comfort as per your sleeping position, body style and lifestyle. A good pillow should be able to support your neck and head comfortably and maintain the natural curved position of your spine. A great mattress and comfortable bedroom environment with closed blinds is just what you need for that long snooze.
12. Bedding and sleep wear: Nothing like the smell of freshly cleaned bed sheets and pillow cases. Wash your bedding at least once a week for enjoying sound sleep. Wearing loose fitting sleep wear made out of cotton or other similar breathable fabrics might aid in better sleep.
Sleep hygiene tips for parents: But what about parents who can barely catch a wink before being woken up or disturbed by their children? If you ask them its not the question of what sleep hygiene tips they can embrace but rather if and how they can do so!! While the initial few months are a real struggle, most babies fall into a comfortable pattern of sleeping through the night and waking up only for feeds by the age of 3 months or so. As mentioned before children do need longer hours of sleep, this even helps them reinforce their learning and memory. So setting a good night time routine and insisting upon it will help. A late evening bath time, earlier nap time in the afternoons, a planned activity at night to tire them out, reading bed time stories are some great sleep hygiene tips to encourage your child to fall asleep early. Consistency in this regard is key and do not compromise even on weekends and holidays!
So these are all the time tested sleep hygiene methods to catch up on much needed shut eye time. Follow them religiously to experience a positive change in your sleeping habits. Adios and happy sleeping zzzzzzz………