Nighty Nite…
Hey peeps! Welcome back! Don’t go to sleep yet! LOL! Like I said before, this blog is really to talk about things that interest each of you, so I am so excited to get all of the comments, questions, and ideas that you all are giving me. It’s really you guys who are driving this content, and I’m loving it!! So this one is for a couple of girlfriends who shared that they are not getting enough sleep. I can certainly relate, because I most definitely had not been getting enough sleep before becoming focused and intentional about it… Whether it’s work, stress or worrying about things to come, just being up because you have too much crap to do (guilty here…), or an underlying medical issue, many of us simply don’t get enough sleep. Let’s take a look at that and briefly talk about some strategies for us to improve. Bottom line, I want each of you to be your very best selves and getting appropriate sleep is a huge part of that. Soooo… let’s dive in!
The A to ZZZZZZZs of Sleep
First of all, on average, we spend about a third of our lives sleeping. (How is that even possible???) Scientifically speaking, we’re still not completely clear about all of the details regarding function and physiology of sleep, but we are certain that the absence of sleep has dire physiological repercussions. Sleep is divided into two basic components, REM (rapid eye-movement) and NREM (non-rapid eye-movement) sleep, which alternate cyclically during a sleep session.
In addition, a number of physiological changes occur during sleep, including those involving heart rate and blood pressure, respiratory flow and ventilation, blood flow within the brain, kidney function, and hormonal secretions. If anyone is interested in more detail around this, I would be happy to talk your whole head off about it…..but I’m guessing I’ll get about ZERO requests for this…LOL! Anyway, I digress….You have probably heard something about the circadian rhythm, which really drives the normal sleep-wake cycle. Many people can operate within this cycle, but for some professions, such as transportation workers, those who work in security, and health care workers, it can be more difficult, and often problematic.
What’s the problem?
So here’s the rub...though there is significant variability among individuals, most people need between 7 and 8½ hours of sleep nightly. (Are ya’ll getting that??? I’m working on it every night! J) When we don’t get enough sleep, our cognitive functions are affected, whether we want to believe it or not. Attention span, working memory, visuomotor performance, speed and accuracy are all affected to some degree by inadequate sleep. The research is inconsistent in the reporting of intricacies of these findings, but this is likely due to the large intra-individual differences in sleep requirements and responses to reduced sleep.
Can’t I just catch up on sleep over the weekend?
Simple enough question. But the answer is a bit more complex. For a short period of time of complete, or acute sleep deprivation (think an all-nighter of studying for a student), one good night of sleep (~8 hours) can reverse some of the negative impacts. But for the type of poor sleep that most of us experience, chronic partial sleep restriction, the recovery process is much lengthier. One study showed that even three nights of adequate sleep (again, ~8 hours) were not enough to appropriately recover from a week of sleep restriction. Whoa…. We’d better get cracking at this!
So what can I do to get better sleep?
Without boring you completely to death (because I’m sure I got close with all that physiology talk… LOL), here are a few tips you can start tonight!
Get on a schedule – do your best to sleep and wake at the same times each day, including weekends. This goes a long way toward ensuring consistent, adequate sleep. (Also, try not to nap late in the day…this makes it much more difficult to effectively fall asleep at night.)
Follow a routine – Whether it’s a warm bath or shower, listening to soft music, or reading a book, take the time to wind down prior to sleep.
Shut it down! – This is a biggie... no screen time – including phones, tablets, computers, or television. I know it’s tempting and we ALL do it, but the light emitted from each of these devices make it demonstrably more difficult to fall asleep at night.
Temperature control – Keep your bedroom temperature comfortable for you. I find that cooler temperatures help me to sleep better. Though this sometimes causes WWIII between couples (hahaha) – do your best to compromise and find a happy medium.
All that said, there are times when our sleep routine must be interrupted. Like when writing a blog post and aaaallllmost finished and ready for bed… and your little one walks in the office and insists that his “perfect sleep routine” requires mommy tucking him in and rubbing his back (those were the days)… or you have basketball tournament after basketball tournament after… yeah, you get the idea… These are the moments that enrich our lives… embrace them without regret, give yourself grace to be human… and just get back to your routine as soon as you can.
Well, there ya go! Try it out for a week and let me know how it goes! Here’s to better sleep, more productivity, and bigger smiles during the day for all of us. 😊
Ciao!
