The Importance of Sleep Hygiene
“Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.” --Mahatma Gandhi
Lack of sleep can actually impact your body’s endocrine, metabolic and neurologic functions. When we go too long without it we start to feel irritable, frustrated, sad, confused, and a whole host of other emotions. It can also impact our relationships with others. What can we do to improve our sleep health overall?
Last night I set a goal for myself to be in bed at an early hour. I didn’t quite achieve my goal, but it was still better than most nights. However, I woke up about two hours later feeling like I had been asleep all night only to see the time that indicated that to be hardly the case. Throughout the night I continued to wake up several times and by the time my alarm went off this morning I was already beat and the day had just started! Thankfully, this is not how most nights go for me, but some nights I stay up so terribly late that I don’t wake up much from utter exhaustion.
Recently I have had to make some changes in my routine, one of the main being, getting on a better sleeping schedule. Sleep is such an interesting topic because researchers don’t really understand all the reasons we need to sleep or what goes on in our bodies during this time, but it is apparent that we NEED sleep. Sleep is how our brains are actually able to repair themselves and may even clear out toxins that built up during the day (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2017). Poor sleep is actually a common problem with at least 25% of adults reporting that they receive an inadequate amount of sleep through a 15 to 30 day window (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2019).
While I have been aware, as I am sure most of you are, sleep is an important component of our lives; but I never really thought about sleep as a major component of my health. When we go too long without it we start to feel irritable, frustrated, sad, confused, and a whole host of other emotions.
There are times where I’ve gone without sleep for an extended period of time. Usually I can go without massive amounts of sleep for days on end, but just because I can, should I? Lack of sleep actually has a spillover into our personal and professional lives. If it impacts our mood it can impact the relationships we have with other people. Jobs that require people to work off hours and for long periods of time have been considered dangerous in certain settings. Everyone hopes that they’re not the patient of the physician who is coming to the end of their 24-hour call shift!
Did you realize that sleep, or lack thereof, can actually impact your body’s endocrine, metabolic and neurologic functions? If one continues to push through long nights with little sleep they can be at risk for heart disease, high blood
pressure, obesity, depression, or diabetes (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2019).
We’ve already discussed in some of our other posts that women are more susceptible to some diseases more so than men; such as heart disease. Which is why it’s so important to think about little habits in your life that may contribute to chronic disease or other illness. I certainly hadn’t been thinking about how being a short sleeper (sleeping less than 6 hours a night) could have long-term effects on my health. Instead, I was only focusing on being tired today and making up the lack of sleep by going to bed earlier the next night.
I know some women suffer from insomnia or sleep apnea. These conditions can be very serious and require assistance from a healthcare professional in order to both treat and diagnose. For the rest of us, however, who are the night owls and the restless sleepers, what can we do to improve our sleep health overall?
· Be consistent. Go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time each morning, even on the weekends
· Ensure your bedroom is quiet, dark and relaxing – this could include making sure the temperature is comfortable
· Remove the electronic devices (yes, that includes phones!) from the bedroom
· Avoid large meals, caffeine and alcohol before bedtime
· Exercise! Physical activity during the day actually can help you when it’s time to fall asleep at night (Centers for Disease Control 2016)
Some of these suggestions may not come as a surprise, but they are simple habits, that I too need to be better at adopting, so let’s work on them together and report back on how we’re doing. Half the time success can be achieved when having to be accountable to someone else. It takes about a month before a behavior becomes a habit, so let’s get into a good sleep routine during this month. Starting tonight, I’ll be in bed by 10 pm, how about you?
References:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sleep and Sleep Disorders. July 2016. https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/sleep_hygiene.html
U.S. Department of Health and Health Services. Office on Women’s Health. Insomnia. November 2017. https://www.womenshealth.gov/a-z-topics/insomnia
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2020: Sleep Health. June 2019. https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/sleep-health.