Tips for Getting the Best Rest of Your Life

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Sleep

Tips for Getting the Best Rest of Your Life

Getting to sleep, staying asleep, and waking refreshed can be highly elusive

to many of us. We spend one-third of our lives under the covers, but

sleeping well is one of the most underestimated factors in feeling well and

performing at our best. Fortunately, there are techniques you can implement tonight

to achieve restful, rejuvenative sleep.

Sleep deprivation can be life threatening to you and those around you. The

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that more than 100,000

car accidents per year (1,500 fatal) are the direct result of people driving

while sleepy. The nuclear reactor explosion at Chernobyl, poisoning thousands

of square miles with radioactive particles, was found to be the result of

human error by shift workers who had been on duty for more than 18 hours. Some

have suggested that the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger was caused

in part by engineers and supervisors who had been awake for 50 hours

continuously prior to launch and who overlooked warnings about possible mechanical

failure. Errors in judgment caused by sleepiness were also cited as

contributing factors in the Exxon Valdez tanker accident.

The quality and quantity of sleep is directly linked to the quality and

quantity of life. Daniel F. Kripke, M.D. of the University of California-San

Diego, School of Medicine has found that most people need at least 6 to 7 hours

of sleep in order to perform at their physical and mental best. The same study

also found that taking prescription sleeping medication every day increases

the risk of death by 25 percent.

Over time, insufficient sleep accumulates. Slowly but surely, a sleep debt

deteriorates our physical and cognitive acuity until we are overwhelmed by

sleepiness. The nationwide sleep debt has been reported to cost the American

economy about $120 million annually in health expenditures, lost worker

productivity, and property destruction. The personal costs of sleep debt can

include:

* Mood changes—irritability, depression, and anxiety are common mood

disturbances caused by lack of sleep

* Impaired nervous system function manifesting as decreased cognitive

and motor performance, such as inattention, memory difficulties, and delayed

reaction time

* Weight gain—not only due to hormones that relate to both sleep

andweight, but to the tendency for us toreach for a sugary, carbohydrate-laden

snack to keep us awake when we are drowsy

* Impaired immune function—a lack of sleep undermines the immune system

’s capacity to ward off invasion.

Difficulties achieving a refreshing sleep, along with sleep dysfunction,

play a key role in a wide variety of human disorders. Stroke and asthma attacks

tend to occur more frequently during the night and early morning, which some

experts suggest is due to changes in hormones, heart rate, and other

characteristics associated with sleep. Dream-state sleep also has been found to be

critical in preventing seizures and other neurological disorders. Sleeping

problems occur in almost all people afflicted with mental conditions such as

depression and schizophrenia, and are common in age-related diseases, including

Alzheimer’s, stroke, and cancer.

To achieve restorative sleep, it is critical to create a sleep haven.

Establishing good habits for sleep and creating an inviting environment appropriate

for sleep will form good "sleep hygiene," a personalized regimen that is

your gateway to refreshing sleep.

Sleep-Friendly Habits

Establish how much sleep you really need: approximate the amount of time

your body considers requisite to enable your best daytime functioning by going

to sleep and arising without the help of an alarm clock. Once you know how

many hours of sleep you need, modify your daily routine so that you take care of

personal and professional responsibilities three to four hours prior to

bedtime, then start a pre-sleep routine of quiet relaxation. Set a regular

schedule, particularly for the time at which you get up every day. An inconsistent

sleep-wake schedule sets the biological stage for poor sleep. Avoid caffeine

and nicotine for at least six hours before bedtime, including chocolate and

some over-the-counter pain and cold remedies. Avoid alcohol after dinnertime— while it may help you fall asleep, it will probably cause you to awaken in the

middle of the night.

Get regular exercise. Exercise promotes faster time to sleep and improves

progress through the stages of sleep. Moderate aerobic exercise three days a

week has been found to promote sound sleep. Strength training exercise

(including weightlifting) prompts the release of Human Growth Hormone (HGH), rising

levels of which at night coincide with sleep. Exercise also strengthens bones

and joints, thereby helping to alleviate pain that can inhibit falling or

staying asleep. It is best to avoid exercising within the 2–4 hours before

bedtime because of the hormone-releasing (and thus possibly stimulating) effect.

Eat for sleep. For dinner or a light nighttime snack, choose foods

containing the amino acid tryptophan, from which the body makes serotonin and

melatonin, key biochemicals that trigger sleep. Dairy products, beans, poultry, and

green leafy vegetables are good sources of tryptophan.

Sex may help to promote sleep by releasing neurochemicals that are sedating.

If you are on any prescription or over-the-counter medications, ask your

doctor if they could be contributing to poor sleep. Upon awakening, open the

curtains and greet the sunlight; morning bright light promotes sleep onset later

in the day. For older folks, exposure to bright light at the low point of

core body temperature can delay the sleep-wake cycle so that they start feeling

sleepy later.

The Sleep Environment

Keep the sleeping room cool and dark. Lowering the temperature helps your

body cool down, assisting the onset of sleep. Light is the most powerful time

cue for humans; even low ambient light alters the sleep-wake cycle by way of

the pineal, a light-sensitive organ that detects light even if the eyes are

closed. Also, keep the sleeping room quiet. If you cannot keep sound to an

absolute minimum, use a fan, air cleaner, or other source of "white noise" to

drown out discernible noise. Limit the bed for engaging in two activities only— sleep and sex. If you cannot get to sleep after quietly lying in bed for 30

minutes, get out of bed and engage in a quiet activity like reading or

listening to soothing music. Avoid television, it is more of a stimulus than a

relaxing activity. Once you start feeling tired, return to the bed and try to fall

asleep again.

The bed is not merely a home furnishing, it is an integral part of your

sleep environment. If you share a bed, both of you may sleep best in a king-sized

bed, particularly if your bed partner is prone to tossing and turning or has

restless leg syndrome. Your mattress should be a smooth, intact, comfortable

surface. It should not feel bumpy or have protruding coils. A properly

selected and maintained mattress provides positive resistance to the sleeper’s

body weight. A mattress that is too firm will not provide even body support,

since it will tend to support only the body’s heaviest parts, thus causing

increased pressure and reduced blood circulation which will result in tossing and

turning. A mattress that is too soft will not keep the spine in proper

alignment; muscles will work throughout the night to straighten the spine, leading

to aches and pains in the morning. Sags or imprints in the mattress indicate

that it is not right for you. The foundation or box spring extends the life

of the mattress by absorbing a major portion of the stress and weight placed

on the sleep surface. A worn-out foundation can shorten the life of a mattress

by 50 percent and thus compromise your sleep.

De-technologize your sleeping room. Reduce sources of electromagnetic fields

(EMFs) that are produced by electronic and electrical equipment. Scientists

have found that EMFs can affect brain waves so as to alter mental acuity and

change mood and sleep patterns. EMFs are produced by electric clocks,

televisions, computers, cellular and cordless phones, lamps, and ionization–type

smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

Reduce chemical irritants that may cause breathing difficulties and

interfere with sleep. Remove home furnishings made with synthetics or that are

chemically treated (carpeting, furniture, draperies). Freshly dry cleaned clothes

contain vapors from the solvents used in the cleaning process. Do not bring

them into the sleeping room until airing them out in a separate room for

several days, and close the closet door before sleeping. Use natural, non-treated

cotton or silk sheets and avoid "permanent press" sheets (these are treated

with chemicals such as formaldehyde). If you have pets, do not allow them into

the sleeping room. A study by Dr. John Shepard of the Mayo Clinic Sleep

Disorders Center reported that 53 percent of pet owners permitting the animal in

the sleeping room had disrupted sleep every night. Address sources of

allergies—pets, plants, and knickknacks are best left out of the sleeping room.

A few drops of jasmine or lavender essential oil on a tissue placed near the

bed can promote relaxation upon inhalation. Dr. Bryan Raudenbush and

colleagues from Wheeling Jesuit University found that people who slept in rooms

infused with jasmine slept more peacefully and reported higher afternoon

alertness than those in a room with no added smell. Similar results were demonstrated

with lavender, but Dr. Raudenbush’s team found the benefits to be less

pronounced as those seen with jasmine.

With a modest investment of effort to improve your sleep hygiene, you can

reap significant improvements in how well, and how long, you sleep. Get the

best rest of your life so you can get the best out of your life.

Dr. Robert Goldman and Dr. Ronald Klatz are the physician cofounders of the

antiaging medical movement and of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine

(A4M;Chicago, IL USA; _www.worldhealth.net_ (http://www.worldhealth.net/) ),

a nonprofit medical organization dedicated to the advancement of technology

to detect, prevent, and treat aging related disease and to promote research

into methods to retard and optimize the human aging process. For more tips on

achieving restful, rejuvenative sleep, read The New Anti-Aging Revolution, by

Drs. Klatz and Goldman, available from A4M (to order, call 773.528.4333 or

visit The World Health Network Bookstore at _www.worldhealth.net_

(http://www.worldhealth.net/) ).

 

 

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.~ Albert Einstein ~

 

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