Sleep is a critical part of our health and well being, yet as a nation, we are constantly pulled in the direction of less and less sleep. For the past 10 years, there has been a trend for adults to get less and less sleep. Study after study shows a correlation between less sleep and mental, physical and social health concerns.
It seems to be true that, as we are all different, we have individual needs for sleep. Also, we may have a variation within the year of sleep needs, such as if we are ill or have stress in our lives. But, we often delude ourselves into thinking we can get by on less than we really need. But the statistics are becoming clearer.
Insufficient quality sleep is associated with the following conditions:
- Obesity
- Depression
- Fatigue
- ADD/ADHD
- Anxiety
- Accidents
- Irritability and Impatience
- Breast and Colon/Rectal Cancer
- Recurrent acute illnesses, like colds
- Quality of life indicators
Most of us think we can just catch up on our sleep on the weekend, but it doesn’t help us much and can actually hurt us in the long run in terms of setting up a poor sleep cycle. Our bodies need to have sleep become something it relies on at a certain time. Otherwise, we are always somewhat jetlagged as the body is trying to set a new clock all the time.
Here are a few tools to get your body set to a healthy pattern:
- Go to sleep at the same time every day, even on weekends.
- Don’t watch TV before bed, especially programs that raise stress hormones, such as the evening investigative news shows, crime shows, etc.
- Turn off the technology for a couple of hours before bed.
- No TV or computers in the bedroom or sleeping area
- No lights on in sleeping area, even lights for phone charger, etc. If you have a light like that, block the front from your view. Light suppresses melatonin which will decrease your ability to go to sleep and your quality of sleep.
- Set aside the worries of the day. Basically like putting your work clothes away. You can do this mentally or by writing things down. Sometimes people visualize placing these things in a bank or balloon or even to float down a river, so that they release or let go of it so they can let their mind relax into a deep sleep.
- Go through a mental list of whet you are grateful for. This puts the body and mind in a calmer state of being. And it is always important to train ourselves to remember the good, so in those tough times, we can easily access them to support ourselves.
- Don’t eat or exercise within a couple of hours before bed.
- No caffeine or alcohol or nicotine for at least 3 hours before bed.
- Some folks with hypoglycemia or chronic stress do need to eat a small portion of protein before bed and if they wake at night. Please contact a health care provider if you are one of those people as the underlying issues should be addressed.
- Quiet. If you live in a noisy environment, you may want to play a tape of music to go to sleep. This can also help the mind contain itself and begin to shut down for the night.
These sleep promoting activities take time to make into a routine. Choose one or two at a time and do it for 2-3 weeks, and then add the next.
We all get accustomed to how we feel with the amount of sleep we presently have, but if you are someone who gets less than 7 or 8 hours nightly, try to increase the amount of sleep even by 30 minutes nightly and see the difference over the next few months.
Some folks will need more assistance than the basics above in getting adequate sleep. There are many naturopathic and homeopathic remedies that can help, but seeing a health care provider to get evaluated and finding the root of the problem would be the best solution.
