anxiety

Is it possible for something as routine as sleep to be trendy? I’m announcing 2016 as the year of sleep. Well, maybe Arianna Huffington tipped me off but I’m corroborating her observation. I’ve been helping people sleep naturally for almost a decade now, and something has changed in the past short while – we have started to think about sleep as important. We’ve started to prioritize it. What’s changed? And now that it’s trendy are there more or better solutions for a good night’s sleep?

Arianna Huffington’s post for LinkedIn in December 2015 speaks to the need for this change. She states,

“We’re in the middle of a sleep deprivation crisis, with devastating effects on our health, our job performance, our relationships, and our happiness.”

Although all important, my suspicion is that the effect of sleep deprivation on job performance is really pushing sleep health to the top of the charts. Recent large-scale studies on productivity certainly help us to prioritize sleep. One led by Harvard Medical School researcher Ronald C. Kessler demonstrates that insomnia costs the average American worker 11.3 days and $2,280 in “lost productivity” each year.

According to a GALLUP poll conducted in 2013, in 1942 only 11 percent of Americans were getting less than six hours of sleep a night. Today, 40 percent are getting less than six hours. This likely accounts for an increase in prescription sleeping pills and for the influx of individuals seeking natural support for sleeping well. In my clinical practice I am seeing a decrease in the amount of hours people are allocating to sleep as well as an increase in sleep disorders like insomnia – a recipe for sleep deprivation.

Anyone who has experienced sleep deprivation knows that it is all consuming and often carries a pattern, both physiologically and mentally, that is hard to break. Research has shown poor sleep to affect our weight, mood, memory retention, productivity, immune system, detoxification, and how we handle and respond to stress.   However, it is stress that instigates a Catch 22; the less sleep we have the more stressed we are and the harder it is to sleep.

Our physiological way of adapting to stress is to increase levels of stress hormones, like cortisol, that help us to stay alert and “run away from the bear.” When the stressor is lack of sleep this response doesn’t make as much sense. Sleeping and waking are at different ends of the physiological spectrum and they often get a little mixed up; alert and on at night and sleepy and shut down during the day. The support we often reach for to cope like coffee, sugar and other stimulants during the day and alcohol and sleeping pills at night have a spill over effect and end up affecting sleep quality at night and alertness during the day. Not an ideal solution.

So, what do we do about it? The answers are usually found in the roots of the problem and sleep is no exception. In the case of sleep, this means a complex solution and often a multi faceted approach:

• Set aside time each day to slow down. At least for an hour or two before bed and ideally at some other points throughout the day. Slow down physically but also mentally with tools like yoga, mindfulness meditation, deep breathing and exercise on a routine basis. There’s reason yoga, and now mindfulness practices have sprouted in North America – we need them!
• Support your stress response and nervous system. See tip #1. Consume a healthy and whole foods diet with as little sugar as possible. Take a B complex vitamin for stress and nervous system support and provide yourself with as much rest and routine as possible. Treat yourself like a baby; eat and sleep on a schedule to provide your body with a reliable and stress-free experience.
• Avoid sleep & wake cycle disrupters. Limit or avoid sugar, coffee, alcohol and other stimulants. It will take some time to break the cycle but with the other supports in place it will be much smoother. For at least one hour before bed turn off all electronic devices such as TV, computers, tablets and cell phones. The blue light emitted from electronic devices inhibits our necessary sleep hormone, melatonin. Inversely, sleeping in complete darkness will stimulate the production of melatonin and support a clear sleep cycle.
• Address other areas of your life that might be causing stress. A big one but one where we need to be honest and make real choices; are you happy in your job? Relationship? On a creative level? Without changing and creating our best course, most other efforts will be constantly pushing uphill. You don’t have to solve it all over night but work on listening to yourself and your body. The nagging repetitive thought in the middle of the night might be trying to tell you something!
• Seek professional help. If the above doesn’t feel like enough consult a health care provider for more tools and support to regulate the stress response, quiet the mind, and for other health concerns that may be affecting your sleep (hormones, sugar balance, chronic pain, respiratory concerns or allergies), and generally someone to help you stick with it!

Sleep might be trendy right now but ultimately it’s reliant on your overall health and wellbeing throughout your life. Take care and sleep well!