Sleeping Beauty
Dreadful Insomnia
“Sleep is the golden chain that binds health and our bodies together.”
We all know that one co-worker is always perky and upbeat no matter what's going on. They likely turn work in well before the deadline, arrive early to staff meetings, and greet everyone with an enthusiastic greeting, all while having a positive attitude. It's easy to wonder why they're so on top of everything while you're regularly feeling sluggish by 2:00 p.m. So, what's their secret? It could be something as simple as their sleep hygiene habits. This blog will cover sleep hygiene, how it affects sleep quality, and how to improve your sleep hygiene to get the best sleep every night.
HEALTHY SLEEP BENEFITS
Just like dental or personal hygiene, sleep hygiene is a set of rituals that you implement each day to get great sleep at night and feel alert and refreshed during the day. Everyone can benefit from putting good sleep hygiene practices to use because it yields higher quality sleep that you can count on every night.
Why is Sleep Hygiene Important?
While you sleep, your mind and body are busy replenishing cells, restoring energy, and rebuilding tissue. Without sleep, you wouldn't have enough power to accomplish essential bodily functions, much less get your forty-hour workweek in. Getting enough sleep can provide many benefits for your physical and mental health as well. A proper amount of sleep has been known to lower your risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, obesity, and Alzheimer's. It also keeps your energy level up, improves your mood, and fights off anxiety and depression.
Inside, you have a biological clock that helps regulate all the processes in your body that happen over 24 hours. The process, known as your circadian rhythm, tells your body when it's time to go to sleep and wake up each day. When your rhythm is out of sync, you can have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, leading to Insomnia and other sleep issues. The best way to control your circadian rhythms is by practicing good sleep hygiene.
Sleep. We all wish we had more of it. Yet it's still. So. Elusive. And while yawning and feeling tired all the time can be a bummer, a lack of zzz's can have a significant impact on your health. Experts say you should aim to get between seven and eight hours of shut-eye each night, but what does that do for you?
1. Sleep Can Boost Your Immune System
When your body gets the sleep it needs, your immune cells and proteins get the rest they need to fight off whatever comes their way — like colds or the flu. And according to the well-rested sleep specialists over at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, proper sleep can also make vaccines more effective, which is a plus.
2. Gaining Zzz’s Can Help Prevent Weight Gain
Racking up eight total hours of sleep isn't going to result in losing the lbs. by itself; however, it can help your body unpack on the pounds. If you don't get enough sleep, your body produces ghrelin, a hormone that boosts appetite. Your body also decreases the production of leptin, a hormone that tells you you're full. Plus, when you don't sleep enough, you get more stressed and don't have the energy to fight off junk food cravings. Put them both together, and that's one dangerous combo for late-night snacking, my friend.
3. Sleep Can Strengthen Your Heart
Not getting enough sleep can lead to heart health problems like high blood pressure or heart attacks. That’s because lack of sleep can cause your body to release cortisol, a stress hormone that triggers your heart to work harder. Just like your immune system, your heart needs rest in order to function powerfully and properly. Just another reason to “heart” sleep.
4. Better Sleep = Better Mood
There is some truth in the old saying, "Getting up on the right side of the bed." It has nothing to do with which side of the bed you roll out of, but sleeping can lead to good moods. And really, it makes sense. If you sleep well, you wake up feeling rested. Being rested helps your energy levels soar. When your energy is up, life's little challenges won't annoy you as much. When you're not annoyed, you're not as angry. If you're not angry, you're happy. So, go to bed early, and everyone around you will thank you for it.
5. Sleeping Can Increase Productivity
You may think you’re wowing your boss by burning the midnight oil, but putting off a good night’s rest could be having an adverse effect at work or school. In fact, sleep has been linked to improved concentration and higher cognitive function, both of which can help you be successful at work. But one restless night can leave you feeling frazzled, making it more likely that you’ll make mistakes that a pot of coffee won’t be able to fix. Speaking of coffee, the more tired you feel, the more likely you are to reach for that afternoon cup. And while that may seem to fix the afternoon crash problem you experience, the extra caffeine late in the day could set you up for another sleepless night. Talk about a counterproductive cycle.
6. Lack of Sleep Can Be Dangerous. Literally.
According to a study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, you're twice as likely to get in a car accident when you're cruising on six to seven hours of sleep compared to if you get a full eight hours. Sleepless than five hours, and your chances of a crash quadruple! That's because your reaction time slows way down when your brain isn't fully rested. We don't know about you, but those statistics prepare us to climb into our PJs and hit the hay ASAP.
7. Sleep Can Increase Exercise Performance
Someone studied the effects of sleep deprivation on basketball players, and guess what they found? When they didn't sleep well, they weren't very good basketball players. (#Duh) You might be thinking," So what? I'm only MVP in my dreams." Well, sleep affects all types of exercise performance. Under-the-covers recovery helps with hand-eye coordination, reaction time, and muscle recovery. Plus, depriving yourself of sleep can have a negative impact on strength and power.
8. Sleep Improves Memory
Even though sleep gives your body the rest it needs, your mind is still hard at work. It's processing and consolidating your memories from the day. Suppose you don't get enough sleep; who knows where those memories go. Or worse, your mind might create false memories.
The bottom line: Sleep is good. And necessary. Roy Kohler, MD, who specializes in sleep medicine at SCL Health in Montana, reaffirms all we know about the benefits of sleep, citing research that shows people who get less sleep tend to be heavier, eat more, have a higher BMI, and are more likely to be diabetic. "Consistent sleep of seven hours a night is what's recommend for adults just for daytime functioning—being on task, being alert for the day and being able to concentrate and not be so moody and tired during the day," says Dr. Kohler.
9. Brain Cell Healing
Scientists from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, have discovered that sleep increases the reproduction of cells that form myelin – the insulating material found on nerve cell projections in the brain and spinal cord. They point to oligodendrocytes. These cells are responsible for making myelin within a healthy brain and in response to injury. The researchers add that myelin is responsible for allowing electrical impulses to move from cell to cell, “similar to insulation around an electrical wire.” Further analysis showed that cells that become oligodendrocytes, called oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCS), double in reproduction during sleep. This reproduction is heightened during rapid eye movement (REM), which is linked to dreaming.
Adenosine is released by brain cells when the cells' demand for energy exceeds available supplies. Heller and Benington speculate that adenosine release is one step in the homeostatic feedback loop, signaling the cells to rest so that the essential element they need - energy - can be replenished. They speculate that the brain's only source of stored energy, glycogen, is depleted in different regions of the brain where energy demands are high during wakefulness, and is then replenished during sleep.
*Sources - https://news.stanford.edu/pr/96/960116sleep.html
https://www.sleepscore.com/blog/the-importance-of-sleep-hygiene/
INSOMINIA, DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, BROKEN SLEEP
How Insomnia affects your health?
Six to ten percent of Americans suffer from Insomnia. Thirty-five percent of people with chronic Insomnia also experience depression or anxiety. Women are twice as likely as men to have Insomnia.
Expanding waistline - While you sleep, your body releases appetite-regulating hormones-ghrelin and leptin. When you do not attain enough sleep, an imbalance of these hormones causes over-eating and weight gain.
Diabetes - Too little slumber can also make you're vulnerable to type 2 diabetes. The increased risk is partly due to weight gain. Poor sleep can make your body more resistant to insulin- a hormone that maintains control of blood sugar levels.
Heart Attack - Insomnia links to high blood pressure and other risks for heart disease. People who sleep poorly are more likely to endure a stroke or heart attack.
Depression - People with Insomnia are about ten times more likely to experience depression. The link goes both ways - sleep loss can make you depressed, and persistent sadness makes it hard to sleep.
What causes Insomnia?
Stress is the leading cause of sleeplessness. Worry- whether, over your job, family, or health keeps your mind too invaded to rest. Health conditions like acid reflux or arthritis, shift work, and an inconsistent sleep schedule are linked to chronic Insomnia.
What are some solutions?
Meditation and Relaxation techniques are prevalent to help reduce stress overall and significantly to fall asleep. However, the two best and most successfully proven solutions are cognitive behavioral therapy and transfer through writing.
Seventy to eighty percent of people with Insomnia gain relief with cognitive behavioral therapy. Older adults who tried cognitive behavioral therapy fell asleep 23 minutes faster and slept an hour more than before. Their quality of sleep also improved.
*source - WebMD
Transfer through Writing:
Write down your worries. Time and again, it's proven that there is a link to productivity in writing down your concerns. Writing alleviates the anxiety from your mind off to the paper. If something is putting you in duress, WRITE IT DOWN AND LET IT GO FROM YOUR MIND. Keep in mind that this is not a quick fix. It would be best if you did it consistently. It can take an average of five-fifteen minutes daily. If you perform it consistently for a few weeks, you will see a significant difference in your overall sleep quality and thus your productivity and energy level throughout the day. Especially your cognitive skills. Is there any reason not to want this?
Your brain is so powerful in either direction, positive or negative. The same mastermind with the idea of skyscrapers and iPhones technology can also start spiraling the worst possible outcome of a situation. No matter how unlikely this catastrophe is. Once you write down your worries, you should begin separating them by priorities. Begin by highlighting the actionable concerns versus the ones that are hypothetical or imagined dangers. It doesn't mean those worries are fake or impossible; it just means that they are not something you will decide to act on in the present moment.
For the actionable worries, write down a small act you will exercise to resolve this worry. Set a reminder on your phone for the next day to take this small act. Suppose you planned a long hectic day; set your schedule the night before. If you are worried about covid, set a reminder to invest in a good mask. You do not need to solve your problem at once to be clear of worry. You need to take the next most minor actionable step and set a reminder so it can relieve your mind. Baby steps help you process the plan better.
Acceptance. Set those worries aside wholeheartedly; this is not an easy act by any means. Problems often can't be resolved immediately, and you need to accept that for better sleep. One way you can do this is by speaking out loud to yourself, "I can't do everything at once." or "I can't control everything."
It is about understanding your locus of control. What is and isn't in your realm of control.
Worries are mostly regarding unresolved issues, which you did not address, face or take action on, or actively choose to accept. Remember, it is a choice to decide not to act. Worry comes up when we haven't resolved what to do, and it keeps prompting us to face it and make some decisions. Anxiety says, over and over again, "I need to do something." Deliberate worry answers that question with a yes or a no. It's like a cloud that hovers over us, and planning in time for conscious apprehension is like taking a cloud, turning it into the rain like some solid water, and then producing something more manageable.
5. Shift your focus from worry to gratitude. Spend some time lying in bed remembering the moments that are going well. Count your blessings. Say thanks for the minor stuff like walking or breathing. Also, consider your victories, accomplishments, or success wins of the day.
If you are unable to transfer, prioritize and highlight your worries, then in the short term, you can write all your random thoughts down on paper and call it "write dump," and then forget about it. Leave it for tomorrow. Then lie down thinking about gratitude. Gratitude is the best anecdote for Insomnia and depression. If that doesn't work, try meditation music and be sure to shut off all the lights in the room. Especially your phone light.
Facing your worries with deliberate practice and setting a bedtime routine with good sleep hygiene can help retrain your brain to fall asleep at night instead of worrying.
Entertaining Video On Why Sleep is Essential and Healthy Do’s & Don’ts
End of Video Answers Questions You May Have
Need some help counting sheep? Create a nighttime routine to get your mind and body relaxed; maybe try meditating. Oh, and stop looking at your phone or tablet — those social media alerts will all be there in the morning. Sweet dreams!
Investing in Good Sleep,
