I grew up believing that sleeping 9 hours a day was for lazy, unproductive people. I was also told that those who had trouble falling asleep simply weren’t tired enough, and needed to do more during the day to fall asleep faster. As a result, I always felt ashamed to admit to others that I often had trouble falling asleep and that I needed a minimum of 9 hours to be functional. I tried going to bed later in the night to ‘accomplish more’, and I also tried cutting back on the number of hours I slept. That never turned out great.
After doing some research, I realized just how important sleep is to our productivity, our decision-making abilities, and even our overall happiness. Furthermore, I found out that sleep deprivation increases mitochondrial reactive oxygen species, which increase inflammation, oxidative stress, and cellular damage. That means that by sleeping more, we can protect our mitochondria, prevent aging and reduce the risk of diabetes, obesity, and neurodegenerative disorders, among others.
After I realized how important sleep was, I tried to apply what I read on ways to improve sleep to my daily routine. Some worked better than others, and my sleep did improve a little, but I knew it could be so much better. I thought I already knew everything there was about sleep. That is – until I stumbled upon the book ‘Sleep Smarter: 21 Essential Strategies to Sleep Your Way to A Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success’. I was amazed by the amount of information it contained. It covers everything you need to know on why sleep is a key factor for our brain and body health, the factors that can affect the quality of sleep, and ways to improve your sleep. That gave me the motivation to, once again, try out new ways to improve my sleep and see what works for me. This book is a must-read for anyone, whether you’re having trouble falling asleep or not. We spend such a large quantity of our time sleeping, why not become pros at it?
Here are some interesting takeaways.
CONSEQUENCES OF SLEEP DEPRIVATION
- We are less productive
First, sleep-deprived individuals are less efficient. After a single day of sleep deprivation, a study has shown that there is a reduction in glucose reaching the brain by six percent. As a result, sleep-deprived individuals (those that sleep less than 6 hours a day) took 14 percent longer to complete a task and made 20 percent more errors than those that were well-rested. There was also reduced activity in the frontal cortex and the insular cortex, which are the parts of the brain responsible for evaluation, self-control, and rational decision-making. In opposite, the activity of the primitive parts of the brain was increased, which made sleep-deprived individuals more overreactive and emotional. Simply put, when you don’t sleep well… you become foolish.
- We may gain weight
Second, sleep deprivation is directly related to an inability to lose weight. Have you wondered why you craved those greasy, sugary foods, and why you were always hungry whenever you didn’t sleep well? Here is why: With the reduction in the quantity of glucose reaching the brain, the body tries to compensate by giving us the signals to get those extra calories. That is why the levels of leptin, which is the satiety hormone, are decreased in sleep-deprived individuals. That’s when we’ll start craving those donuts, fries, and peanut butter. The more calorie-dense and fatty, the better!
- We increase our risk of numerous health problems
Sleep deprivation increases cortisol levels, which leads to inflammation and lower insulin sensitivity levels. After just one night of sleep deprivation, you can be as insulin resistant as a type-2 diabetic. This can in turn increase blood sugar levels, and lead to diabetes.
There is also an increased risk of cancer, Alzheimer’s, depression, and heart disease.
Now that we know that sleep is primordial for our optimal functioning and our health, how do we actually get our best sleep?
HOW TO SLEEP BETTER AT NIGHT
- Get exposed to direct sunlight for 30 minutes between 6 a.m. and 8h30 a.m.
We all have this idea that productive people go to bed early, and wake up early. There is actually some truth to that. Here is why.
Exposure to sunlight in the morning can make us sleep better at night. And the body is most responsive to sunlight between 6 a.m. and 8h30 a.m. The best way to get that sunlight is to be exposed directly to it outdoors for at least 30 minutes. One way to get that exposure is, if your situation permits it, to go to work by bicycle or by walking. An alternative would be to wake up earlier and take a 30-minute walk (or jog) before going to work. Or, you could eat your breakfast outside your balcony.
- Go to bed before 10 p.m., make sure your sleep covers the hours between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., turn off all screens at least 90 minutes before bedtime
Melatonin is a hormone produced in the body that has been shown to improve the function of the immune system, normalize blood pressure, reduce the proliferation of cancer cells and tumor growth (including leukemia), enhance DNA protection and free radical scavenging, decrease the risk of osteoporosis, and decrease the risk of plaques in the brain (that could lead to Alzheimer’s disease). It literally protects your body from numerous health problems. Now, how do we take full advantage of melatonin?
At around 10 p.m., melatonin levels rise, which allows the rejuvenation process to take place, and permits us to get all those sleep benefits. So, the best time to go to bed is before 10 p.m. Furthermore, it has been shown that most hormonal secretions related to sleep happen between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. Try to be in bed during those hours minimally. You will get the best for your bucks.
Exposure to room light during usual hours of sleep suppresses melatonin levels by more than 50 percent. Now you know why it is recommended to turn off screens before sleep. If you have some bad habits and are used to aimlessly scroll through social media, you can think of ways of replacing that habit by, for instance, reading a fiction book. I’d like to emphasize the word fiction since we want to turn off the analytical part of the brain before sleep. Reading non-fiction books will not have the same effect on your brain. Note: Avoid reading in bed! You want to create a very strong association between your bed and sleep.
If you have an emergency situation and absolutely need to use an electronic device before sleep, you can use the free application f.lux to adjust the luminosity. And no, that doesn’t include scrolling through social media!
3) Use melatonin supplementation wisely
After what you’ve learned on the benefits of melatonin, you might be thinking: Great, why not just supplement with large quantities of melatonin, since it’s over-the-counter?
I’ve had many patients telling me that they were taking it for weeks, even months at a time. This may not be a very wise idea, as melatonin can potentially down-regulate our body’s ability to produce its own melatonin. The best way to use it is to supplement it in the short term, for a maximum of 2 weeks at a time. It also should only be used on very specific occasions: when you’re trying to re-establish a normal sleep pattern, or for jet lag.
4) Avoid caffeine after max. 2 p.m.
Just to make things clear, caffeine is included in tea, coffee, and chocolate. Its half-life, which is the amount of time required for the body to eliminate half of the amount of caffeine, is 5-6 hours. It takes 5 half-lives to eliminate 97% of the amount of caffeine in the blood. It means that if you drink caffeine at 4 p.m., by 10 p.m., you will still have as much as 50% of the caffeine you drank in your blood! It is only after 25-30 hours that you will have eliminated 97% of the caffeine in your blood, more than a full day after. Think twice before drinking that cup of coffee in the evening!
If you’re one of those people believing that coffee has no effect on you and that you sleep just as well with or without your coffee, you may have fooled yourself. In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, participants consumed caffeine six hours before bedtime. What they found was that they had observed a loss of one full hour of sleep on the monitor, and the participants didn’t even realize that there was a difference in their sleep. They simply weren’t aware of it! Furthermore, coffee can create a vicious cycle. People can get addicted to coffee by drinking it every day, have a bad quality of sleep, wake up groggy in the morning, and in turn require to drink more coffee to be more alert. The cycle repeats itself.
So, does it mean that you should quit caffeine altogether, that precious little pleasure of the day? Not necessarily. You just need to learn to time it well with your sleep schedule and drink it in moderation. For most people, that would mean finishing drinking that cup of coffee at 2 p.m. max. For others that may be more sensitive to coffee, that might be even earlier. Everyone metabolizes coffee differently, so you’ll have to experiment. An alternative would be to drink coffee only on some special days where you just really need it for that important presentation, or even avoiding coffee altogether.
4) Lift heavy weights in the morning
A study found that the best time to exercise to get a good night’s sleep is in the morning. In the study, the participants were divided into 3 groups. Participants in each group worked out at 3 different times: 7 a.m., 1 p.m., or 7 p.m. Those who exercised at 7 a.m. slept longer and had a deeper sleep cycle than the other two groups. In fact, the morning exercisers had up to 75 percent more time in the reparative “deep sleep’. Why is that? Because working out increases your core body temperature. It can take up to 6 hours for the temperature to come down. And to get a good night’s sleep, your body goes through thermoregulation to lower your core temperature.
Other than working out in the morning, you can get a better night’s sleep by lifting heavy weights rather than doing cardio to get that optimal hormonal response, which will result in the secretion of anabolic hormones (that build muscle).
5) Add plants in your bedroom, such as English Ivy and the snake plant
It is a well-known fact that being exposed to nature increases our well-being and health. It allows us to reset ourselves, in our natural habitat. How can we use that to better our sleep? By adding some plants in our bedroom. For example, English Ivy is listed by NASA as the number one air-filtering plant. It absorbs formaldehyde, a neurotoxin that most of us are exposed to in our industrialized world. There’s also the snake plant, which doesn’t even require much light or water. It absorbs CO2 and releases oxygen during the night, while most plants do the opposite. Finally, there’s the Jasmine plant, which has a calming effect. Improving the air quality in your bedroom by adding those plants in your bedroom (or by simply opening the windows) will allow you to feel better AND get a better night’s sleep.
- Aim for a temperature between 15 to 20 degrees Celsius
The ideal room temperature for sleep is around 60 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit or 15-20 degrees Celsius.
- Turn off electronic devices during the night, use them only when necessary during the day
This one was a shocker for me. Most of you probably know that electronic devices emit both electric and magnetic fields or EMFs. Those have been linked to leukemia, brain tumors, and brain cancer, just to name a few. They can also cause disruption in the communication of the cells in our body. But cell phones are considered safe, right? Unfortunately, the World Health Organization has now classified cell phone radiation as a Class B “Probable Human Carcinogen”. I don’t know about you, but I’m not really interested in waiting for years until the WHO releases new data to confirm the association. Throwing away our cell phones in this day and age would be indeed almost inconceivable. We could at least try to limit our cell phone use. That starts by leaving our cell phone turned off during the night, or at least keeping it in another room. Another alternative is to turn the airplane mode on. I also suggest using earphones (AirPods are very convenient) when talking on the phone.
These recommendations are particularly applicable for children, since they’re more susceptible to aggressive cell growth (that could lead to cancer), children’s cells reproducing faster.
- If you need to eat something before bedtime, chose a high-fat, low-carb snack
Avoid eating close to bedtime, try to eat at least 90 minutes before going to bed, since the body slows down its functions to prepare for sleep. If you need to eat something before bedtime, chose a high-fat, low-carb snack. It will keep your blood sugar levels stable.
9. Meditate during the daytime, right before going to bed or when you wake up in the middle of the night
Meditation has become much more mainstream lately, and for a good reason. It makes us feel good by increasing endorphins, lowering stress hormones like cortisol, and reducing inflammation. In a study published in the journal Brain Research Bulletin, researchers discovered that people that meditated for an eight-week period were better able to control a specific type of brain wave, ‘alpha rhythms’. The “alpha state” is where meditation begins.
If you ever find yourself in a situation where you wake up too soon and have trouble going back to sleep, simply lay in your bed and practice a breathing meditation to put your brain into the alpha and/or theta state to mimic some of the benefits of the sleep you would normally be missing out on.
The best time to meditate is during the day right after you wake up since you were already in that alpha state. Results of the study even showed that teaching deep relaxation techniques during the daytime can help improve sleep at night. An alternative would be to meditate before going to bed to get you relaxed for a good night’s sleep.
For beginners, I suggest using the app headspace. You can try it for free for 14 days: https://www.headspace.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw_8mHBhClARIsABfFgpiNl06LZldExpwcjB7x05HF0b1kgWY0T7jJ7Ocd6hwfFXuATqqISxkaAmLdEALw_wcB
There’s a voice guiding you through the process. You start with 5 minutes of meditation a day and can slowly and gradually increase the length of time as you get better at focusing. You may realize after a while, that you don’t need to meditate half an hour every day, but only five minutes or less, because of the neuro-association of the brain and body to closing the eyes and focusing on the breath, it could immediately put you in a meditative state.
That’s it! I hope you have learned something that could help you get that good night’s sleep. I strongly suggest reading the book entirely, there is no ‘fluff’ and you’ll get very useful information that you can put to use every night. In the book, you’ll also find many more insightful ideas on how to improve your sleep.
Your turn! What have YOU tried to improve your sleep, and how has it worked out for you?
