The Restorative Power of Sleep

“Sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day,” writes Matthew Walker, Ph.D., in his remarkable book, Why We Sleep; Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams. 

Walker is a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California-Berkeley and the director of the Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab. His book is full of powerful insights into the impact sleep has on our mental and physical well-being.

He continues, “Sleep disruption contributes to all major psychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety, and suicidality.” In light of these insights, I ask my counseling clients about sleep and work with them to improve both the quantity and quality of sleep they are getting.

A SLEEP LOSS EPIDEMIC 

Walker recommends getting 7-9 hours of sleep each night. Largely, in the United States this is not happening. The website, TheGoodBody.com has consolidated a large number of statistics about sleep in the United States. Here are some of the key findings:

• Roughly 20% of Americans have a sleep disorder.
• Since 1985 the percentage of adults getting less than six hours sleep each night has increased by 31%.
• 97% of teenagers get less than the recommended amount of sleep.
• 7 out of 10 college students don’t get adequate sleep. 

Inadequate sleep has severe consequences for our health. Some highlighted in Walker’s book include: 

• Sleeping less then six or seven hours a night on a regular basis demolishes your immune system and doubles your risk of cancer.
• Insufficient sleep is a key factor in developing Alzheimer’s disease.
• Too little sleep swells concentrations of a hormone that makes you feel hungry while suppressing a companion hormone that otherwise signals food satisfaction. Despite being full, you still want to eat more. 
• One person dies in a traffic accident every hour in the United States due to a fatigue-related enter error.

THE BENEFITS OF SLUMBER 

So what does sleep do for us? It is the primary way our body and brain are restored each night.   

• Within the brain, sleep enriches our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions and choices.
• Sleep recalibrates our emotional brain circuits, allowing us to engage each day with fewer mood swings and emotional reactiveness.
• Sleep restocks the immune system, helping fight malignancy, preventing infection, and warding off all manner of sickness. 
• Sleep reforms the body’s metabolic state by fine-tuning the balance of insulin and circulating glucose.
• Plentiful sleep maintains a flourishing microbiome within your gut, which is key to nutritional health.
• Adequate sleep is tied to cardiovascular fitness, lowering blood pressure while keeping our hearts in good condition.

QUALITY AND QUANTITY

If you want to get quality sleep, you need to be intentional about it. Consider setting an alarm, not to wake you up in the morning (if you are getting enough sleep, you will wake naturally), but at night telling you it is time to head to bed. Here are more tips on getting a good night’s rest.

• Do your best to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. 
• Cut back on drinks that contain caffeine like soda and energy drinks. 
• If you do drink them, don’t drink them after 1:00 in the afternoon (half of the caffeine you drink is still in your body up to 5-7 hours after you drink it). 
• The light from digital screens (like phones, laptops, and television) makes your brain think it needs to stay awake. Limit using digital screens at least an hour before bed. 
• Set your phone or device to switch to “night mode.” This will cause your screen to look more yellow, which is easier on the eyes and better for sleep. 
• Keep your room cool and as dark as possible. 
• Complete any exercise 2 hours before you plan to go to bed. 
• Don’t watch TV in bed. 
• Don’t take long naps during the day or after 3:00 p.m. A nap of 10-20 minutes is ideal for refreshing the brain and boosting energy.   

INSOMNIA?

If you can’t fall asleep or you wake up in the night and can’t fall back asleep, there are some things you can do to help get to sleep.

• If your mind is running and you can’t stop thinking, write down what you are thinking about on a piece of paper and tell yourself you can work on those problems tomorrow. 
• Avoid looking at the clock in the middle of the night. 
• Move to another location. Sleep on the couch. This helps your body and brain reset. 
• Get out of bed and stretch for a few minutes. 
• If you are hungry, eat something. Carbohydrates are best. If you still can’t sleep, find a boring book to read. 
• Don’t do anything stimulating and avoid screens and television.

PLANNING FOR GOOD SLEEP CYCLES

Once you fall asleep, your brain has sleep cycles of roughly 90 minutes. This means that about every 90 minutes, you naturally almost wake up. Then the cycle begins again. If something wakes you up in the middle of this cycle (when you are in your deepest sleep), you will feel groggy and like you can’t wake up. 

The ideal length of time is a combination of 90-minute cycles with 7.5 or 9 hours of sleep being best. If you need to wake up at 7:00 a.m., you should be falling asleep by 11:30 p.m. to get 7.5 hours of sleep. It would be best if you also planned on getting in bed shortly before that to allow time to fall asleep. If you do this, your brain will be naturally waking up when the alarm clock goes off.

Are you struggling with anxiety, an eating disorder such as anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating or other mental health struggles? Would you like to work with a counselor who offers therapy in a personal, practical manner? Contact Travis today to set up a counseling appointment.