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It’s no revelation that our modern lives are affecting our sleep, and badly. The Sleep Foundation reports that between 10% and 30% of adults struggle with chronic insomnia – and sadly, ‘chronic’ means long and unabating periods of disorder. It’s staggering to think that up to a third of adults sleep badly or not really at all. But it’s also no surprise to hear this; modern life is forcing us to forego the value of our sleep and it is resulting in a rise in sleep disorders.
We know that stress is probably the most prevalent threat to health today, but there is no simple cure because stress is entirely individual and beholden to number of ever-moving variables. Although stress looks different for each of us, the physiological effects of stress are the same.
Down with the Uppers
Stress increases cortisol levels in the body and cortisol has a direct effect on sleep, and Dr Michael Brues reports that “High cortisol levels frequently appear with insomnia.” While we may not be able to remove the stressors from our lives, we can make a few lifestyle changes to encourage better sleep and mitigate cortisol’s negative effects on it. To affect a drop in our cortisol levels, we must look at the whole spectrum of our life – from exercise to blue light (cellphones and computers) and sunlight exposure to what we eat and drink. At any one time (even during sleep), there is cocktail of crucial hormones coursing through your body. Depending on their levels, these hormones can help or hinder. And you’ll be surprised to know which hormones are important to sleep. In an ideal world, cortisol (the anti-sleep hormone) peaks in the morning to create the feeling of wakefulness, and then declines as the day goes by. A drop in cortisol ushers in a rise in adenosine and melatonin, two of the most powerful sleep hormones.
Some might say that the world is run on coffee, but that also means humanity just can’t get enough of it. Caffeine is a stimulant which causes an increase in blood pressure and a supposed feeling of alertness – it tells our adrenal glands to pump some of their good stuff (adrenaline) to keep us going. While many of us may not feel the effects of caffeine, it continues to affect us throughout the day resulting in increased cortisol.
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Downers don’t do much good
On the other side of the coin is alcohol – a known central nervous system depressant; something which we use to ‘relax’ because it is a vasodilator which it causes blood vessels to widen and blood pressure to drop. Alcohol can induce sleepiness and even send us off to sleep, but it too has a negative effect on sleep. By stimulating the production of the sleep hormone adenosine, alcohol sends us off to sleep very quickly and then into deep stage sleep very soon. What this means is that we skip certain important phases of sleep, ultimately disrupting our entire sleep cycle. Many of us won’t notice if we wake up during the night because of alcohol, but the effects of these waking periods certainly affect our wellbeing.
Coffee and alcohol on their own are not the enemy – humanity’s overconsumption of them is. We cannot expect people to eschew them altogether; it may well be easier to mandate a period of self-moderation. However it’s important to know that continuous and excessive consumption of caffeine and alcohol will affect your sleep and you may not even know it. A constant, and seemingly benign disruption to sleep eventually catches up with you in the form of ‘sleep debt’. This kind of debt takes years in the making and is created by incremental and small sleep inefficiencies be it disrupted sleep, not enough sleep or poor-quality sleep. And just as the debt is incurred incrementally, so is the management of it. To sleep better, we must audit our lifestyle and change what we can, where we can however small it may seem.
Make some Sleep Tweaks
We cannot solely blame external factors for the prevalence of sleep disorders in adults – we, the sleepers are also to blame. The good news is that small tweaks can make a big change – the Japanese call it kaizen, which is a business principle focused on continuous improvement through constant small positive changes which results in major growth.
- Aim for Sleep Efficiency: You can’t repay sleep debt in one night; you must pay it in installments so what can you do to repay it? You can start by sleeping more, even if it’s going to bed 20 minutes earlier and the trick is to be consistent over an extended period. Try to make your room as dark as possible and, if you can, lower the room temperature to 18.3° Celsius.
2. Say Hello to your Sleep Supplements: Reducing the body’s core temperature is key to calming the brain and inducing sleepiness. Recent studies reveal that Glycine is a powerful amino acid and neurotransmitter which helps to lower core temperature. It works by increasing blood flow to the extremities of the body thereby reducing core body temperature. There are other sleep supplements which have proven to positively effect sleep in some way. Use a process of elimination to see what works for you and adopt a sliding scale, starting with the mildest supplement: magnesium and probiotics every night, meditation in the evening, milk or milk proteins before sleep, melatonin for 3-4 weeks and lastly, CBD (cannabidiol) products which are derived from Cannabis (marijuana).
3. Try to move more and more mindfully: Increase your volume of exercise, even if it’s just a walk in the evening – in fact, high intensity exercise in the evening can be over-stimulating thereby making it harder to fall asleep. Adopt some yoga techniques and try ‘whisky breath’: deep inhalation for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds and then exhale for 4 seconds. Aim to do this for 10 cycles. A body scan can also help bring awareness to any areas of the body holding tension and is very simple to do – lie flat on your back and start from your toes and finish at your head. Draw your attention to your toes, wiggle them, contract or flex them and then relax them. Continue this process with each region or muscle group of the body until your reach the top of your head.
4. Accessorise your bed for individual comfort: Sometimes sleep challenges are not psychological but physical. The bed you sleep on is of utmost importance. Your mattress needn’t be expensive but it must suit you, the way you sleep and your lifestyle. Your sleep accessories can also be the difference between a good sleep and great sleep. Eye shades have a benefit by blocking light while a white noise machine can help some of us to regulate our heart rates and breathing thereby helping us to feel more relaxed. Pillows are often overlooked but also play a key role in comfort – foam or feather, it’s up to the individual. If you need advice on pillows, get in touch with the team at Dream Republic® who have the knowledge to guide you on choosing your pillow. Consider changing your duvet with the seasons; opt for a warmer down or feather duvet for cooler months and a light hollow fibre duvet for warmer months. Cotton is a highly absorbent fibre that helps to wick away moisture and cool the body. For that reason, you should always opt for cotton-rich bedding if you can.
5. Adjust your bed to ultimate comfort: A snoring bedfellow can be a difficult challenge to overcome, and the solution is not as simple as sleeping in separate beds. However, studies have shown that elevating the upper body or head of the snorer helps to minimise snoring during sleep. Dream Republic® stock the Serta® Perfect Sleeper – an innovative adjustable bed foundation. Adjusting the angle of the top or bottom of your bed can amazing benefits. Elevating the lower limbs helps to channel blood away from the legs thereby helping to decrease blood pressure and lower heart rate. Elevating limbs is also beneficial for pain management while elevating the top of the bed can help those who suffer from acid reflux, indigestion and bronchial issues.
The stresses of modern life are almost inescapable, but we can have greater control on ourselves and the environment within our homes. We have the power to make small lifestyle changes, educate ourselves about getting the best sleep and draw on the knowledge of those with many years of experience in the sleep industry and its affiliates. Sometimes the simplest change can have the greatest effect, and sometimes it’s your bed. At Dream Republic® we believe that you don’t know you’re sleeping on a bad bed until you sleep on a great one.
