03 | Sleep
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Transcript
In today’s episode, we are going to delve into the foundational pillar of health, sleep. I’ll be having a conversation about what you can do to help out with your sleep patterns if you’re struggling to get enough sleep or the quality of your sleep is just not where you want it to be. In this episode, we’re going to talk about what sleep does for your body, why it matters and how you can get better at it.
I think the English writer Thomas Dekker put it best when he wrote “sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together”.
Sleep is something that we all do and it should occupy about a third of our life. But what actually happens when you’re sleeping? It’s quite a lot. During the night, you’ll go through two different phases of sleep, REM, rapid eye movement sleep, and non-REM sleep. When you first drift off to sleep, which usually takes most people about 10 minutes, you enter the first stage of non-REM sleep. This is where your brainwaves, heart rate and eye movement slow right down. As you start to relax, your muscles may twitch and sometimes it can be quite a jolt or jerk.
This first stage of sleep is actually relatively short and it’s where your body temperature drops the most. Your brain has short bursts of activities during this part of sleep, which are called sleep spindles. And then you enter into a deep sleep. In this stage, your brain waves slow further into what is known as delta waves. This is where rest and repair occurs. So this is where you are building tissues and bone. Your body also strengthens its immune system in non-REM sleep and the deep sleep phase of the non-REM cycle usually lasts anywhere between 15 and 35 minutes.
At about 90 minutes into sleep each night you will enter into the first REM phase.
The REM and non-REM cycle is repeated multiple times throughout the night where each REM phase lasts longer as you sleep during the night. So, by the time you are getting towards the end of your sleep in the early morning, you’re having longer REM cycles, which is why we often wake up and remember a dream.
During REM sleep, you’ll increase your heart rate, you’ll get irregular breathing, your eyes might move rapidly behind closed eyelids (which is where the name comes from). Your brain is highly active. In fact, it can be just as active during REM sleep as it is when you’re awake and you get increased variability of brain waves and that is where your memories are converted from short to long-term and information processing happens. Sometimes REM sleep is called the dream state as it is where you will experience dreams.
REM sleep decreases with age. Babies have about 50% of their sleep as REM sleep, whereas adults will experience less that, towards the later stages of life might be down to 20% of sleep which is actually REM sleep.
You’ve already heard me mention sleep is where muscle, bone and tissue repair happens. There’s obviously growth that happens in children and pregnant women. I fondly recall an instance where I put my son to bed one evening and he got up the next morning and his literally didn’t fit.
Adequate sleep also reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity. I think I’ve mentioned in one of my other podcasts around the hormones that are produced during sleep to control hunger. Ghrelin triggers hunger and leptin which allows you to recognise when you are full.
Sleep-deprived adults have an increased ghrelin production so your leptin is out of whack and essentially you wake up the next day and you are more hungry than you would normally be. The assumption is that your body is in fight-or-flight move when you haven’t had enough sleep so it goes into this state of hyperalertness and when we need to fuel ourselves when we are under threat is food. So it’s a natural protective mechanism that the body generates to give you the extra energy you need to either escape the attack or defend against it.
I think it’s important to note that humans are literally the only mammals that willingly and ofter forcibly delay sleep. We are the only species that are known to binge-watch TV, scroll social media, and work shifts and these are all things that affect sleep.
Sleep affects us physically and mentally. We know that with reduced sleep, we are less able to cope with stress and our problem-solving abilities are reduced. We have a reduced ability to recall both short and long-term memory. All this adds up to reduced performance. So, if you’re aiming for a high-performance lifestyle where you are able to do things well, then sleep is fundamental.
Inadequate sleep affects balance and coordination, leading to more accidents and falls. So it’s one of the reasons why pro athletes really prioritise their sleep to make sure they have the ability to perform at their peak on the field or wherever it is that they’re conducting their sport. We have all experienced a day where we have had crappy sleep and were not able to concentrate the next day.
Sleep deprivation affects our ability to think clearly. It also reduces our pain tolerance. So those people that are sleep deprived generally are more acutely aware of small aches and pains. inadequate sleep also affects our moods. Long-term effects of sleep deprivation can lead to anxiety and depression. And lack of sleep in extreme cases can even cause hallucinations.
We know that our brain needs sleep to solidify short- to long-term memories. Lack of sleep also harms the immune system. We are all more immune conscious these days thanks to the coronavirus pandemic over the last couple of years and sleep is one of the ways you can arm yourself against an onslaught of disease and infection,
Inadequate sleep also affects insulin release. We’ve also already mentioned that it increases your risk of type 2 diabetes but, in less extreme events it still affects your ability to process sugar.
Less than 5 hours of sleep a night has also been proven to increase the risk of high blood pressure. Inadequate sleep reduces your libido, so people who don’t get enough sleep have a lower sex drive. In men. that is largely driven by reduced testosterone levels.
Reduced sleep increases our risk of high blood pressure and heart disease.
There are lots of things that affect our sleep quality and quantity including the consumption of alcohol and caffeine, the quality of our diet and the amount of exercise we do. Some medications can also impact sleep. There are lots of options that you can look into if you need to take medications, so have a chat with your GP about medications that won’t keep you up at night.
Smoking is another thing that really affects sleeping, largely anything that affects your lungs and your ability to breathe will affect sleep. So smoking is not great for sleep and that includes vaping.
Extremes of temperature, it’s really hard to get to sleep on a hot night or when it is super cold. So, really you’re aiming to sleep in a room that’s about 18 degrees celsius, 65 if you are working in Fahrenheit.
And then obviously there are some sleep disorders that affect that ability to sleep. Insomnia, sleepwalking, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome, sleep apnea and snoring which not only affects your own sleep but probably anyone who is either sharing a bed or potentially in the house with you.
So, how can you get better at sleeping?
One of the best things you can do is actually get outside during the day, Exposure to sunshine regulates melatonin levels which allows you to then transition into sleep in the evening. You can also limit your exposure to blue light in the evening. We’re all spending more time in front of screens whether it’s at work, at home or on the small screen that you take to bed with you. Look at using a blue light filter or getting yourself a pair of blue light glasses to reduce that if you can’t put your screen away.
One of the things that has worked for a lot of people I know is making a to-do list at the end of the day. So, not waiting until bedtime but making the list at the end of your work day, whatever time that is. Make a list of the things that you need to do the next day, whether it’s a work day or a weekend and prepare yourself for that just to get that mental load out of your mind.
One of the best things that you can do to promote sleep is to set up your sleep environment. So, make sure that you’ve invested in a good mattress and a pillow. If a new mattress is out of your price range, then there are some really good mattress toppers that you can get that are less expensive, that still result in a better base for you to sleep on. Blackout curtains are really good, or alternatively, if you’re renting and can’t do that, a sleep mask may be the way to go.
Look at soundproofing your sleep environment. Again, if that’s out of your control, look at using earplugs. I’ve already mentioned the imperative but setting the room to about 18 degrees Celsius (65 degrees Fahrenheit) will help you to get good quality sleep. If you’re experiencing a heightened nervous response or have anxiety, you can look at the use of a weighted blanket. These are a very safe option for adults if that helps you.
I’ve already mentioned devices, but if you can remove your smartphone entirely from your bedroom that is one of the best things that you can do to improve the quality of sleep. Get an alarm clock if you need to be waking at a certain time, one that doesn’t have a bright light associated with it is best.
And then set yourself up with good sleep hygiene to head off to the land of nod. That can include maybe some light stretching or gentle yoga, a warm bath or shower which sets up a temperature drop that helps the transition to sleep and then you’ve got journalling and meditation or reading.
