Apr 12th 2022

Want Energy? Get Enough Vitamin Zzzzzs!

You never feel like you have enough time. Your day seems like it just doesn't have enough hours, or you're too tired to tackle everything on your list. However, rather than attempt to speed up your pace or try another time management technique, consider addressing your sleep - specifically if and how much restorative sleep you're getting in each night.

What Is Restorative Sleep?

To operate at top energy and efficiency, getting a good night's sleep - seven to nine hours of "restorative sleep" that leaves you waking up feeling rested and refreshed - is essential.

The body is self-healing, self-repairing and self-detoxifying - but only if it gets enough rest and sleep, because all this healing, repairing and detoxifying work is done when the body is at rest.

To put it straightforwardly, when you wake up feeling alert, rested and ready to start your day, you've had a night of restorative sleep. Restorative sleep applies to the period lasting from deep sleep and rapid eye movement (REM), during which your body has the opportunity to repair tissue, bone and muscle and focus on the immune system.

Restorative sleep has a domino effect. Not only do you wake up alert, but your mind is ready to function, including absorbing new information and recalling memories more consistently. You're therefore more ready to take an active part in your life.

You also know when you haven't had a night of restorative sleep. Even if you get in the recommended eight-hour average, you still rise feeling groggy, tired and unmotivated. This effect may be due to short-changing the number of hours you get in, but also may be a result of reduced sleep quality, potentially as a result of insomnia, sleep apnea or another health condition. Lifestyle factors may further play a role, including inconsistent work schedules or jet lag. Long term, non-restorative sleep affects cognitive functioning and can contribute to the development of high blood pressure, heart disease and other chronic conditions.

The Effects of Sleep Deprivation

Sleep deprivation can lead to such negative consequences as being in a bad mood, overeating, eating foods high in starch, sugar and fat, depressed immunity and looking years older. And these are also some of the reasons chronic sleep deprivation increases the risk of all kinds of chronic disease.

Yet, government statistics show that more than one-third of American adults habitually get less than seven hours of sleep a night (7-9 hours is considered healthy).

Even those who are getting enough sleep may not be getting good-quality sleep. According to the Sleep Foundation, "good sleep" means falling asleep within 30 minutes of getting into bed, staying asleep through the night (or waking up no more than once), falling back asleep within 20 minutes if you do wake up, and waking up in the morning feeling rested, restored and energized.

So How Can You Get Enough Good-Quality Sleep?

1. Get Outside

Good sleep starts during the day. Getting outside into bright sunlight within an hour after waking for at least 10 minutes and ideally for half an hour to 45 minutes can help you sleep. Why?

Our circadian rhythms, a collection of interrelated internal biological clocks that govern the release of various hormones and neurotransmitters having to do with waking and sleeping, respond to light and darkness. Bright sunlight tells us to wake up and stimulates activity and alertness, aligning us with our body's natural rhythms of activity during the day and getting sleepy as day turns to night.

2. Think About Exercise and Diet

Exercise, especially outdoors, reinforces these natural rhythms. Staying away from stimulants, especially later in the day and evening, makes it easier to relax at night.

Since inflammation is associated with anxiety, an enemy of sleep, it makes sense that an anti-inflammatory diet, like the Mediterranean diet, which is high in fruits and vegetables and healthy oils like olive oil, is best for getting good sleep. At least one study found that women who ate the most fruits and vegetables were more likely to get optimal amounts of sleep. To make it easier to get to sleep, have a lighter evening meal and wait at least three hours before going to bed.

3. Develop a Nighttime Ritual and Sleep Schedule

As bedtime approaches, a nighttime ritual helps you start shifting away from the cares of the day and wind down. A consistent sleep schedule along with the repetition of nightly rituals reinforces body cues that become stronger over time.

Darkness encourages the production of melatonin, the hormone that causes sleepiness, so it helps to turn off bright lights, and create an atmosphere of soft light for an hour or more before bed. Most importantly, turn off sources of blue light, like computer and TV screens. If you must use your computer or watch TV, choose comforting content, and use blue-light blocking glasses.

You might begin your evening ritual with a short meditation reviewing the events of the day. You could then make note of any unfinished business to be set aside and dealt with tomorrow, acknowledging that your only responsibility now is to release them and welcome the balm of sleep. You might list things you're grateful for, or things you've done during the day you're proud of, forgive yourself for anything you're not proud of and give yourself permission to start new and fresh the following day.

Elements of your evening ritual could also include a warm bath, candles, a small snack, aromatherapy with relaxing essential oils, a cup of sedating tea, deep breathing, calming music and reading.

Supplemental melatonin a half-hour before going to bed can be helpful if your circadian rhythms have gotten out of whack. Then, pick a bedtime and wake-up time with 7.5 hours in between and follow it consistently, moving incrementally closer to your ideal bed and wake-up times.

Another very radical approach is chronotherapy, in which you force yourself, often in a treatment setting, to stay awake three hours more each day until you arrive at your desired bedtime. A more appealing option: spending a week hiking and camping in the wilderness.

Trouble falling asleep? Try Belleruth Naparstek's Healthful Sleep, a self-hypnosis CD that gently guides you in using deep breathing to release physical tension and discomfort; then to release thoughts; and finally to release any bothersome feelings, so you can drift off to sleep.

Or, if your mind refuses to turn off, try tapping and breathing with drummer Jim Donovan.

Your bedroom should be completely dark, quiet or using white noise to block sound, and not too warm, with your bedding inviting and comfortable.

If all of the above, which can be categorized as general "sleep hygiene" doesn't lead to both the quantity and quality of sleep you desire, it would be worthwhile to consult a sleep expert at a local sleep clinic. There are various treatable health issues that could be responsible.

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