Sleep is so incredibly important. One patient I had was an 18 year old young man, and he didn’t sleep. He would be awake for 24+ hours at a time until eventually he got so exhausted he would collapse. When he finally did sleep, it was irregular in timing and duration. It was impossible for him to stay enrolled in school, and he couldn’t keep anything more than a part time job.
Now this is an extreme example of what poor sleep can do to your life, but even lesser sleep disturbances can have a huge impact on your life. Insufficient sleep impairs memory, attention, and decision making, essentially turns you into a stupid version of yourself. It also makes you more likely to make poor food choices, slows down metabolism, and can even lead to a buildup of beta-amyloid plaque, the same plaque you see in alzheimer’s disease.
Normal sleep patterns are defined as falling asleep within 30 minutes of getting into bed and being able to sleep through the night without waking. The normal adult needs around 8 hours of sleep, give or take an hour. A normal adult should wake every morning feeling rested and ready to start the day, and should not need a nap. If you fall asleep while driving, in meetings, watching TV, or in church on Sunday, or if your fatigue is preventing you from doing things you would like to do, then you likely aren’t getting enough sleep.
The first step in correcting any sleep issue is making sure you actually allot enough time for sleep. So if you wake up at 6am every morning, you need to be sleeping by 10pm, not just in bed, but sleeping. So you need to aim to be in bed by 9:30, especially if it takes you a minute to fall asleep.
Ok, so you’re laying in bed, but sleep just isn’t happening. Now what? Obviously you need to avoid anything that revs you up at least an hour before bed. This includes anything that emits blue light (think screens), mental work, and even exciting novels. Some people can play on their phone while watching an action movie and fall asleep the minute their head hits the pillow, but a lot of us are more sensitive than that.
Now that you’ve removed all the stimulatory things from your bedtime routine, pay attention to what it feels like in your body while you’re laying in bed (trying to sleep). Is you mind racing with the problems from the day or tomorrow’s to-do list? Does your back ache and keep you from getting comfortable? Is your partner or dog snoring?
If you find that your mind races in bed, then surprise: stress is keeping you from sleeping. The best way to beat stress is to quit your job and find a permanent residence on a warm beach somewhere. If you can’t do that, try a cup of calming tea. Look for a blend that has valerian in it. This herb is specific for that overworked mind that won’t calm down, and has been seen in research to decrease the amount of time it takes to fall asleep. Lavender, passionflower, chamomile, and oats are all lovely herbs for sleep as well.
Hate tea? Try deep breathing instead. There are tons of apps for deep breathing, but you’re not supposed to be on your phone because of the blue light and all that, remember? Try 4 square breathing instead. Breath in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds, and rest for 4 seconds. Repeat until you fall asleep.
Waking in the middle of the night is a sign that your cortisol is not balanced. Cortisol should spike in the morning to get you out of bed, and then decrease gradually through the day. Chronic stress wears this pattern down, until it becomes a flatline. Without the change in cortisol, the body starts to lose its circadian rhythm, which is what had happened to the patient in the story above. While calm teas and deep breathing before bed may help, often I see type of sleep issue respond the best to adrenal support in the morning and then a cortisol dampening blend in the evening to help restore a healthy cortisol pattern.
What about that patient I mentioned who didn’t sleep? Well, it took several months, but we were able to shift his body back to a healthy sleep schedule and he enrolled in college later that year!