As someone who really struggles when I don’t sleep enough or very well, I am always on the lookout for ways to improve the quality of my sleep.
In my experience as a Kanata Chiropractor, when people think about improving their health and creating Lifetime Wellness, they always consider diet and exercise first; quality and quantity of sleep is rarely considered.
Six to eight hours of sleep per night seems to be optimum for most adults, and both too much and too little can have significant adverse effects on your health. Sleep deprivation is such a chronic condition these days that most people don’t even realize that they suffer from it.
Inadequate sleep results in excess secretion of cortisol, the stress hormone, which leads to insulin resistance, fat accumulation, and systemic inflammation. Interrupted or impaired sleep can also dramatically weaken your immune system, accelerate tumour growth, cause a pre-diabetic state, and impair your memory and performance on physical or mental tasks decreasing your problem solving ability. Studies have also shown that people who sleep poorly receive fewer promotions, earn less, miss more days of work, and have decreased productivity.
Whether you have difficulty falling asleep, you wake up too often, or you don’t feel rested when you wake up in the morning you are bound to find some of the following tips and tricks helpful.
- Get adjusted regularly. Normal sleep requires your nervous system to deactivate certain centers in your brain to initiate deep sleep. Subluxations can prevent this shut down process from occurring. Sensory input from painful joints and muscles may also keep your nervous system from properly shutting down at night.
- Sleep in complete darkness. I’ve always known that sleeping with even the tiniest bit of light in the room can disrupt your internal clock and your pineal gland's production of melatonin and serotonin and ultimately affect the quality of sleep. However, in a recent study researchers also found that the sleeping in anything other than complete darkness may lead to depression.
- Keep the temperature in your bedroom no higher than 21 degrees Celsius. Studies show that the optimal room temperature for sleep is optimal room temperature for sleep is quite cool between 16 to 20 degrees.
- Check your bedroom for electro-magnetic fields (EMF’s). These can disrupt the pineal gland and the production of melatonin and serotonin, and may have other negative effects as well.
- Move alarm clocks and other electrical devices away from your bed. If you have to use an alarm clock, keep it as far away from your bed as possible. Make sure that the clock is out of view.
- Avoid using loud alarm clocks. It is very stressful on your body to be suddenly jolted awake.
- Reserve your bed for sleeping. If you are used to watching TV or doing work in bed, you may find it harder to relax and drift off to sleep.
- Consider separate bedrooms. Recent studies suggest, for many people, sharing a bed with a partner or pets can significantly impair sleep, especially if the partner is a restless sleeper or snores.
- Get to bed as early as possible. Your body does a majority of its recharging between the hours of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. Prior to the widespread use of electricity, people would go to bed shortly after sundown, as most animals do, and which nature intended for humans as well.
- Don't change your bedtime. You should go to bed and wake up at the same times each day, even on the weekends. This will help your body to get into a sleep rhythm and make it easier to fall asleep and get up in the morning.
- Establish a bedtime routine. The key is to find something that makes you feel relaxed (i.e. meditation, deep breathing, listen to relaxation CD’s), then repeat it each night to help you release the tensions of the day.
- Go to the bathroom right before bed. This will reduce the chances that you'll wake up to go in the middle of the night.
- Stay away from grains and refined sugars before bed. They will raise your blood sugar and delay sleep. Later, when blood sugar drops too low (hypoglycemia), you may wake up and be unable to fall back asleep.
- Put your work away at least one hour before bed. This will give your mind a chance to unwind so you can go to sleep feeling calm, not hyped up or anxious about what’s to come tomorrow.
- No TV right before bed. It’s too stimulating to the brain, preventing you from falling asleep quickly.
- Start journaling. If you often lay in bed with your mind racing, it might be helpful to keep a journal or a grateful log and write down your thoughts before bed.
- Reduce or avoid as many drugs as possible. Many drugs including both prescription and over the counter can affect the quality of your sleep.
- Avoid caffeine. At least one study has shown that, in some people, caffeine is not metabolized efficiently, leaving you feeling its effects long after consumption. Even an afternoon cup of coffee or tea may keep some people from falling asleep at night.
- Avoid alcohol. Although alcohol will make you feel drowsy initially, the effect is short lived and you will often wake up several hours later, unable to fall back asleep. Alcohol will also keep you from entering the deeper stages of sleep, where your body does most of its healing.
- Exercise regularly. Our bodies require 1 hour of exercise every day. However, don't exercise too close to bedtime or it may keep you awake. Studies show exercising in the morning is the best if you can manage it.
- Lose excess weight. Being overweight can increase your risk of sleep apnea, which can seriously impair your sleep.
- Avoid foods you may be sensitive to. This is particularly true for sugar, grains, and pasteurized dairy. Sensitivity reactions can cause excess congestion, gastrointestinal upset, bloating and gas, and other problems.
Sweet Dreams!
Dr. Michael Gibson is a Kanata chiropractor and the clinic director of The Wellness Group, a multidisciplinary health facility. He currently practices chiropractic in Kanata full time with a focus on educating and empowering his practice members to achieve abundant health and maximum quality of life.
