Trouble Sleeping?

Sleep deprivation is a common problem and it often persists despite one’s best efforts. But therein often lies one of the big problems – effort!

As sleep expert, Dr. Michael Grander, puts it, “Sleep is something that happens to you, not something you do.” In other words, in absence of things that prevent it, sleep will come to you naturally.

But there’s lots of things that can prevent getting good sleep. You’ve probably heard that sleep environment is important. Things like keeping the room a comfortable temperature, having the room as dark as possible, avoiding light from computer and phone screens for a few hours before bedtime, stop consuming caffeine by mid-afternoon, etc..

Dr. Grander proposes another common problem – unintentionally training yourself to do things other than sleep when in bed (and no, I’m not talking about THAT!).

Many people go to bed and occupy themselves with activities other than sleep for a while before they ultimately engage in trying to get to sleep. For example, lying in bed looking at their phones (the light from the screen is not the only issue with this) or reading. Think about what this signals to your brain – you get into bed to… do something other than sleep!

The takeaway here is to make going to bed synonymous in your brain with going to sleep. As much as possible, finish up your reading, looking at email, etc. BEFORE you even get near the bed. If you absolutely must read or look at your phone, etc. in the bedroom, try not to do it in the bed – have a chair in the room, stand up, or at the very least, get into a full sitting position in the bed. The idea here is to train your brain to recognize lying in bed as a cue to sleep.

But what if you get into bed and you’re not sleepy, your brain won’t “shut off,” etc.? Dr. Grander’s advice is to get up and do something else until you are sleepy. Again, we want to train our brains to associate being in bed with sleeping – not lying in bed NOT sleeping.

But you have to get your sleep, right? What if you get up / stay up and you just don’t get sleepy? This is certainly a possibility, but in the long run, you’re probably going to be better off even if you stay up all night for a night or two.

It generally doesn’t work to “try” to get to sleep. Again, sleep is something that happens to you, not something you do. Yes, you can take medication to help you get to sleep, but that isn’t an effective strategy in most cases either – there tends to be lasting drowsiness the next day, and your natural sleep cycles are further disrupted so any short-term gain tends to lead to more problems in the long-term.

If you have found sleep aids that work well for you without significant side-effects, it’s all right to use them, but there’s a good chance you won’t actually need them if you just give your body the appropriate cues for getting to sleep and allow your sleep cycle to work normally.

Now, if you’re not getting any sleep for more than a few days, it is a good idea to consult with your doctor and/or work on any underlying emotional stress or physical discomfort/pain that is keeping you awake. But the body will typically self-correct after a night or two of poor sleep if you let it. Just try to reserve sleep for when you’re supposed to be sleeping - avoid naps and if you’re sleepy during the day, do what you can to keep from nodding off until bedtime (physical activity when possible is better than using caffeine or other stimulante).

The other aspect to training your brain for sleep is keeping a consistent sleep schedule. The brain likes routine and if you go to bed at different times every night and/or sleep for different durations, it’s tough for the brain to fall into a good sleep cycle. While life may require the occasional variation in bed time and/or wake time, as much as possible it’s best to keep both within a 30 minute time frame.

Bear in mind a sleep schedule works best when done 7 days per week. Staying up late and/or sleeping in on the weekend tends to throw things off, so avoid changing the schedule when you can.

A consistent bed time is probably more important than wake time and even sleep duration, as the brain tends to set the sleep cycle based on when you go to sleep and controls when you go into the different phases of sleep.

To sum things up, training your brain for sleep will usually help you get to sleep and go through the phases of sleep in a more consistent, healthy manner. Try to be diligent about being ready to actually go to sleep when you get into bed and stick to a consistent sleep cycle.

Until next time…

George F. Best, D.C.