We hear it repeatedly, the importance of sleep in terms of overall health and performance, whether mentally or physically. We’ve talking about it ourselves on our platforms or you’ve even heard it from your professors. But what makes sleep so important and how can we optimize our health with proper sleep?
No one needs a medical degree to know that we all feel great after a good night sleep. We slept through the night, didn’t even need to get up to go to the washroom at all. Maybe we remember the dream you had to boot and are ready to tackle the day that’s ahead of you. However, almost half of North American adults don’t get regular well rested sleep or sleep for less that 7 hours of sleep. In the US alone, over 40,000 yearly car accidents or over 100,000 deaths in hospitals could have been avoided with proper sleep. Because of the fast pace of the world and the expectations set on us by others, or even others saying ‘you snooze you lose’, came make it seem like it is normal to not sleep much to be more productive and achieve more.
However, we know that is not the case. Sleep isn’t this passive activity that is a waste or takes up time that you could be doing something else. Believe it or not, when you sleep your brain is highly active. Neurotransmitters like serotonin (the happy hormone) and norepinephrine (which helps break down fat and provides more energy to the body) are turned off while we sleep while other neurotransmitters are very active during our sleep. One such neurotransmitter is responsible for the production of adenosine, with can cause drowsiness if you are awake too long or if you did not get a good night’s rest. The reason? While sleeping, adenosine is broken down by the body, which is why we feel more awake after adequate sleep.
Additional to increased drowsiness, folks who don’t get enough sleep struggle to concentrate, can lead to impaired memory, and physical performance starts to decrease. Believe it or not, if sleep deprivation continues for an extended period, people have been shown to start hallucinating when you do get sleep. These hallucinations are difficult to determine if they were reality or not and cause confusion due to their clear and complex images that may not make sense. Mood swings can also occur for those who are not sleeping regularly. The reason for this is because neurons are not being given an opportunity to repair themselves during shutdown and when they become overworked, they begin to produce so much by-products that it causes malfunctions of regular processes.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the importance of sleep. There are so many other things that sleep effects, like growth, the immune system, overall survival, etc. But, what we need is to leave you with some practical tools to help you sleep better. More and more post-secondary students are self-medicating to sleep, or not sleep, for various reasons. However, with more and more post-secondary students taking antidepressants it’s no surprise folks are struggling to sleep. One of the largest side effects of antidepressant medication is the suppress of REM sleep, which is the sleep that really helps you with recovery. So, what small things can we do to help us sleep better?
1. Keep a consistent wake and sleep time. This allows your body to start getting ready for when you will wake and sleep more naturally.
2. Limit food and caffeine before you want to sleep. It gives you a boost of energy that artificially causes your body to think it should still be awake.
3. Shut off screens. More and more information is known of the effects of blue light (the light given off of our electronics) on our sleep. The closer to when you want to sleep that you are on a phone, the less likely you are to fall asleep easily. Consider starting a new activity before bed to replace your social media scrolling or late-night Amazon purchases.
4. Have a warm shower or bath. The water will naturally relax the body and get your ready for bed.
5. Ensure you have a good mattress and pillow. Pillows need to be replaced at least every two years and mattresses every 8-15 years depending on the type of mattress you own. Over time, the support they provide is no longer available and can affect your sleep drastically.
6. Do not do work in bed. Do not do schoolwork or work in bed. Try to have a desk or table to do those activities.
7. Make your bedroom cozy. Make it your space to the best of your ability. Have low, warm lighting. If you want lots of pillows, have lots of pillows. Do what you can to make it easier to sleep.
Now, these are great but there are also some more major lifestyle changes to consider.
1. Smoking cessation. All types of smoking, from vaping to traditional cigarettes, have known links in sleep disruption due to a few factors. The major issues are that it causes an inability to fall into REM sleep, smokers become light sleepers because of it, and due to nicotine withdrawal, smokers tend to wake up every 3 to 4 hours.
2. Drug use. There is a lot of research on diet pills and decongestants causing the brain to sleep. Similarly, steroids, alcohol, prescriptions, and illegal drugs have been shown to cause sleep disturbances.
Finally, how much sleep should we aim for?
Assuming everyone that is reading this is at least 17 years old, adults need a range to 7 to 10 hours of sleep, most folks 19 and older needed between 7 to 9 hours. However, there is individual difference. Some folks are okay with 6 hours based on their natural clocks while others need closer to 10 hours.
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