Sleep - Setting Yourself Up for Success

We know we feel our best when we're well-rested, and yet we tend to burn the candle at both ends all too often, depriving ourselves of the very real benefits to our long-term health.

What happens when we sleep? Some beneficial things that go on during sleep are that our muscles relax, our heart rate slows down, our bodies heal, and our memories are processed and consolidated (a crucial part of learning). Adequate sleep also helps to regulate hunger hormones during our waking hours - have you ever noticed how food cravings for higher energy foods increase after a poor night's sleep? Prioritizing sleep can help you set yourself up for nutrition success, too.

How much sleep do you need? Simple answer - it varies. Young children, for example, need a lot more sleep, as do people who are fighting off germs. Yes, that age-old advice to focus on fluids and rest when you're under the weather is scientifically valid. The immune system uses a lot of energy when actively fighting off infections or engaged in major healing (like recovering from surgery or accidental injuries). Most adults should aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night, but there are certainly exceptions to that.

If it varies, how can you figure out your own sleep requirement? One way is to test it out when there is no schedule to keep. When you're on vacation and don't set your alarm, how long do you naturally sleep? That's a good target to shoot for in terms of setting sleep goals for when you're living 'back in the real world'. Try it out after you've settled in for a couple of days and are past the 'catching up on sleep' stage or the 'getting used to a different sleep environment' stage if you're vacationing away from home.

Once you know how much sleep your body really needs, you can set yourself up for success at home. Build your bedtime routine around that much actual sleep. If you find that you function best at 7 1/2 hours, start your bedtime routine at least 8 hours before you have to get up.

Practicing what's known as good 'sleep hygiene' can help a lot of people shorten the time from starting to get ready to falling asleep. Some common elements of good sleep hygiene involve:

• Limiting exposure to blue light (unfiltered screen time). If screen time is an important part of your winding down routine, check your device settings to see if there is a built in mode to reduce blue light, or try wearing blue-light filtering glasses like gaming glasses.

• Limiting caffeine intake for some amount of time before bedtime is considered helpful for most people (again, the specific time frame varies by person - and it can change as we age and our tolerance for caffeine changes). Start with avoiding caffeine after lunch and see how things go.

• Establishing a regular sleep schedule - going to bed and waking up at the same time no matter what day of the week it is.

• Creating a relaxing sleep environment - adjust the temperature and lighting, replace pillows and bedding if they're not working for you, use comfortable earplugs or a white noise machine if your situation includes road noise, neighbor noise, or other sounds that interrupt your ability to drift off.

• Limit alcohol intake before bedtime. This can seem counterintuitive, as alcohol can make you feel sleepy, but it interrupts your sleep cycles and interferes with quality of sleep once you've fallen asleep.

• Establishing a regular bedtime routine that is relaxing for you. Do the things that calm you and don't get your heart rate up - try a warm bath/shower, reading a book, listening to music that calms you, meditation, aromatherapy, etc.

• Exercising regularly, but not right before bed.

• Eating a balanced diet, rich in micronutrients.

If you're struggling to feel well-rested and you're doing all the right things in terms of setting yourself up for success, consider talking to your primary care doctor about a sleep study.