Night Moves: Improving Sleep Habits
ONE OF MY PATIENTS, Andrea, is a newly married, high-powered Wall Street executive in her early forties. She sleeps 4 hours a night and says she wakes up “naturally,” which she interprets as a sign that she just doesn’t require much sleep. Yet Andrea complains about never being able to relax, having “constant worry and anxiety,” and being “brutally cranky” with her spouse over mundane household matters (like his leaving the toilet seat up). She didn’t see these behavior changes and symptoms as signs of exhaustion—but they are. I told her this and suggested she take steps to improve the length and quality of her sleep. At first, she was reluctant to spend more time sleeping because she was so focused on getting things done. But she gradually decided to try to improve the quantity and quality of her sleep for the sake of her mood and her marriage. With the help of meditation, cognitive behavioral therapy (to cope with anxiety), and aromatherapy, within a matter of weeks Andrea noticed an improvement in her state of mind.
We live in a culture where many people, like Andrea, operate according to the principle that “if you snooze, you lose.” I see this frequently among patients in my practice, coworkers in the TV world, and my friends. Some high-achieving people who manage to get by on very little shut-eye even view it as a point of pride, or a badge of honor, that they can cram more into their days than the rest of us.
Lack of sleep has practically become part of our modern lifestyle—and it has wide-ranging effects on both a personal and a societal level. Sleeping is very important for good health. In the most recent Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which included 74,751 adult respondents, 38 percent reported unintentionally falling asleep during the day at least once in the preceding month, and 5 percent reported nodding off or falling asleep while driving at least once in the preceding month.
The US Department of Transportation estimates that drowsy driving is responsible for 1,550 fatalities and 40,000 nonfatal injuries each year in the United States—a serious threat to public health! On a more personal health note, what many of these chronic under sleepers may not realize is that eventually, if they don’t snooze long enough or well enough on a regular basis, they will pay a price with their health, well-being, and/or functionality. That’s because sleep isn’t an inactive state as experts used to believe.
On the contrary, sleep is a highly restorative process that allows you to recover from the previous day and prepare for the next one; think of sleep as a forced time-out for the body and mind. While you’re asleep, hormones, including human growth hormone, are released to regulate metabolism, organ function, appetite, and the growth, maintenance, and repair of muscles, tissues, and bones throughout the body. While you’re sleeping, your immune system is fortified. Your heart and vascular system get a much-needed rest during non-REM sleep. Then your heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure can rise and fall during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, a phenomenon that seems to improve cardiovascular health.
A good night’s sleep assists with learning because long-term memories are consolidated and embedded while you slumber. Meanwhile, as you snooze, your skin renews itself, shedding old cells and replacing them with new ones, and important neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) that affect everything from your mood to your senses of hunger and fullness after eating are released. And sleep allows us to conserve energy—as evidenced by the fact that both body temperature and calorie-burning decrease during sleep—which leaves us feeling reinvigorated the next day.
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