Dumb Medicine

Sleep is something that everyone holds dear. Well, people who aren’t getting enough sleep anyway. Most people find it difficult to get to sleep at some point in their life, and they will try almost anything to help them. I want to share what I’ve found on how to get a restful night’s sleep, but first we gotta talk about the basics.

What is sleep for

The fact of the matter is we don’t really know why we sleep. We recognize it’s an important part of daily life and that most mammals do it, but we have no exact idea how it works. The most common belief is that sleep gives the brain a chance to reorganize the previous day’s events. It is also thought that sleep helps repair damage done to the body and reset emotional stress experienced during the day.

I find when I wake up from a restful night’s sleep I focus better on my day-to-day tasks, and my body is certainly more refreshed. I basically have a new starting point for my emotions which allows me to be more effective in whatever challenges arise. We don’t know exactly how these processes work, but we know sleep is necessary.

How to think about sleep

The first step to getting a restful night’s sleep is to realize what sleep is. Natural sleep is a response to the physical, mental, and emotional stress of the day. I actually have a friend to thank for this revelation.  I was in my first year of university and had an 8 am class the next morning. It was around 1 am, but I wasn’t quite tired yet. I told my friend I had to go to sleep because I had class in the morning. He pointed out that you shouldn’t sleep unless you’re tired. Since then, I’ve avoided going to bed unless I was tired and I’ve slept much better.

It is my contention that if you plan on continuously having a good night’s sleep, you should not try to get extra sleep before you need it. I believe you end up sleeping lighter, taking longer to get to sleep, and decreasing the quality of your sleep. Instead, catch up on your sleep when you’re tired, and you will slowly start to sleep better.

Our goal is not to have a good night’s sleep one night, and a crappy one the next. Our goal is to provide good sleeping patterns consistently.

Stop keeping yourself up

What I’ve been talking about so far has been how to naturally get yourself to sleep. The problem is most people do things that keep themselves up.  An example of this would be having a cup of coffee 10 minutes before you go to bed. Some people can do this, especially if they’ve been drinking coffee for years, but this is not the case for most people. If you’re having trouble sleeping though, you may want to take an audit of things you do right before bed. As a disclaimer, these activities don’t cause sleep deprivation in all people, but they have the propensity to do so:

• Drinking caffeine before bed
• Having a shower right before bed
• Exercising late at night
• Eating food high in sugar before bed
• Stimulating your mind (e.g. doing work)
• Using a computer right before bed
• Drinking alcohol
• Taking stimulating medications
• Napping during the day
• Using your bed for activities other than sleep (e.g. writing this article)
• Having an inconsistent schedule

So if you do any of these things just before bed, then STOP, at least temporarily. They may be causing you to have sleep difficulties. Unfortunately this is going to be trial and error until we can find out what works for you. After you’ve tried eliminating activities that may prevent you from sleeping, it’s time to looking into ways to help you sleep.

Put yourself to sleep

Now that we’ve talked about things that may be preventing you from sleeping, we now need to discuss methods to make it easier to sleep. You’re probably familiar with most of these so I’ll try to shed some light on how they work and their place in your life.

Relax your mind by trying these two relaxation techniques:

• Progressive muscle relaxation: Lightly tense each muscle or muscle group for 2 seconds at a time starting with your face. Move down your body and if you’re still awake by the time you get to your little toe, start over.
• Relaxation by quieting the mind: Picture a calm flow of relaxation from your mind outwards to the rest of your body. Take it slowly, relax your abdominal breathing, and redirect any thoughts towards neutral thoughts.

Increasing physical tiredness:

Most people do not get enough exercise to leave them physically tired at the end of the day. Supplementing this to your daily routine may have a drastic effect on your sleep patterns. Consider one of the following:

• Add 30 minutes of walking, jogging, or biking a day to increase your heart rate.
• Lifting weights without significant breaks between sets can have the same cardiovascular effect.

Sleep restriction:

• Staying in bed longer to make up for lost sleep shifts your circadian rhythm later into the night.
• This causes you to have more difficulty sleeping the next night.
• By limiting the amount of sleep that you receive, you counteract the tendency to stay in bed longer and force the body to be more efficient with its sleep.
• After several days of this, your body adjusts to shorter sleep times and gets more out each sleep period.

Medicines your doctor may recommend for insomnia:

It’s important to note that medications should be your last resort for getting a restful night’s sleep. Use of sleep medications can cause a physical dependence, and even worsen insomnia when you stop taking them. The following are examples of medicines your doctor may recommend:

• Benadryl (diphenhydramine) taken just before bed.
• Melatonin taken as a supplement.
• Prescription drugs which you should talk to your doctor about.

Methods you should not try:

These methods have shown little effect in helping people get to sleep, and stay asleep. Moreover, they have shown the potential to cause damage or actually decrease the amount of sleep you get. It’s best to avoid them.

• Alcohol should never be used to get to sleep.
  • It helps you get to sleep initially, but your body works to counteract the alcohol while you’re sleeping.
  • When the drowsiness effect of the alcohol is gone, you’re left with your body’s counteraction effect which can wake you up.
• Valerian root is a common herbal supplement recommended for sleep.
  • Little benefit has been shown in studies.
  • Can cause damage to you liver.

In summary

If you’re having trouble sleeping, you should  follow each of the  recommendations below in order:

• Establish your own thoughts about how you sleep.
• Eliminate activities that keep you from sleeping.
• Practice activities that help you get to sleep.
• Quiet your mind before you go to sleep.
• Turn to your doctor and medicines as a last resort.

Thanks for reading, and I hope this was helpful.

-DM