Sleep

What is sleep hygiene?

• Sleep hygiene refers to the healthy habits, routines, and practices that promote good, restorative sleep.
• Maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, even on the weekends, is imperative to help you fall asleep and wake up more easily.
• Young adults need approximately 7-9 hours of sleep per night. This is enough time for you not just to rest but to execute vital functions for your mind and body, including organizing memories and maintaining your immune system.

What is circadian rhythm?

• The circadian rhythm is an internal biological clock that governs the cycles of wakefulness and sleepiness over 24 hours. Your circadian rhythm also impacts other bodily functions like hormone production, digestion for protein creation, and more.
• Lightness and darkness are some of the biggest external influences on your circadian rhythm, but other things such as the last time you ate, stress levels, temperature, recent travel, and much more can influence this cycle.

The sleep cycle:

• While we sleep, our brains go through four stages in a roughly 90-minute cycle (that repeats throughout the night). 
  • Stage 1 is the lightest, lasting only a few minutes.
  • During stage 2, our brains organize memories and information from the day.
  • Stage 3 repairs injuries and reinforces our immune systems.
  • Finally, stage four assists with memory consolidation, emotional processing, and brain development.
• NREM sleep = Non-rapid eye movement sleep. The “more restful” stages of sleep take you from a light sleep (easily woken up) to a deep sleep (hard to wake up) NREM sleep improves your immune system, constructs bone and muscle, and repairs body tissues. There are four stages of NREM sleep, with stage one being the lightest and stage four being the deepest sleep.
• REM sleep = Rapid eye movement sleep which occurs after the four stages of NREM sleep. The stage of sleep is largely associated with dreaming. REM sleep betters your memory, and mood regulation, and lowers your risk of dementia.

• A common myth is that a person can “make up” for a poor night of sleep by sleeping more the next night or on the weekends. 
• This leads to sleep debt, which occurs when we sleep fewer hours than our bodies need. Research shows it takes four days to recover from one hour of sleep debt.
• Variations in sleep schedules can cause grogginess, low mood, attention issues, and other sleep problems.
• Another common myth is that, all-nighters help with studying and academic performance. Even if they seem like a useful way to study, all-nighters can cause serious negative health issues, both in the short- and long term.
  • Short-term: reduces attention span and concentration, impairs working memory, increases irritability and anxiety, impairs physical capabilities like running, and increases sensitivity to pain.
  • Long-term: increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, immunodeficiencies, mental health disorders
  • If you must do an all-nighter, try to return to your normal sleep schedule the following night. A long afternoon nap seems tempting, but this will throw off your sleep schedule more.

 

Everyone may experience difficulty sleeping every once in a while, but consistently having difficulty sleeping may be an indication of larger underlying issues. Many different types of sleep disorders can impact your quality of sleep, when you fall asleep, and the duration of sleep that you experience. If you are regularly experiencing difficulty sleeping, having difficulty completing regular daytime activities, and feeling tired throughout the day despite getting 7-9 hours of sleep, it’s important to talk to your primary care provider or a medical professional to explore why you might be experiencing these symptoms.

Types of Sleep Disorders

Different categories of sleep disorders are grouped by the symptoms, how they affect a person, and the body system they affect. Below are some of the more common ones

• Insomnia is a sleep disorder that impedes your ability to fall or stay asleep.

• Short-term insomnia lasts for a few days or weeks, while chronic insomnia lasts for three or more months

• Sleep-related breathing disorders, such as sleep apnea, cause changes in your breathing while you sleep
• Parasomnias are physical actions or vocalisations that someone does while asleep, such as sleepwalking.
• Sleep-related movement disorders, such as restless legs syndrome, involve physical movements or the urge to move that makes it difficult to fall or stay asleep.

Even if you don’t meet the criteria for a sleep disorder, sleep disruptions can still be challenging and disruptive to daily life. If sleep issues are affecting your daily life, consider speaking with a healthcare professional to understand the underlying cause. For additional guidance, explore our tips and reminders for working on improving your sleep hygiene!

• Get bright light exposure in the morning. Sunlight can help tell your circadian rhythm what time it is.
• You can use a light therapy lamp if there isn’t much sunlight. You can check out a goLITE Blu light therapy lamp for 2 weeks from the Lewis & Clark Office of Health Promotion & Wellness in Fowler 110!
• Take short naps. A 20-minute nap can improve mood, alertness, concentration, and short-term memory. It’s best to take them in the early afternoon to avoid impeding your nighttime sleep.
• Exercise helps you fall asleep faster and reduces the likelihood of sleep disorders like insomnia. Engaging in 30 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise daily can reap these benefits. Some examples of moderate aerobic exercise include brisk walking, biking, or swimming.
• Avoid caffeine in the late afternoon and evening fewer than six hours before bed. Drinking caffeinated beverages even six hours before bed can reduce your sleep by more than one hour.
• Create a relaxing wind-down routine in the evenings. This might include stretching, reading, or listening to soft music.
• Try to put electronic devices away at least an hour before bed to give your brain ample time to relax before bed. Devices emit blue light, which the brain interprets as daylight. They can also keep our minds active, making it harder to fall asleep. If you aren’t used to putting your phone away before bed, start by putting it away 30 minutes before bed, 45 minutes before, and so on. Use earplugs and a sleep mask if you can’t eliminate sources of light and noise in your room.

Reminders About Forming Sleep Habits

• It can be challenging to form a new habit, like improving your sleep. To make things easier, start small. For example, you could add one daytime habit a week and learn how to build it into your routine before you add another new habit. This way, you can make gradual and long-term changes.
• Habits are important, but if there are days when you can’t meet your sleep goals, be kind to yourself and remember that you’re working towards better sleep hygiene, not perfection.
• If you want a four-week journal guide to improve your sleep habits, check out our sleep journal here. Download it locally to your computer in order to fill it out online.
• The guide takes you through reflective journaling (about 5 minutes a day) on your sleep habits and setting a new goal each week to help improve your habits.
• This journal is self-paced and the challenge can be started at any time! However, if you’re also looking for external accountability, there are certain times throughout the academic year when The Health Promotion office will conduct larger campus-wide challenges with incentives. Follow our Instagram (@lclark_wellness) for communications about those dates!