6 Tips To Improve Your Sleep.

1. If you struggle to fall asleep at night one of the first things you should look at is the environment you're sleeping in. Are you on your phone right before you go to sleep? If so your brain interprets the light on your phone similarly to the way it interprets the sun in the sky. Essentially telling your brain that it's light out, it's time to be awake, and not time to sleep. While screen time and bright lights before bed are a big contributor to our modern day sleep issues it's also one of the easiest yet hardest to stop. Many of us have made it a habit to where we fall asleep to a tv show or scroll through Instagram at night to take our mind away from work or other stressors. Habits are hard to quit. If you find yourself in the pattern of wanting to watch TV right before bed or scrolling through instagram try to switch up the activity you're doing. Instead of throwing on Netflix dim the lights and read a book, instead of scrolling through Instagram dim the lights pull out a piece of paper and journal or doodle. One of the best ways to stop a habit or form a new habit is to replace it with something as, or more enjoyable. If you're dreading reading instead of Netflix, or doodling instead of scrolling you're not very likely to change the habit long term. To replace your bright light activity find an activity that you think you'll enjoy in a less bright setting. Many people use the supplement melatonin to fall asleep, I would recommend against this and you can learn more about that here, darkness is what allows our body to naturally release melatonin to help us fall asleep. We need darkness to fall asleep.
   Tip 1 for better sleep. Put down the phone. Shut the laptop.

2. Next is caffeine. I love coffee. I drink at least 2 cups of coffee a day and at one time I was drinking about 10+ cups a day. However, caffeine is a stimulant that's great at waking us up and keeping us awake. If you remember from earlier our body runs on a 24 hour clock and right upon waking up there are some key processes that occur to help set our brain and body up for the day. In an ideal world we would let our body wake up for about 90 minutes before we drank our first cup of coffee or other type of caffeine. More importantly though when it comes to caffeine your last cup of coffee or can of coke is going to make more of an impact on your sleep. Caffeine takes around 10-12 hours to become no longer active in the body. That means that to maximize your sleep you would ideally have your last serving of caffeine 10-12 hours before going to bed.

   Tip 2 for better sleep. Stop your caffeine intake 10-12 hours before your desired bed time

3. Schedule Sleep. Your body and brain love structure. Especially when it comes to sleep. We wake up with an alarm but we don't necessarily schedule a time that we got to bed each night. Setting a sleep schedule where you are falling asleep and getting in bed at the same time every night both on weekdays and weekends can be a game-changer for sustaining a pattern of quality sleep. Putting time aside each night to wind down can also help us fall asleep faster. While many of us hope to be able to just hop into bed and fall asleep the majority of us need some time to wind-down and relax.

   Tip 3. Make yourself a bedtime and evening wind down.

4. Keep it cool. According to sleep scientist Matt Walker when falling asleep our body needs to drop its core temperature by 2-3 degrees. To both fall asleep and stay asleep our body prefers this cooler temperature. If you're someone that struggles to fall asleep and stay asleep this is an easy way to try and improve your sleep. Put a fan on yourself or lower your AC by 2-3 degrees before bed to help you fall asleep faster.

   Tip 4. Cool yourself down.

5. Have you ever had one of those night where you lay in bed, 20 minutes goes by and you're still just as awake as when you laid down? When this occurs its best to get up do an activity like going for a walk or reading a book then returning to bed when you start to feel tired again. Our brain is associative, meaning that if we continue to try and force ourselves to sleep when we are awake our brain will associate bed with being awake. Rather than tossing and turning and ruminating on the fact that you're struggling to fall asleep change what you're doing then return to bed when you become sleepy. This has been huge for me especially when I wake up thinking about work and am unable to fall back asleep. I'll simply get up, read about 10 pages of a book and before I know it I'm struggling to stay awake.

   Tip 5. Don't ruminate on not sleeping. Change what you're doing and then return to bed when you're tired.

6. Last but not least, my personal favorite. Yoga Nidra. Yoga Nidra is not typically what we think of when we think of yoga. There are no positions, no stretches to hold, but rather Yoga Nidra is a conscious process of relaxation that is brought on through breathing, relaxation techniques, and visualization. Yoga Nidra is my favorite because it is backed by research and it is my go to when I am having those extremely restless nights and it seems like the brain just doesn't to want to slow down. Yoga Nidra videos and audio can be found on Youtube and other apps, but my personal favorite is using Insight Meditation Timer that can be downloaded here free.

   Tip 6. Bring yourself into a relaxed state with Yoga Nidra.

As always I hope you enjoyed our blog, find it helpful, and if you have any questions or topics you would like to be covered more in depth feel free to reach out to me at drcoffman@optimizecolumbus.com

References

1. Touitou Y, Reinberg A, Touitou D. Association between light at night, melatonin secretion, sleep deprivation, and the internal clock: Health impacts and mechanisms of circadian disruption. Life Sci. 2017 Mar 15;173:94-106. doi: 10.1016/j.lfs.2017.02.008. Epub 2017 Feb 16. PMID: 28214594.

2. Hisler G, Twenge JM, Krizan Z. Associations between screen time and short sleep duration among adolescents varies by media type: evidence from a cohort study. Sleep Med. 2020 Feb;66:92-102. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2019.08.007. Epub 2019 Aug 26. PMID: 31838456.

3. McHill AW, Smith BJ, Wright KP Jr. Effects of caffeine on skin and core temperatures, alertness, and recovery sleep during circadian misalignment. J Biol Rhythms. 2014 Apr;29(2):131-43. doi: 10.1177/0748730414523078. PMID: 24682207.

4. Datta K, Tripathi M, Verma M, Masiwal D, Mallick HN. Yoga nidra practice shows improvement in sleep in patients with chronic insomnia: A randomized controlled trial. Natl Med J India. 2021 May-Jun;34(3):143-150. doi: 10.25259/NMJI_63_19. PMID: 34825538.

5. Kalmbach DA, Anderson JR, Drake CL. The impact of stress on sleep: Pathogenic sleep reactivity as a vulnerability to insomnia and circadian disorders. J Sleep Res. 2018 Dec;27(6):e12710. doi: 10.1111/jsr.12710. Epub 2018 May 24. PMID: 29797753; PMCID: PMC7045300