The Importance of Sleep
Sleep is important to our health, this is something I think most of us are aware of. Yet, how many of us are aware of the impacts of poor sleep, and what “good” sleep looks like? Sleep health, also known as sleep hygiene, is something a lot of us take for granted and don't pay much attention to beyond clocking in a certain amount of hours. This article is going to explore the impacts of bad sleep, what can be done to improve our sleep, and that it is much more than just getting the right number of hours.
Whilst the exact function of sleep is not 100% known, we do know that it is very important to our physical and mental health and not getting any of it can cause problems, and even in extreme cases death. Our body does a lot when we sleep, including consolidation of our day's memories, healing any wounds, and resting our muscles and organs, ready for the next day. This is why it can be important to start by looking at our sleep when trying to work out the causes of any physical or mental stresses we might be facing. How about we have a look at the impact of poor quality or quantity of sleep so we get a better idea of not only why sleep is important but also the potential consequences of having poor quality or quantity of sleep?
Impacts of Bad Sleep:
Exploring the impact of poor quality or quantity of sleep can be important, as sleep is often overlooked as the cause of some quite serious health problems. Whilst sleep is not the sole culprit of many of these health problems, tackling sleep is often far easier, and less invasive, than alternative approaches. This allows us to rule out sleep as a cause before seeking more complex solutions.
Due to sleep being important for memory consolidation, one of the first changes you might notice when lacking sleep is brain fog. Brain fog is when it becomes harder to think clearly, we might forget things or have difficulty remembering at first. Brain fog also adds to our stress levels, making us both more irritable, but also making it harder to regulate our emotions in general. This is a feeling I am sure we have all had at least once when we have not had enough sleep and feel “cranky” and out of sorts, a type of “sleep drunk” if you will. Beyond this feeling of crankiness our reaction times can also become slowed, just think about all those “don't drive tired” signs, this is why. This can be an odd, even funny feeling, but when it is a frequent occurrence and is maintained by poor quality or quantity of sleep it can create serious problems for our health. Being in a constant state of “brain fog” can produce symptoms that can imitate ADHD, which only worsens when sleep deprivation is prolonged. For people with ADHD, sleep deprivation can worsen their symptoms, and increase the frequency and severity.
Maintaining poor quality or quantity of sleep for longer can begin to have impacts on our immune system, increase the strain on our heart, and we begin to gain new aches, pains, and even tremors. Sleep is also responsible for managing our appetite as the natural hormones that suppress appetite are produced during sleep, and this is also when a large portion of the work of our metabolism happens. All in all, this means when we lack sleep we burn off fewer calories, and our appetite is less suppressed so we eat more than we normally would. What this boils down to is that poor quality or quantity of sleep can lead to issues with obesity, and all the health issues that can come with it. Additionally, poor quality or quantity of sleep can suppress our physical growth, this is especially true for teenagers who are going through a lot of bodily changes, including growth, and disruption to these systems can have a lasting impact.
Lastly, the look of being tired is more than just a look. Sleep is responsible for our skin health. Getting poor quality or quantity of sleep reduces our overall skin health, increasing chances of paleness, spots, and sores, and as stated above we heal slower so any marks and blemishes are likely to remain for longer. So let's have a look at what can cause our sleep habits to become bad.
Causes of Bad Sleep:
Many factors can impact the quality and quantity of sleep that we get, to try and keep this brief we shall have a quick look at some of the more common factors impacting our sleep. Yet first we need to understand that sleep should not be seen as separate instances but as an ongoing part of our health. Sleep debt is the term used when we do not get enough sleep regularly because we cannot adapt to less sleep than we need, and nor does one long sleep a week stop us from accruing more sleep debt. We need consistent good sleep to balance out this sleep debt.
Trauma and anxiety are two major players when it comes to impacting our sleep. Sleep issues are unsurprisingly common for people who have experienced trauma, this is because trauma can cause our bodies and our brains to be at a heightened level of stimulation due to being flooded with hormones which keep us awake (such as adrenaline and cortisol), and in turn, make it difficult for us to relax and switch off enough for sleep. This is our brain's trying to keep us awake and alert as a means of protecting ourselves from further trauma, so whilst our brain is trying to help it is hindering our ability to rest and heal. Additionally, as sleep is a chance for our brains to consolidate memories, people who have experienced trauma are much more likely to experience nightmares as the brain processes these memories. Unfortunately, this makes sleep feel less desirable. Much like trauma, anxiety can be disruptive to our sleep habits as anxiety can cause hypervigilance making getting to and staying asleep much harder. Most techniques that aim at calming our thoughts also aid in helping those with anxiety get to sleep.
Whilst I am not a doctor, I am aware that there can be issues regarding trauma, anxiety and sleep when it comes to medication. Certain common medications for sleep, such as Zopiclone, can make those with trauma find sleep worse as it can increase our likelihood of experiencing flashbacks. Additionally, Benzodiazepines which are often prescribed to treat severe anxiety can interfere with the process of sleep. Again, I am not a doctor, and if you have any concerns about your medication then speak to a medical professional such as your GP.
Sleep disorders are, unsurprisingly, another cause of sleep issues for many people, this includes those near those with sleep disorders. Sleep disorders come in lots of different shapes and sizes. They deserve an article to themselves, and not to be summarized in a few lines. The important note is that a lot of what helps sleep in general is worth trying if you have a sleep disorder.
Another important influence on the quality and quantity of sleep that we get is our work. Shift work, such as rotating or always changing start and end times to our work schedule, can have a significant impact on our sleep, as it stops us from having a consistent sleep pattern. Unfortunately, short of finding a new job, the only change people working varying shifts can make is to focus on making all their other sleep habits as good as possible.
What Good Sleep Looks Like:
What is considered good quality and quantity of sleep varies depending on a variety of factors. Generally speaking, if you are an adult you are aiming to get seven to eight hours of sleep a day to have the right quantity of sleep (teenagers need nine to ten hours, and pregnant people need eight plus hours). Yet quantity is only half of the equation, so let's have a look at what counts as quality sleep.
Good sleep starts with a good routine, a big factor in healthy sleep is a regular sleep cycle. Going to bed at the same time every day goes a long way to helping your body and your brain to have consistency to do their job. Think of it like your own work, if you never knew when your work day started until about half an hour before, you would never feel ready to start and probably not do a great job. Unfortunately, unlike work, your body clock needs consistency as much as possible, so try and minimize late nights and long lies in the morning.
This routine continues into our habits at nighttime and in our bedroom. When, and what, we eat has a big impact on our sleep, so having an awareness of this can help our sleep. Certain foods should be avoided close to bedtime, such as caffeine, alcohol, and sugary foods as these can all disrupt your sleep, as can eating heavy meals or drinking lots of fluids close to bedtime. I am not saying that you cannot enjoy a good meal or a late night out, but if you make the habit of drinking loads of alcohol, eating a giant kebab at 2 am and then passing out the moment you get in the door, then don't expect to have a good restful night sleep. A note on alcohol, because I can hear somebody thinking “But a glass of alcohol helps me sleep”, While it might make it easier to fall asleep, it does not keep us asleep and will likely cause sudden awakening, with increased difficulty to fall back asleep, and therefore poor quality sleep overall.
Our bedroom itself and how we approach sleep can impact how well we sleep. Our brains are great at forming habits and therefore if we use our bedroom for only sleeping this helps our brain associate being in bed with going to sleep. Developing a routine around sleep can be more than just beneficial to your sleep it can help you unwind and relax more in general. Making an active effort to avoid stressors just before bed can aid in our mind switching off, instead of scrolling through the horrible world news pick up a book which helps you escape a bit, or do some relaxation techniques such as meditation. This achieves removing a stressor and removing some blue light which we are supposed to avoid in the hour leading up to sleep. In addition to this, having a bedroom which is quiet, dark, and cool (around 16°C) aids in our body switching from being awake to being asleep.
During the day we can impact our coming night's sleep by keeping up some form of regular exercise, even taking the dog out for a thirty-minute walk can make a big difference, as long as it is not right before bed. Annoyingly exercise, like our diet, has a big impact on both our health and our sleep.
If you are looking to make changes to your sleep patterns, or trying to track what best helps and doesn't help how well you sleep, then I would strongly recommend some form of sleep diary. Whilst there are apps and sleep trackers out there, all they do is measure heart rate and, breathing, not brainwaves which is what is needed to track the true quality of sleep. A sleep diary won't track brain waves, but it will get you much closer to understanding the influences on a good night's sleep than any app or device will. A sleep diary is a diary where you track all sorts of information related to sleep, it can be a handy thing to work into your evening and morning routine. Just search sleep diary in any search engine and there are a wealth of different ways and means to doing them.
Ultimately, if you are looking to change your sleep habits, I would recommend doing it slowly, as lots of major changes can be overwhelming to do all at once. If sleep is something you have struggled with for a long time, perhaps speaking to somebody might be a good idea, I would suggest a GP and/or therapist, depending on what's best for you. A GP would be able to help rule out any underlying medical issues that are impacting your sleep, whereas a therapist could help with any troubling thoughts or stressors that are keeping you awake and occupying your mind. No matter what you decide to do with all this information I hope you have found it helpful, and I hope you have a good, restful, night's sleep.