Sleep - R & R

Although the four groups we will balance in this program are interdependent we have to start somewhere and I always begin with my patients' sleep. Sleep is more important than most people think. R & R don't mean just rest and relaxation, to me they mean repair and restore because that is what is going on during a normal, healthy sleep cycle. Here is the breakdown. An ideal sleep cycle is 8 hours long from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am. You should fall asleep within 10 minutes, stay asleep all night and wake up naturally (without and alarm clock) feeling energetic and alert. "Ha!", you say. Yes, I know this is not the picture for most people but more startling is the fact that most people don't even realize their sleep habits are off or how that is affecting their health. During the first 4 hours our bodies undergo physical repair inside and out - scratches, bruises, bone and muscle repair. All the physical, cellular repair happens during the first half of the sleep cycle. The second 4 hours brings on chemical repair. It's the time when we make brain chemistry and hormones. All the chemicals that regulate mood, sleep, reproductive function and healthy hormonal levels. Now I don't know how the body prioritizes what needs to get done most urgently but if you are not sleeping long enough or well enough something is not getting gone. If you are waking up feeling and looking tired with sallow skin or bags under your eyes and achy joints you are not getting proper physical repair. If you are mentally fuzzy, anxious, depressed or having sugar cravings you have not had proper chemical repair. Interrupted sleep is interrupted repair. No, you should not be getting up at all to go to the bathroom regardless of how much water you drank before bed. Unless you have a diagnosed bladder issue, you should sleep deeply enough so that your bladder function slows down and holds until you wake up. So how do we make this happen? Here are some things to consider.

First, let's address the falling asleep issue. I find it is most often one of two things - food or thinking especially worry. If you are a coffee drinker keep in mind that coffee has a 12 hour half life. That means that it takes 12 hours for 1/2 of the caffeine to leave your system so if you had that last Starbucks at 3 pm it is still alive and kicking at 3 am. Other keep-you-up foods include chocolate, any caffeinated beverages, sugar and alcohol. If you are peri-menopausal all of these will contribute to poor sleep because they affect your hormones. If you are waking up due to night sweats you must stop all of these foods and drinks in order for the night sweats to cease. If you must, use them sparingly and as early in the day as possible to keep them from affecting your sleep and messing with your hormones. As for you worry warts, you need to journal. Keep a notebook or journal by your bed and write about your day, your concerns, your ideas, what you did well today, what you will work on tomorrow and let it all go. I find that writing things down gets them out of my head. I feel like I've done something about it so I can move on to something else, like sleeping. It also gives you time to wind down and relax. When you are done journaling, turn off the light, lay flat on your back and take ten deep breathes filling your lungs from the bottom up and exhaling from the top down. This is called belly breathing, it's how babies and young children breathe naturally. Yoga or tai chi at bed time are good if done slowly and quietly for 5-10 minutes. Now there are some of you who believe that you are a "night person". Here is the gauge - if you are vibrant, energetic, healthy and fit staying up until 3 am and getting 3 hours sleep, you are right, you are a night person. If you have any chronic degenerative disease like CFS, arthritis, high cholesterol, depression, allergies, digestive issues, hormonal issues, diabetes or struggle with your weight, you are not a night person you are a person who stays up too late. Go to bed, get your r & r, repair and restore, watch your life change.

Next is staying asleep. I ask my patients if they stay asleep all night and most people say yes. Then I ask how many times they get up to go to the bathroom and most people say at least once and up to 4 times. How is that staying asleep all night? Just because you aren't up reading magazines doesn't mean you stay asleep all night, the sleep cycle is interrupted. For many people it is a stress response. The body gets so exhausted that it wakes up early just to get you going on time. It's like starting the car before breakfast to warm it up so it can go when you are ready to. You body's engine is so depleted that it gives you an early false start so you can wake up on time. There is how you can tell if this is the case - if you wake up every night at the same time, usually between 3-4 am. Pay attention when you get up, your bladder isn't really full, it's just the reason you give yourself to justify the unexplained waking. So there it is, now you know why you wake up, it's a stress response and here is how you stop it. First become aware of your bladder, if it isn't really full hold it and try to go back to sleep without getting up. The bathroom thing becomes a habit that you can break. Breathe deeply and tell yourself you can wait until you get up. It may be uncomfortable the first night or two but if it is just a habit you should be fine by the third night. Be sure you urinate before getting into bed. The other common cause is low blood sugar. If you have a carb heavy dinner or a big dessert, ice cream or cereal before bed you can become hypoglycemic during the night and that will wake you up. Be sure your dinner is balanced and contains enough good protein. If you need a snack before bed have a few nuts. If it's night sweats waking you up, again stop all caffeine, sugar and alcohol as these affect your hormones negatively.

Whatever the reason you have interrupted sleep we know your adrenals are involved. The adrenal glands the little caps that sit on your kidneys which regulate a tremonous amount body functions by producing a hormone called cortisol. Most of us are running in 5th gear so our adrenals are working over time and they get tired. So take Vit. C and a B-Complex in the morning. These help strengthen adrenal function and will give your body a greater ability to handle stress. As a health care provider I can recommend herbs or supplements if these suggestions are not helpful or only take you part of the way. If you have already tried a few that didn't work it could be the formulas were not appropriate for your particular sleep issue. Sometimes it's not as easy as "take this and call me in the morning" and we already know one size does not fit all. So feel free to post questions, I am here to help you get on track and get to sleep. Remember, I started out saying that the four areas we will balance - sleep, exercise, diet/nutrition and hormones- are interdependent. That means poor sleep will affect the other areas. Next time when we will explore how sleep and exercise are connected.

Until next time - nightie-night.