Author: Olivia Mussafer

How to Optimize Your Sleep

As promised, we could not leave you dark from our last blog post on sleep myths, and we are back with some tips and tricks to optimize sleep!

Thankfully, a significant amount of research has taken place to develop methods to enhance our ability to fall asleep and get the most out of catching some Z’s! This research is known as CBT-I or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Insomnia.

CBT-I is the most effective nonpharmacological treatment for chronic insomnia. In just a few sessions, it can produce lasting results that are equivalent to sleep medication, without the side effects and with less chance for relapse (Rossman, 2019).

There are five key components to CBT-I: Sleep Consolidation, Stimulus Control, Cognitive Restructuring, Sleep Hygiene, and Relaxation Techniques.

Sleep Consolidation

Sleep consolidation, also known as sleep restriction, brings us back to the first myth that we addressed, “If you’re having trouble falling asleep, stay in bed until you can.” Oftentimes when people are having a hard time falling asleep, they lay awake waiting to get tired. This leaves them spending more time in bed awake than asleep, which can be counterproductive and super frustrating! Instead, it’s recommended that you don’t get into bed until you are feeling tired, so that by the time that you get into bed you can fall asleep and stay asleep. In short, the suggestion is don’t crawl in bed until you’re good and tired!

Stimulus Control

The next component of CBT-I is stimulus control. Experts stress that the bed should specifically be a place for sleep, and not used for reading, watching TV, talking on the phone, eating, drinking, or working. While it can be tempting to spend all day cozy in our beds, in order to get a great night’s sleep, it is important that our bed is not associated with anxiety and wakefulness or anything but rest!

Cognitive Restructuring

When we are having a hard time falling asleep, our minds can tend to spiral. You might think, “I should have fallen asleep two hours ago! If I don’t fall asleep soon, I’ll be a wreck tomorrow and never pass my exam.” In order to change our sleep patterns, it’s important to change these thoughts into more positive ones, such as, “Even if it takes me longer to fall asleep tonight, I will still get through tomorrow.”

Sleep Hygiene

Sleep hygiene refers to a set of guidelines that promote healthy sleep. These are often the guidelines that we hear about but might be more hesitant to enforce. These include: Go to bed at the same time each night and wake up at the same time each day; refrain from eating and drinking alcohol 2 to 3 hours before bed; avoid exposure to bright light 2 hours before bedtime; avoid caffeine in the afternoon and evening; decrease exposure to screens 1 to 2 hours before bed. While you might be reading through this list thinking, “what a pain! Do I have to?” you aren’t alone. However, changing these habits have been proven to be worth it when it comes to improving our sleep.

Relaxation Techniques

The last component is relaxation techniques that can be done before bed. These techniques include, but are not limited to, breathing exercises, mindfulness, meditation and more. Box breathing is a personal favorite. This involves repeating the pattern of breathing in for 4 seconds, holding for 4 seconds, breathing out for 4 seconds, and holding for 4 seconds.

Hopefully CBT-I has restored your faith in your future quality of sleep and has debunked the sleep myths we discussed in our prior post.

 

Source:

Robbins, R., Grandner, M. A., Buxton, O. M., Hale, L., Buysse, D. J., Knutson, K. L.,
Patel, S. R., Troxel, W. M., Youngstedt, S. D., Czeisler, C. A., & Jean-Louis, G. (2019). Sleep myths: an expert-led study to identify false beliefs about sleep that impinge upon population sleep health practices. Sleep health, 5(4), 409–417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2019.02.002

Rossman J. (2019). Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia: An Effective and
Underutilized Treatment for Insomnia. American journal of lifestyle medicine, 13(6), 544–547. https://doi.org/10.1177/1559827619867677

 

Picture this: It’s an important night! You’ve got a big presentation tomorrow! You’re about to meet your in-laws for the first time! You’re traveling first thing in the morning! Whatever the scenario, all you want is to get a good night’s sleep, but you’re wide-awake staring at the ceiling, counting sheep. Sound familiar?

It’s likely we’ve all gone through this demoralizing experience of lying in bed and listening to the clock tick, tick, tick at some point in our lives. 

Today we’re going to go over some strategies to improve our sleep, but before we dive into those, let’s address a few sleep myths first. 

Myth 1: If you’re having trouble falling asleep, stay in bed until you can 

While it can feel counterintuitive to get out of bed when you are trying to fall asleep, experts actually recommend it. This is because it’s important to associate your bed with sleep and lying in your bed all restless can do the exact opposite. Instead of lying in bed, twiddling your thumbs, and worrying about when the sand man will come to collect you, after about 20 minutes of trying to fall asleep, get out of bed and do something relaxing like read a book (Robbins et al., 2019). 

Myth 2: Your body gets used to lack of sleep

Maybe this happens to you on a regular basis, and you tell yourself it’s fine because your body gets used to the lack of sleep. As much as we may want this to be true, this is, in fact, also a myth. Persistent lack of sleep takes a toll on you and can hinder decision-making, memory, focus, and creativity. If you’re reading this thinking, “eh, it really doesn’t seem to be catching up with me,” you may be accumulating more serious health problems that you aren’t aware of (Robbins et al., 2019). 

Myth 3: Napping makes up for lack of nighttime sleep

 Now you might be thinking, “okay fine, my sleep isn’t great at night, but I can always just take a nap the next day to get that energy boost I need!” Sadly, this is another myth. This is because during a nap, you typically won’t go through all the stages of sleep to make up for quality sleep at night. Instead, napping can throw off your sleep schedule even more, and make it harder to fall asleep later (Robbins et al., 2019).  

Myth 4: Alcohol before bed improves sleep

Okay, so naps are a no go, but what about the glass or two of wine? Another myth! While alcohol might make us feel more relaxed and drowsy, it throws off our sleep cycles which worsens the quality of our sleep and makes it harder to get into REM. It can also worsen snoring and sleep apnea. Experts also warn against caffeine in the afternoon and evening (Robbins et al., 2019). 

Myth 5: How long you sleep is all that matters

 “But as long as I’m getting enough hours of sleep, I’ll be well-rested right?” Myth. It’s not actually all about the duration of sleep. Sleep quality is also critical. It’s important that our sleep is as continuous and uninterrupted as possible in order to hit all of the stages in the sleep cycle and get optimal rest and recovery (Robbins et al., 2019). 

 If you’re now feeling discouraged from all of these sleep myths, there is some positive news…Check out our upcoming post to learn tips and tricks for optimizing sleep!

 Source:

Robbins, R., Grandner, M. A., Buxton, O. M., Hale, L., Buysse, D. J., Knutson, K. L., 

Patel, S. R., Troxel, W. M., Youngstedt, S. D., Czeisler, C. A., & Jean-Louis, G. (2019). Sleep myths: an expert-led study to identify false beliefs about sleep that impinge upon population sleep health practices. Sleep health, 5(4), 409–417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2019.02.002