How many times have you glazed at the ceiling
hoping you may get lucky and fall right to
sleep?
I know the feeling. You come home after a hard
day’s work, barely
making it into the bathroom to wash-up. Only to
find out that when
you lay down, you suddenly are unable to fall
asleep; you stare at the back of your eyelids
for hours on end. Suddenly you doze off for a
few minutes or hours, only to hear (bzzzzzz
bzzzzzzz bzzzzzz) alarm clock is telling you
WAKE UP. Wake up? You just fell asleep!
Most of us feel sleep deprived. In fact, in a
recent “Sleep in America” poll by the National
Sleep Foundation, almost 2/3rds of Americans say
they don’t sleep well at least three nights a
week. Half of all adults can’t get up without an
alarm and on average, we’re getting less than 7
hours of sleep per night.
If you have trouble falling or staying asleep,
or you wake up feeling unrefreshed, you may be
suffering from insomnia. Insomnia is a symptom.
It may be caused by stress, anxiety, depression,
disease, pain, medications, sleep disorders or
poor sleep habits. Your sleep environment and
health habits may also play a role in your sleep
problems.
One study concluded that on average Americans
are getting over an hour less sleep than decades
before. This is frightening news. Or is
it the news that’s doing it? I use to
make tons of sleep mistakes.
One major mistake that I would make is staying
up late watching the news or TV. I found there
to be several other consistent mistakes that
most people, including my self makes.
If you didn’t get enough sleep one night, why
not go to bed early the next night. This will
make up for the sleep that was lost on the prior
night. WRONG studies show that your body needs
consistency much more than “make up sleep”.
I was thinking but why didn’t I get a good night
sleep the night before? The more I researched
the matter I found there to be some other
factors involved.
Many of times my I wake up (several times) to my
girlfriend yelling at me “wake up lazy, it’s
past noon”. Our body has signals and radars of
when its time to sleep. If I am consistently
sleeping late, than my body will
consistently go to bed late.
Speaking of going to bed late; how about all
those late night weekend parties or nights outs
with the boys. This to will propel your body to
stay up late during the week.
Sit back and think about this for a second every
single mistake that I listed above is all
intertwined with each other. Jesus Christ said
“If you follow the whole law, but break one part
of the law, you have broken the whole law.” The
moral behind this quote is simply, it takes one
bad apple to spoil a bunch of apples.
As long as you allow yourself to break one of
the mistakes listed above, you will most likely
suffer from insomnia or sleep deprivation.
So in order to help prevent you from becoming a
bad apple, the National Sleep Foundation has
given me permission to use their “10
Healthy Sleep Tips”
10
Healthy Sleep Tips
1. Maintain a regular bed and wake time schedule
including weekends.
2. Establish a regular, relaxing bedtime routine
such as soaking
in a hot bath or hot tub and then reading a book
or listening to
soothing music.
A relaxing, routine activity right before
bedtime conducted away
from bright lights helps separate your sleep
time from activities that can
cause excitement, stress or anxiety which can
make it more difficult to
fall asleep, get sound and deep sleep or remain
asleep.
3. Create a sleep-conducive environment that is
dark, quiet, comfortable and cool.
Design your sleep environment to establish the
conditions you need for sleep – cool, quiet,
dark, comfortable and free of interruptions.
Also make your bedroom reflective of the value
you place on sleep. Check your room for noise or
other distractions, including a bed partner's
sleep disruptions such as snoring, light, and a
dry or hot environment. Consider using blackout
curtains, eye shades, ear plugs, "white noise,"
humidifiers, fans and other devices.
4. Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows.
5. Use your bedroom only for sleep and sex.
It is best to take work materials, computers and
televisions out of the sleeping environment. Use
your bed only for sleep and sex to strengthen
the association between bed and sleep.
6. Finish eating at least 2-3 hours before your
regular bedtime.
7. Exercise regularly. It is best to complete
your workout at least a few hours
before bedtime.
In general, exercising regularly makes it easier
to fall
asleep and contributes to sounder sleep.
However, exercising
sporadically or right before going to bed will
make falling asleep
more difficult.
8. Avoid caffeine (e.g. coffee, tea, soft
drinks, chocolate) close to bedtime. It can keep
you awake.
Caffeine is a stimulant, which means it can
produce an alerting effect. Caffeine products,
such as coffee, tea, colas and chocolate, remain
in the body on average from
3 to 5 hours, but they can affect some people up
to 12 hours later. Avoiding caffeine within 6-8
hours of going to bed can help improve sleep
quality.
9. Avoid nicotine (e.g. cigarettes, tobacco
products). Used close to bedtime, it can lead to
poor sleep.
Nicotine is also a stimulant. Smoking before bed
makes it more difficult to fall asleep. When
smokers go to sleep, they experience withdrawal
symptoms from nicotine, which also cause sleep
problems. Nicotine can cause difficulty falling
asleep, problems waking in the morning, and may
also cause nightmares. Difficulty sleeping is
just one more reason to quit smoking.
10. Avoid alcohol close to bedtime.
Although many people think of alcohol as a
sedative, it actually disrupts sleep, causing
nighttime awakenings. Consuming alcohol leads to
a night of less restful sleep.
For a more detailed look into sleeping tips and
disorders visit
www.sleepfoundation.org
Matt Shuebrook, CPT
www.MyPhiladelphiaFitnessExpert.com
www.ChristianHealthandFitness.com
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