Insomnia #5 – Preventing Insomnia
Whether you lived to sleep or sleep to live, time spent between the sheets is vital to a healthy you. Here are some tips on ensuring you get the sleep you need.
Mark Haltrecht, D.O.
Family Practice Doctor
NSLIJ Plainview Hospital
During sleep, our bodies and minds relax and repair so that we can be at our best during the day. Sleep hygiene is a set of guidelines that are critically important to getting that restored at sleep. Good sleep hygiene requires attention to a three basic components; circadian rhythms which are 24 hours sleep wake cycles, psychological stressors, and recreational or social drugs.
Circadian rhythms refer to the body’s internal clock. This clock is actually a small part of the brain called the super chiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. Changes in light or the timing of exercise can reset the clock moving it forward or backward and making sleep difficult. For this reason, it is useful to avoid exercise and the bright lights in the hours leading up to bed. Because the super chiasmatic nucleus does work like a clock, it also helps to maintain a regular sleep schedule seven days a week. That means avoiding late night Saturdays or lazy Sunday mornings.
Similarly, it is important not to nap during the day as this confuses the body’s clock even further. Psychological stressors are stress inducing factors that can prevent you from getting to sleep or sleeping well. These include marital conflicts, work deadlines, and money worries among others. To stop psychological stressors from stopping your sleep it can help to have a pre-bed ritual in place. This can involve taking a hot bath, enjoying light, non work related reading or writing down daily stressors in a journal. Just ensure that your bedtime ritual does not take place in the bed, a spot that should be reserve for sleep and sex only. This is so you do not associate the bed with distracting emotions and activities that can make sleeping difficult.
Another important component of sleep hygiene is to avoid drugs like caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol before bed. Nicotine and caffeine are both stimulants that will keep you up for hours. Although alcohol is a depressant and may help you fall asleep at first, the metabolism that clears it from your body while you sleep results in withdrawal symptoms, which can cause night mares and sweats. A few twicks to your sleeping area can also help you get the rest you need. If you have a pet, do not let it under the covers. You and Buster will both sleep better if he is on the floor.
Avoid extremes and temperature and noise in your bedroom. The best temperature is 68 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, distracting noise can be drowned out with ear plugs, soft music or a white noise machine. Attaining the restorative sleep your body needs can be as easy as following these sleep hygiene tips. However, talk to your doctor if you are experiencing chronic insomnia or feelings of day time lethargy.
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