In the last three articles, we've talked about sleep. Why it's so important to the quality of our lives. How it affects our health, our thinking, and our mood. Last week we discussed ways to tell if you're getting enough sleep. Today, let's talk about strategies for obtaining a good night's sleep.
First, you have to know how much sleep is right for you. Largely this is hereditary, so if your parents required little sleep, you may be lucky. But most of us need ten hours and few of us get that much. At minimum, most of us need at least one additional hour of sleep.
To precisely determine your sleep needs, try this. Pick a bedtime when you can fall asleep easily, making it at least eight hours before you need to get up, and stick with it for a week. Keep track of the time you arise. You might wake up too early for a few days, but if you're sleep deprived, this will soon change.
The next week retire thirty minutes earlier, and continue to add fifteen to thirty more minutes each week until you are waking without an alarm and feel alert all day. When this happens, you can try cutting off fifteen minutes and see if that produces drowsiness the next day. If so, you've identified your individual sleep needs.
It's important to go to bed and wake up at the same time each night, including weekends. This sets and stabilizes your biological clock, and even reduces the total sleep required. By trying to go without enough sleep during the week, and making up for it on weekends, you disrupt everything. You won't be tired at your regular bedtime, you'll stay up late, and by Monday you've basically got jet lag.
Some seniors will notice that their biological clock has shifted over the years. Even night owls may notice they're ready for bed earlier and getting up earlier. This can be good news for some wives, since more women than men start out as early risers. In retirement, sleep cycles can become more similar.
Exercise can greatly affect our sleep. Athletes have more deep sleep than non athletes. Diet also affects your sleep. Eating a balance of proteins and carbohydrates at dinner will prevent hunger pains from awakening you. Heavy meals within four or five hours of sleep may seem to help, but will actually produce disrupted and lighter sleep. A big meal can also dump large amounts of insulin into your system, which helps to store fat. Going to sleep in this state can contribute to weight gain as well as indigestion.
A warm bath or Jacuzzi can help initiate sleep. It raises your body temperature. If you then enter a cool bedroom, the plummeting of your temperature can help you fall asleep.
Stimulants directly affects insomnia. Nicotine is a stronger stimulant than caffeine. Heavy smokers take longer to fall asleep, wake more often, and have less REM and deep sleep. Coffee lover that I am, I was sorry to learn that even morning coffee has a negative effect on the amount of REM sleep we get.
Having a nightcap, while a common practice, is not a good one. You may fall asleep faster, but your sleep will be disturbed. Both REM and deep sleep, our valuable cycles of sleep, are suppressed. Try cutting out alcohol within three hours of bedtime.
Finally, consider the quality of your mattress and the peacefulness of your bedroom. This isn't the place to scrimp. Perhaps an Indian maharajah in 1882 had the right idea. He had a solid silver bed custom made. At each corner was a life-size painted statue of a naked lady, facing him, and holding a fan. When the maharajah lay down, his weight started a music box in the mattress and the statues started to wave their fans!
Fore more on sleep please read All About insomnia, Is Your Sleep Renewing You?, Sleep Loss Has Serious Consequences, and Advice on Sleeping Pills and Naps.
Dr. Moore is a licensed psychologist and Founder and Director of Fall Creek Associates. She is President of the Sacramento Psychological Association, adjunct faculty member in the School of Psychology at the Fielding Graduate Institute, teaches classes through The Learning Exchange, and frequently appear as a guest on public service programs having to do with psychology and emotional wellness. She has also written a newspaper column called Senior Wellness, which focuses on general psychology topics as well as those of special interest to senior readers. In addition to working with private clients, she welcomes the opportunity to disseminate information on psychology and mental health issues to the general public through her PsychPages website.
