Sleep Habits
It's a Behavior We Learn Throughout Our Lives

Most teenagers and young adults tend to be late sleepers and sleep into the late morning (delayed phase). However, our society is structured so that schools and most work places start early in the day. When these teens and young adults go to bed late and get up early to meet their school or work demands, sleep deprivation sets in. This is usually obvious, because on weekends or holidays they tend to "sleep in" trying to make up for their sleep loss. During the week, however, they are required to wake up early, and they are usually feeling tired and sleepy. This creates a significant problem for the circadian rhythm. Our brain cannot adapt to such rapidly changing sleep patterns. This means that during weekdays, although a person maybe physically awake in the morning, the brain is still trying to sleep, resulting in poor performance at school or in the work place.

Why do people go to bed late? There may be some genetic predisposition. But, the biggest issue could be artificial lighting. For thousands of years people depended on the sunrise and sunset to help us set our biological clocks. Now, however, we have artificial lighting, including television and computers. When the sun goes down, instead of slowing down and sleeping, we remain active with the help of artificial lights.

Another cause of poor sleep is alcohol. Many rely on alcohol to help them fall asleep. The problem is that although alcohol may be a sedative/depressant, when the effect of alcohol wears off there is rebound awakening. Coffee also is an issue. The effect of caffeine takes about eight to ten hours to wear off. Try to avoid caffeinated drinks after lunch. Also, gourmet coffees contains very high doses of caffeine. A regular cup of coffee contains about 80 to 150 mgs of caffeine, but some cups of the gourmet coffees contain 300 to 500 mgs.

Expose yourself to bright natural light during the day. This will signal your brain that it is daytime. When nighttime comes, keep your house dim and avoid any bright light. This pattern will promote a strong circadian rhythm and improve sleep at night. Vigorous exercise during the daytime also helps one to sleep better. Exercise in the evening, however, will likely make sleep worse because of an elevated body temperature, which may take several hours to cool down. Our body temperature has a circadian pattern and cools down about one degree Farenheit during our sleep. Our deepest sleep occurs about four or five o'clock in the morning when our body temperature is lowest.

HINTS ON GOOD SLEEP HYGIENE
Keep a regular wake-up time. This will promote strong circadian rhythm. Wake-up time is the only thing you can voluntarily control in your sleep cycle. This will force you to become sleepy earlier and eventually you will have a consistent bedtime. When you get tired after sunset, don't fight it. It's time to go to sleep. Create a relaxing evening and bedtime routine. Activities like reading, listening to music, and taking a warm bath can help ease your body and mind toward sleep. Keep lights low. Avoid stimulating activity during the evening. Any activity that promotes anxiety or emotions, such as work, bill paying or problem solving will make it difficult to fall asleep.

Minimize time in bed not sleeping. If you are not tired, then you're not ready for bed. If you find yourself "forcing" yourself to sleep, this will only create more anxiety and frustration. Get out of bed and do something you find relaxing, such as reading.

Use your bed only for sleeping. Don't read or watch television in bed, as this will promote poor sleep habits. You need to create a conditioned response where the feeling of a pillow and cuddling up with a blanket will lead you to restful night. Designate a time and place for worrying. Stress and associated worrying are common obstacles to a restful night. Sometimes behaviors used to manage stress - drinking alcohol, caffeine, and smoking - can lead to sleep problems. That's why it's a good idea to set aside a regular time of the day when you're not trying to sleep to work out stressful issues and problems. Hopefully, this will help relax your mind later when you go to bed to sleep.

Waking up at night is normal. Our brain is designed so that we wake up several times during our sleep. These wake-ups tend to be very short, usually a few seconds. We fall back asleep and don't remember when we get up in the morning what happened. What is abnormal is waking up at night and getting frustrated about being awake. This turns few seconds of arousal into minutes or longer, creating memories of each event. This pattern will lead to fragmentation of sleep, and eventually sleep becomes an unpleasant experience. When you happen to get up at night, remind yourself that this is normal and think happy thoughts.

Inchel Yeam, MD, FCCP
Diplomate, American Board of Sleep Medicine
(949) 489-8783
Pacificsleeplab.com

(Travel & Real Estate 2006)