Sleep – Guard it like your life depends on it; it likely does. 

You would be hard pressed to find any metabolic disorder or disease that is not impacted in some way by lack of sleep or poor quality sleep.

Some of the major man made disasters in the world have been linked to human error as a result of fatigue.

You can live longer without food than you can without sleep. Guinness World Records has eliminated the category of longest period of continual wakefulness because of the significant risk of serious health effects or death. 

According to sleep expert Matthew Walker PhD and author of the great book Why We Sleep, there are more fatigue related deaths on roadways in the US every year than impaired driving and distracted driving deaths combined.

Research indicates there are between 250,000 and 400,000 people who die every year in the US as a result of preventable medical errors. You have to wonder how many of those fatal errors are fatigue related. 

We too often take sleep for granted.  You have likely heard from the workaholic hard chargers that sleep is over rated and you can sleep when you are dead. 

Sleep is critical for all the functions of the human brain and body. Sleep is also critical to our learning.  As Glenn Landry PhD, an expert in chronobiology with an expertise in sleep, says the consensus science is that the vast majority of people need 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night. Both Landry and Walker suggest that if you believe you are one of those people who can function at a high level on 4 to 5 hours of sleep a night, you are likely mistaken. 

Dr. Walker says there are four pillars of sleep:

1. Depth / Quality
2. Duration
3. Continuity
4. Regularity

Non-REM Light Sleep, Non-REM Deep Sleep and REM sleep all play important roles and we need all of them to function optimally. You will get more of the deep sleep in the first part of the sleep cycle and more REM sleep in the second part of the sleep cycle. 

So what do we do to enhance our sleep? 

I have interviewed Glenn Landry PhD, Allison Brager PhD, Lois James PhD, Steve James PhD and Erik Korem PhD on the topic of fatigue and sleep and listened to numerous interviews with Matthew Walker PhD, Andrew Huberman PhD, Samer Hattar  PhD and others on the topics of sleep. I have also read a number of books on this topic to help me understand sleep. 

According to the experts what is recommend? Here are the basics that are universally recommended:

• Be consistent with the time you go to bed, and the time you get up every day. This includes your days off. Many people suffer from social jetlag from sleeping in and staying up late on their days off. Matthew Walker says that sleep debt is the one debt that can never be repaid. The idea of sleeping in on your days off to make up for lost sleep during the week is a myth. While older individuals may get less sleep for a variety of reasons, they still require the same amount of sleep to function optimally.
• Give yourself the opportunity for 8 hours of sleep every night. This might mean being in bed for 9 hours a night. 
• Leave 3 hours after your last meal (4 to 5 hours is even better) before you go to bed.  Going to bed on a full stomach will disrupt the quality of your sleep and your body will be working to digest your food instead of using that energy to do a deep clean on your brain. That deep cleaning of the brain is important to prevent cognitive decline as we age.
• Make your bedroom as dark as possible. If light in the bedroom is an issue then wear a sleep mask. (I wear a sleep mast 365 nights a year.)
• Keep the bedroom cool (65 degrees F or 18 degrees C). If this is not possible consider investing in a Chili Pad for your bed.  You can also have a hot bath or shower or a sauna before bed. While this may seem counter intuitive, it will help cool your core body temperature and help with sleep. 
• Get bright light, especially overhead bright light and blue light ,in the first 1 to 2 hours after getting up. Sunlight is best but depending on where you live, what time of year it is, what shift you work and what time you get up that may not be possible. In that case use bright lights in your home. (I have some bright overhead lights and a Philips goLite blue light device.)
• Avoid bright light, especially overhead light and blue light in the last 1 to 2 hours before bed.  Blue light blocking glasses can be helpful (I use Swanwick brand).  If you need to be on your computer in the evening you can install f.lux and it will help tone down the blue light. You may also want to install a dimmer switch on your bathroom lights and / or brush your teeth and wash up one to two hours before you go to bed to avoid bright light exposure right before bed. If you keep your phone by your bed as an alarm put it in Airplane Mode at night to stop the pinging and buzzing that will wake you up and suck you in to checking messages.
• Avoid caffeine for 8 to 10 hours before you go to bed.
• Avoid alcohol too close to the time you go to bed. Alcohol is a sedative, not a sleep aide. It may help you fall asleep, but it will disrupt the quality of your sleep and especially your REM sleep. 
• If you snore badly or your partner says you stop breathing briefly numerous times during the night then go to a sleep clinic and get tested. Untreated sleep apnea can have serious health consequences. 
• Short naps (20 to 30 minutes) during the circadian lull (this is mid afternoon for people who work dayshift and 0200 to 0400 for night shift workers) can be helpful. If you have insomnia then skip the naps to help build up sleep pressure. Having a cup of coffee before that 20 minute nap may be helpful as it takes about 30 minutes before the caffeine kicks in so you get the restorative rest and the caffeine kick coming out of the nap. Just be cautious about naps and coffee too close to your regular bedtime. 

If you are a shift worker and work permanent shifts, or two or three month blocks of shifts then circadian rhythm experts Glenn Landry PhD and Samer Hattar PhD both recommend keeping the same schedule 7 days a week to take the circadian shift, out of shift work. This allows your circadian rhythms in the body to reset to the new schedule. This is not easy, but it is doable. 

Working rotating shifts is extremely challenging from a sleep management and a health perspective. Dr. Landry has a 10 part online course on Surviving Shift Work available through his website at https://www.elitesleep.ca. I have completed the course and there is a lot of good information in the course. 

What’s Important Now? Good sleep is critical for optimal health and performance. Protect your sleep like your life depends on it. 

P.S. If you are a member of the Excellence in Training Academy I will be posting the interview with Glenn Landry PhD on Surviving Shift Work next week. 

Take care.

Brian Willis

www.lifesmostpowerfulquestion.com. Maximizing human potential through Life's Most Powerful Question - What's Important Now?

www.daretobegreatleadership.com The online Dare to Be Great: Strategies for Creating a Culture of Leading workshop was created to help aspiring leaders and frontline leaders on their leadership journey. Subscribe to the weekly blog while you are there. 

 

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