What it is:
Unlike exercise and nutrition, which primarily involve conscious decision-making about how much to move or what and when to eat, sleep is quite literally an unconscious process that happens when the conditions allow for it. It’s a reversible state of perceptual disengagement that is as essential for human life as oxygen and water. And while we have very little control over the amount of time we spend in each sleep stage throughout a night, there are steps that we can take to support our sleep so that when the time comes to turn in for the night, we give ourselves the best chance of resting and replenishing our bodies and brains. In this article, we have consolidated our top tips for encouraging a good night’s sleep.
The purported claims:
Sleep is the ultimate medicine that facilitates healing while also serving as a powerful disease preventative:
It boosts mood and cognition
It keeps the immune system strong
It prevents cardiovascular diseases and cancer
It promotes better relationships with others
It allows for a longer healthspan and lifespan
What the science says:
Sleep Quality Reflects Waking Life
We are vulnerable while we sleep. We can't fight fires or power through our to-do lists while our brains rest offline. As such, unless we feel it is safe to do so, we can find it difficult to drift off or stay asleep during periods of high stress. What was once lions on the savannah is now work stress, long hours, and excess stimulation from social media and the news. As a result, some people find it more challenging to relax these days and suffer from sleep loss.
If we busy ourselves through every waking minute of the day, our thoughts might not catch up with us until our heads hit the pillow. If this applies to you, avoid racing thoughts and endless to-do lists from taking over at bedtime by setting aside a "worry period" during the day. For 15 to 20 minutes, force yourself to think about all of the things that are on your plate. It sounds counterintuitive, but thinking about them during the day can make your brain feel off the hook and won't ruminate at bedtime. Also, keep a pen and paper beside your bed to jot down any to-do's that cross your mind at night. By writing them down, you no longer need to feel pressured to retain the thought until morning, encouraging relaxation.
Timing Matters
While spontaneity certainly makes life more colorful, sleep does best when it occurs at roughly the same time each night—keeping bedtimes and wake times consistent trains the brain to know what to expect. Routine supports melatonin secretion at approximately the same time each night, strengthening circadian rhythms and perceived well-being.
While spontaneity certainly makes life more colorful, sleep does best when it occurs at roughly the same time each night—keeping bedtimes and wake times consistent trains the brain to know what to expect. Routine supports melatonin secretion at approximately the same time each night, strengthening circadian rhythms and perceived well-being.
Link bedtime and waketime with a supportive routine. Start the day with daylight exposure to signal your brain that a new day has begun. Research has shown it promotes alertness, positive mood, and better sleep. A recent study compared bright daylight exposure in the morning to standard office lighting and found that the former promoted more consolidated sleep and a shorter time to fall asleep the next night.
Keep your body on track throughout the day with plenty of exposure to natural light, regular meal timings, and help your brain anticipate bedtime by beginning to wind down about an hour before your targeted sleep time. Keep the lights low during this time, and engage in any activity that helps you to relax. If you choose to watch television or use other screens, consider orange- or red-tinted blue-light-blocking glasses to support healthy melatonin production. Melatonin can only be released in the absence of blue light entering the eye, and is important for helping us fall and stay asleep.
Make the Bedroom a Sanctuary
In an ideal world, the bedroom is used exclusively for sleep and sex. Maintaining this space for those two activities may help strengthen your mind's association of the bedroom as a place undisturbed by the outside world, work obligations, or other external stressors.
But for many, the bedroom also serves as a casual workspace, a place for taking phone calls, or a sanctuary to escape from the rest of the family. If this applies to you, consider allocating a specific area of the room for these activities that isn't the bed, such as a desk or couch. That way, your brain won't receive mixed messages about what activities are permitted in the bed. This is particularly useful if you find that, more often than not, you bring your work or stress to bed with you.
Support your comfort at night by keeping the bedroom cooler than 70 F, using breathable bed linens, and ensuring the room is as dark as possible. Recent guidelines from sleep and circadian experts advocate for less than 1 lux during the night (almost pitch black) to promote the best sleep. Get as close to that as you can with the help of blackout curtains or a sleep mask.
Move Your Body
The relationship between exercise and sleep is bidirectional. Healthy sleep supports peak performance and prevents injuries. There are two general rules of thumb when it comes to training and rest:
Avoid exercising right before bed as it can take some time to wind down afterward and may delay your bedtime.
Avoid curtailing your sleep in the morning for the sole purpose of working out. While it is fine occasionally, set your routine for later in the day.
Work out in the morning if you are trying to shift your bedtime earlier. This will make you feel sleepy sooner. But really, workout whenever feels best for you as long as you do something. And on days that follow a poor night of sleep, take solace in knowing that mild to moderate exercise offers many of the same great benefits to health that rest does, including its ability to boost immunity and mood.
Bed-Sharing
The term "sleep divorce" has done the rounds over the last few years and instilled shame where there shouldn't be. Whether or not sleeping in the same bed works for partners is no reflection on the quality of a romantic relationship. In fact, sleeping poorly generally makes us more anxious and irritable, less altruistic and willing to give to others, and less able to pick up on social cues. This can manifest negatively within a partnership or family.
Some couples have similar body clocks and sleeping preferences and can sleep night after night without disturbing one another. But for most couples, the presence of either mismatched body clocks, a sleep disorder, or bedtime habits that disturb the other (such as the need to fall asleep with a television or sound machine on) can create friction.
If you cannot get the sleep you need by bed-sharing and have the room to sleep separately, explore with your partner whether this might be the best solution for you. Couples sleep expert, Dr. Wendy Troxel, discusses bed-sharing from every angle in her book, Sharing The Covers: Every Couple's Guide to Better Sleep. In it, she includes helpful worksheets for couples considering this option.
We Sleep How We Eat
An eating pattern that provides essential nutrients while being viable long-term is optimal for our health. Timing is a vital component. The general rule of thumb is to eat at approximately the same time each day, strengthening the circadian rhythms in the gut and liver. Aim to finish your last large meal of the day about three hours before your targeted bedtime to give yourself enough time to digest the food before sleep.
The most prolonged period we go without protein intake is the ~12 hours of nighttime. So pre-sleep protein may help to slow muscle breakdown and switch on muscle protein synthesis, allowing for tissue repair throughout the night.
Sleep Perfection isn't Real
With more information available than ever before about why we sleep and the consequences of not getting enough of it, it’s easy to worry that you’re not doing it well enough. There’s always another supplement to try, device to wear, or another way to optimize or perfect things.
The truth is that sleep does best when we trust it to do its job. The body knows how to sleep and will do it when the conditions allow for it. Sleep changes from night to night, across the lifespan, and across the month for women with a menstrual cycle. It changes during the menopause transition. It changes when we are ill or injured. And it changes with the seasons. It fluctuates according to stress levels and whether or not we are sharing a bed with someone. We even sleep differently the first night in a new place. Despite being an unconscious process, it is intrinsically tied to other physiological processes in the body. It changes as we do.
The best thing you can do is respect the importance of sleep and create the right conditions. Protect your 7-9 hour sleep episode and both the evening and morning routines that bookend the night. Strive to have a consistent bedtime and wake time and minimize the amount of jetlag you experience. The remaining advice includes things that generally benefit all other aspects of health and well-being:
Keep alcohol to a minimum.
Avoid caffeine or too late in the day.
Eat nutrient-dense whole foods
Keep stress to a minimum.
Exercise regularly, especially incorporating strength training
Our take:
Most people will experience an ebbing and flowing of their sleep quality in response to waking life. Intense exercise, a steep learning curve, and illness all promote deeper, longer sleep. But for the most part, we know that we are getting the sleep that we need if we feel good during the daytime. If you are tired all the time, struggling to maintain your weight despite eating well and exercising, and struggling with poor mood, this may indicate an underlying sleep disorder, such as sleep apnea. If the usual sleep hygiene recommendations of dim lights at night and a cool bedroom temperature aren’t helping you fall or stay asleep, this could indicate insomnia. If you suspect that you might have a sleep disorder, always consult a trust physician.
Will this benefit me?
Performance and data aside, sleep offers us a hard reset, during which we consolidate new memories, dream, and rest our nervous system. None of us are exempt from its importance. Even if you think you can burn the candle at both ends now, you will pay for it later in life.
Still curious to try it? If you do, here’s what to keep an eye on:
The most critical part of improving sleep is not to stress. Even if you can't increase your sleep time, focusing on sleep opportunity is valuable. Use whatever methods you like to promote relaxation in your body, including mindfulness, meditation, yoga nidra, Tai Chi, or Qigong.
References
Morning light and alertness - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30674951/
Morning light and subsequent sleep - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36058557/
Light exposure recommendations - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35298459/
Wendy Troxel “Sharing The Covers” - https://www.wendytroxel.com/sharing-the-covers
Sarah Mednick “The Power of the Downstate” - https://www.saramednick.com/books
Matthew Walker “Why We Sleep” - https://www.sleepdiplomat.com/author
Comments