Here at Intentional Living Academy, we believe in holistic ways to wellness. That’s a fancy way of saying we believe that it takes more than just therapy to get your mental and emotional health sorted. Holistic wellness includes a lot of things like eating right, exercising, socializing, and sleeping. Today we are going to talk about sleep, why it’s important, what it does to our bodies, and how to get better sleep. 

Why is Sleep Important?

As you probably know, the average person needs 7-9 hours of sleep a night. Yes, that includes you no matter how exceptional you are, one in three adults don’t get enough sleep. You need sleep for a lot of reasons, one of which is to feel well rested, but also so your brain and body can get a full reset. Without this amount of sleep, you may feel fine but your brain and body do not. The more you go without proper amounts of sleep the angrier your body gets leading to a litany of health issues! Lack of sleep raises your risk of dying from heart disease by 20%. It raises your risk of obesity, diabetes, stroke, dementia, and cancer. 

Beyond that a lack of sleep causes parts of your brain to literally not wake up in the morning. So when you’re walking around drowsy feeling half asleep, you literally are. Whatever part of your brain didn’t get fully rested is still offline trying to get its full reset. With this knowledge, scientists have been able to research how this impacts our ability to function and it’s not good. Someone who doesn’t get enough sleep has a slower reaction time. In fact, it lowers your reaction time to similar levels as someone who is drunk. This is why, according to health.gov, “about 100,000 motor vehicle crashes every year in the United States are related to drowsy driving”

What Is Sleep For? 

So if sleep is so important what is it doing and why do I need so much of it? Well, when you sleep your brain essentially gets an electric bath. Waves of electricity rush over your neurons and fold proteins. These proteins have to get folded and cleaned out of your brain in order for you to think clearly. If you’ve ever woken up and your head just feels foggy this is why. You have a build-up of unfolded proteins. Sleep also helps with your memory. 

During the day we are bombarded with a thousand memories, some are more important and impactful than others. When we sleep the brain goes through and dampens our memory. It basically takes the volume and dims it so the little memories get soft enough that we can’t hear them anymore and the bigger louder memories get quieter but stay loud enough that we can still hear and therefore access them. That’s why you might remember the hour you spent practicing a skill but don’t remember what you had for dinner last week. Your brain prioritizes and sorts your memories into important and unimportant things then clears away what wasn’t impactful. 

Why Can’t I Sleep? 

Now you might be thinking that if sleep is so important how can I get more of it when I simply can’t fall asleep? Great question that science doesn’t always have a clear answer to. One thing we know however is that some people were born thriving better later in the day and others earlier in the morning. The idea of a night owl and early bird are actually evolutionary achievements. Back when we were hunter-gatherers co-sleeping in groups outside together it was important to be aware at all times in case of danger. So some people adapted to naturally take night watch and stay up later, while others adapted to be up at dawn. This left only a few hours where you wouldn’t have someone alert and watching for danger. Unfortunately, we now live in a society that doesn’t fit this natural divide in sleeping well. Early risers are thought of as productive and ideal. The 9-5 work day was made for them. Whereas night owls are forced to live off of earlier schedules if they want to get enough sleep. So if you’re sitting there thinking, why can’t I just get it together and sleep already? Biology did you dirty, and society wasn’t made for you. 

How Do I Get More Sleep?

So what can we actually do about getting more sleep? There are a lot of different ways to promote sleep but one of the first and most important steps is simply scheduling it. Make it part of your nightly schedule to get in bed at an hour so you will have plenty of time to get in those 7-9 hours. If you don’t start by getting into bed on time there’s no way you’ll get enough sleep. Then once you’ve set your bedtime alarm and carved out time in your schedule, it’s time for a bedtime routine. 

Every night when you get ready for bed your brain needs to know it’s ok to calm down and feel safe enough to sleep. One way you can signal your brain is by doing the same thing every night. For example, every night at 9:45 my bedtime alarm goes off. Whatever I’m doing gets put away for the evening and it’s time to get ready for bed. I start by brushing my teeth, taking meds, washing my face, etc. In the same order every night so my brain can recognize that it’s time for sleep. After that, it’s time to do a few stretches. Then, my favorite, a brain dump. 

This is where you take a piece of paper and write down any thoughts you had throughout the day that you can’t stop thinking about. This is where you write down the “oh no I forgot to…” kind of thoughts. Anything you need or want to remember gets jotted down just in case you forget. Then it’s time for sleep. This routine works for me and I joke is probably the healthiest thing I do for myself. It’s important that you find your routine and what works for you, then commit to it! 

Another thing you can try is Melatonin. This is simply a vitamin you can take that promotes sleep. Melatonin is a natural chemical that our brain starts producing an hour or so before we need to sleep. It kind of flips a switch in your brain that says, “It’s dark out time to go to bed”. Then throughout the night, it continues to be secreted and essentially turns off the lights in your brain. As morning approaches, it slowly gets used up and eventually, your brain’s lights get turned back on in time for you to wake up. By taking melatonin you are essentially giving your brain an extra little dose of sleepy meds. That’s why you should take melatonin an hour or so before you want to be asleep so it has time to kick in. This is especially helpful when experiencing things like jet lag. 

Recap

We’ve covered a lot of ground here so time to recap. Sleep is important not just so you feel rested but also so your body has time to perform all its functions. If you’re not getting enough sleep it can be detrimental to your health and potentially dangerous for other people if you’re doing things like driving. 

The brain is the powerhouse of the body and we are still only just beginning to understand all it does especially while we sleep. What we do know is that your brain is essentially going through a cleaning cycle where memory gets stored and proteins get folded. 

To begin getting enough sleep you have to schedule in the time to actually do it. Then it’s time for a routine to prepare your brain to sleep and if that’s not enough there’s medicine, like melatonin, that can help. Now if all of this isn’t enough and you’re still not sleeping well. That’s when it’s time to talk to your doctor. Plenty of people struggle with sleep and they can better assess what’s going on. 

Where Do I Learn More?

Now you may be wondering where I got all this information. The bulk of it came from a book called “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker, PhD. This is an awesome book designed to be read in bits and pieces so you don’t have to commit to the whole thing. I also want to recommend three amazing podcasts “Sleep” by Radiolab, “Sleep: How do we get more” and “Sleep: All Aboard the Snooze Cruise” by Science Vs. These are all great episodes that will tell you even more about sleep but also amazing podcasts in general.

At Intentional Living Academy we ask in every appointment how your sleep has been. I hope this article gives you a little more insight into why it’s important we ask this and inspiration to get a healthier sleep routine. 

References 

Statistics on sleep: https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/sleep#:~:text=People%20who%20don't%20get,are%20related%20to%20drowsy%20driving 

Science Vs. Sleep: How do we get more? https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/z3hlbv8v 

Science Vs. Sleep: All Aboard the Snooze Cruise https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/o2hx57 

Radiolab - Sleep  https://radiolab.org/podcast/91528-sleep