How much is your sleep debt?

According to statisticians we are accumulating around 500 hours of sleep debt a year! That's a lot of debt to pay back. In our modern, fast-paced world a lack of sleep is fast becoming a badge of honour. Do you ever brag about how little sleep you need? When working with my clients I often deal with cases of insomnia and other forms of physical sleep deprivation but far more interesting are those who can sleep but chose not to. Experts recommend 8 hours sleep a night but most people in the modern world are only getting between 6 and 7 hours a night. even a debt of an hour a night adds up very quickly.

Research shows time and time again how lack of sleep affects us both mentally and physically. In this 24/7 era of technology that is supposed to help us live life to the full, experiencing it in more ways than previously thought possible and being in constant communication with the entire world is actually causing more stress and strain on our bodies than in previous generations.

Years ago I had a boyfriend who started work later than me and so got about 45 minutes more sleep than me each night. At the weekend he was up and ready to go out, I was the one who wanted to catch up on my sleep as I felt exhausted. The difference in our energy levels was that noticeable.

Before the invention of artificial light only the very rich could afford a large number of candles and therefore to stay up late. For the rest of us nighttime meant going to bed early and rising with the sun in the morning. We got on average around 9 hours sleep a night. This also kept the body in touch with the rhythms of nature and the seasons. Now with electricity and light available all the time, as well as the advent 24 hour television and the internet we can all stay up late in the night.

So how does sleep debt affect us?

Short term affects include irritability, memory loss, blurred vision, poor judgment, susceptibility to infection, drop in glucose metabolism, and a rise in cortisol (the stress hormone) levels. It also affects how we store information and access it so if you are staying up all night studying or working the reduction in memory loss and judgment abilities is going to negate all the effort that you have put in. Studies on school children have shown that those who got an hours more sleep performed better in tests. Far better to have an early night instead!

Long term affects include a rise in obesity due to poor insulin control. This of course leads to other health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, strokes etc.

Fortunately sleep debt can be paid back. Try going to bed 30 minutes to an hour earlier every night and see what difference that makes on your energy levels and mental alertness. Take the time to make sleep a priority in your life and you will see the benefits in your health and productivity. If you do have a late night - I don't want to be a party pooper, then make sure that you schedule time for an early night to catch up. A well timed nap will also help your energy levels and mental alertness.

 Life sometimes gets in the way of the best laid plans and there will times when getting enough sleep is difficult, parents with young children or caring for loved ones who are ill come to mind. If you are in these situations then remember that these are short term and come up with some strategies to help you cope - taking naps, getting children into good sleep routines, taking turns with a partner for weekend lie-ins etc, all help with keeping your sleep debt to a minimum.

Sweet dreams!

So why do we sleep?

"As far as I know, the only reason we need to sleep that is really, really solid is because we get sleepy." William Dement - Stanford University Sleep Research Centre.

There is very little research into sleep (and even less into sleep disorders), so much so that no-one is exactly sure why we sleep. It seems such a strange thing in evolutionary terms to sleep - to deliberately leave ourselves vulnerable and defenseless to predators while we snooze and snore.

It was only in the last century that scientists realised that the brain was active during sleep, up till then it had been thought that sleep was a period of inactivity and not worth studying. Now modern tracking techniques have shown how active the brain is at night, this has lead to the discovery of the sleep cycles and the difference between REM and deep, slow wave sleep. These discoveries have allowed for new theories to be put forward as to why we sleep. However they are sill only theories!

Theory 1 - Rest and recuperation
That sleep allows the body a chance to rest and recuperate from being in a state of heightened awareness throughout the day. Sleep allows the body time to heal and repair itself. If we become sleep deprived we are more susceptible to illnesses and take longer to recover.

Theory 2 - Learning
Sleep and the temporary absence of consciousness allows the brain time to process all the information it has learnt and reorganise itself. Again sleep deprivation tests have shown that a lack of REM sleep affects your ability to perform tasks and a lack of deep sleep affects the recall of knowledge.

Theory 3 - Dreaming
Dreams seem to be a result of REM sleep, so maybe the reason we sleep is to dream?

Science is still learning a lot about the world of sleep and new research will hopefully answer our questions about sleep and dreams. In the meantime, we can help our bodies and minds by making sure we allow enough time to sleep.

Sweet dreams

The second sleep

Do you often wake in the night and find it difficult to go back to sleep straight away?
Maybe it's not because you're a freak or different but because we are genetically programmed to do this!

There has been a lot of interest recently (with articles by the BBC, the Times and The Guardian amongst others) about 'the second sleep' and it seems that the human brain is actually programmed to sleep in two four hour chunks.

Research in the 1990's took volunteers and put them in 14 hours of darkness each day. After a few weeks the volunteers had started to sleep in two 4 hour blocks with a one to two hour period of being awake in the middle. despite being of great interest to sleep scientists, the belief that an eight hour block of sleep being the norm has persisted.

Then 2005, historian Roger Ekirch published a book called At Day's Close: Night in Times Past, where he draws on his research where he found over 500 references to segmented sleep in books, in diaries, court records, medical books and literature. what he found interesting was the way in which the references to this sleep pattern were made - as if it was totally normal and that everyone did it.

It seems that the labourers would come home from the work, have something to eat then go to bed - usually because they were really tired! Then approx 4 hours later they would wake up and do things! It was a time for conversation, for prayer, visiting the neighbours, having sex etc. Then they would go to bed and have a second sleep, and wake at dawn ready for another days work.
A doctor's manual from 16th Century France even advised couples that the best time to conceive was not at the end of a long day's labour but "after the first sleep", when "they have more enjoyment" and "do it better".

Ekirch found that references to the segmented sleep dwindle from the 17th Century onwards and links this to social change, the shift to living in cities and eventually the increase in street and domestic lighting, which helped develop a leaning towards socialising in the evening and pushed sleep into one later block of up to 8 hours.

Though the majority of people have adapted to sleeping in one 8 hour block, sleep researchers now think that this could be the root cause of sleep maintenance insomnia, where sufferers wake during the night. It is helpful to realise that most people do wake in the night but that most do not remember it, whereas an insomnia suffer, who is already stressed about lack of sleep, may become more anxious at waking and take longer to fall back asleep. For these people it the realisation that it is not some abnormality but in fact genetic programming may help them and their anxieties around sleep.

In fact, if we look there is still evidence of this segmented sleep around us. Babies who need to wake in the night for feeding, toddlers who still need an afternoon nap, and in hotter climates - an afternoon siesta during the heat of the day, followed by working later in the cool of the evening. The modern world with 24 hour electricity and an unbroken day work ethic actually is encroaching on our sleep patterns even more.

So maybe for those of us who do wake in the night, we need to be celebrating this fact - that we are more in tune with nature and our bodies, that we can use this period of wakefulness for contemplation, meditation and destress (just like our forefathers used the time for prayer and relaxation). Since I found out about segmented sleep a few months ago, I am more relaxed about waking in the night and call it my 'throwback'. Ironically, since being more relaxed about night time waking, I sleep better!

Please comment below if you are a segmented sleeper or have issues around night time waking, I'd love to know your thoughts.

Sweet dreams!

The stick process

This post follows on from last week's post about your thought patterns, so please read that first, then this one will make more sense!
 I use this process with coaching clients who are stuck in one thought pattern and want to change to another. This works well with sleep problems, especially insomnia and other non specific disorders, though you can use it with any situation you feel stuck in - weight loss, lack of money etc. It is a visualisation process, so allow yourself to picture the situation and notice how your body feels during the two different stages.

Picture that you are holding a stick in your hand - it needs to be a really long stick, (you'll see why in a minute), as big as a javelin. It's impossible to hold it at both ends.
Now imagine at one end of the stick is the negative thoughts that you have around sleep -
I always sleep badly
Why can't I sleep like everyone else
I'm always tired etc

Now imagine the other end of the stick, and it has all the positive thoughts that about sleep -
I sleep like a baby
I always wake feeling rested and refreshed
Sleep restores my body etc

Now because this stick is so big, you can only hold one end of it. If you are holding the end that has all the negative thoughts, then you cannot hold the end with the positive thoughts.

Now picture yourself holding the stick at the negative end. Start repeating all the negative thoughts that you have about sleep and notice how you feel. Is your body tensing up? How is your breath? How do you feel about sleep? Just as we discussed last week, it is our thoughts that hold us back from what we want and determine what we achieve, so if you are holding the negative end of the stick you are like the repelling end of the magnet and  is pushing away the possibility of great sleep.

It is impossible to have both negative and positive thoughts about sleep (or whatever subject you are choosing) at the same time, so you need to drop the stick, and change your thought patterns!

So you can now chose to hold the positive end, the end with the positive thoughts about sleep. So picture yourself holding the stick at the positive end and start to go through those positive thoughts and  notice how different it feels. How much calmer you become and how the possibility for great sleep becomes more real. This is like the positive end of a magnet that attracts more good thoughts and then as these increase, more good feelings about sleep.

So next time you realise that you are stuck in a negative thought pattern, (perhaps you are in bed and unable to fall asleep), take a deep breath and ask which end of the stick are you holding and which end do you want to be holding and make a conscious decision to take hold of the positive. Really focus on those good feelings and allow your body to relax as this will allow you to sleep.

I hope this visualisation helps you in achieving a better night's sleep, please let me know your thoughts and if it works.

Sweet dreams

 (I just went to check where I found this process and it wasn't in the book I thought it was. So, I would love to give credit for it, so if anyone recognises it, then please let me know!)