The importance of sleep
How sleep affects your mood,
concentration and sense of wellbeing
Why is sleep important?
Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being
throughout your life
Getting enough quality sleep at the right times can help protect
your mental health, physical health, quality of life and safety
During sleep, your body is working to support healthy brain
function and maintain your physical health.
The damage from sleep deficiency can occur in an instant
(such as a car crash), or it can harm you over time. For
example, ongoing sleep deficiency can raise your risk for
hypertension, heart problems, and stroke to name a few... It
can also affect how well you think, react, work, learn and get
along with others.
Healthy Mind
Sleep helps your brain work properly. While you are sleeping, your brain is
preparing for the next day by forming new pathways to help you learn and
remember information.
One night of good sleep can improve your ability to learn new motor skills by
20%.
Studies show that a good night’s sleep improves learning and problem solving
skills. Sleep also helps you pay attention, make decisions and be creative.
Eight hours of quality sleep increases your ability to gain new insight into
complex problems by 50%.
Lack of sleep alters activity in some parts of the brain.
Sleep deficiency has been linked to depression, suicide and risk taking behavior.
Healthy Body
Sleep is involved in healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels. Ongoing sleep
deficiency is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure,
diabetes and stroke.
Sleep deficiency also increases the risk of obesity...in one study, for each hour of sleep lost, the
odds of becoming obese went up.
Sleep helps maintain a healthy balance of hormones that make you feel hungry (ghrelin) or full
(leptin). When you don’t get enough sleep, your level of ghrelin goes up and your level of leptin
goes down therefore you feel hungrier than when you are well-rested.
Sleep also affects how your body reacts to insulin, the hormone that controls your blood sugar
level. Lack of sleep results in a higher than normal blood sugar level which may increase your
risk for diabetes.
Sleep also supports healthy growth and development. Deep sleep triggers the body to release
hormones that boost muscle mass and help repair cells and tissues. And sleep plays a role in
fertility.
Your immune system relies on sleep to stay healthy. This system defends your body against
foreign or harmful substances. If you are sleep deficient, you may have trouble fighting off that
cold that is going around...
Daytime performance
& safety
People who are sleep deficient are less productive at work and school. They take longer to finish tasks,
have slower reaction times and make more mistakes.
After several nights of losing sleep, even a loss of 1-2 hours per night, your ability to function suffers as if
you haven’t slept at all for a day or two.
Lack of sleep may lead to microsleep--moments of sleep that occur when you are normally awake. For
example, have you ever driven somewhere and then not remembered part of the trip?
Some people aren’t aware of the risks of sleep deficiency and may think they can still function well with
limited or poor-quality sleep.
Studies show that sleep deficiency harms your driving ability as much if not more than being
drunk. It’s estimated that driver sleepiness plays a role in about 100,000 car accidents EACH
YEAR, resulting in about 1,500 deaths.
Drivers aren’t the only ones affected by sleep deficiency. People in all lines of work including health care
workers, pilots, mechanics, and assembly line workers can be affected sometimes resulting in human
errors linked to tragic accidents.
How much is enough?
Age
Amount of Sleep
Newborn
16-18
Preschool-aged kids
11-12
School-aged kids
at least 10
Teens
9-10
Adults (including elderly)
7-8
Don’t feel bad...25% of Americans get
less than 6 hours of sleep/night
Sleep Hygiene
Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. For children, have a set bedtime routine and
don’t use the child’s bedroom for timeouts.
Try to keep the same sleep schedule on weeknights and weekends. Limit the difference to no more than
about an hour. Staying up late and sleeping in late on weekends can disrupt your body clock's sleep–wake
rhythm. (If you get migraines, it is especially important to follow this rule.)
Use the hour (or two) before bed for quiet time. Avoid strenuous exercise and bright artificial light, such as
from a TV or computer screen. The light may signal the brain that it's time to be awake.
Avoid heavy and/or large meals within a couple hours of bedtime. (Having a light snack is okay.) Also,
avoid alcoholic drinks at least 4 hours before bed.
Avoid nicotine (for example, cigarettes) and caffeine (including caffeinated soda, coffee, tea, and
chocolate). Nicotine and caffeine are stimulants, and both substances can interfere with sleep. The effects
of caffeine can last as long as 8 hours. So, a cup of coffee in the late afternoon can make it hard for you to
fall asleep at night.
Spend time outside every day (when possible) and be physically active.
Keep your bedroom quiet, cool, and dark (a dim night light is fine, if needed).
Take a hot bath or use relaxation techniques before bed.
What about you...?
Do you have problems...
falling asleep?
staying asleep?
early morning awakening?
Or just not enough time in your super busy life to
dedicate 7 hours to sleeping?
If you have problems
falling asleep...
Create a bat cave
Turn off the TV and read before bed
Create a bedtime routine (just like we try to do for our children)
Take a warm shower and keep your bedroom cool (67-70 degrees)
Clear your mind by writing down everything that is worrying you or create a
Grateful Log and write down 7 things each day
Exercise early and often
Cut out caffeine and nicotine and naps
Try over the counter Melatonin supplements or CALM magnesium supplements
to promote sleep
No naps
If you have problems staying
asleep/early awakening...
Reset your biological clock by trying to go to bed and wake up at the same time
each day and make sure you get at least 30 min/day of exposure to blue sky
Go to bed an hour earlier (because we tend to wake up at almost the same
time each morning)
Trade your alarm clock for a dawn stimulator which works by gradually
brightening the room over 30 minutes
Practice visualization or sleep-inducing techniques. Focus your attention only
on your toes, or visualize walking down an endless stairwell. Repetitive or
mindless thoughts will help your brain shut down and adjust to sleep.
No time to sleep...
Try for a 20 minute daytime nap ... studies show that
it can increase your alertness by a whopping 54%
Install F.lux on your computer (if you have to work
before bed). It’s a free computer program that
reduces blue light emissions.
Quality over quantity-- Try and master good sleep
habits so you fall asleep quickly and sleep well as
long as you can
Resources
1: National Institutes of Health. National Heart, Lung
and Blood Institute.
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/healthtopics/topics/sdd/why.html
II: North Carolina State University.
http://healthcenter.ncsu.edu/counselingcenter/resources/mental-health-and-wellnesstopics/sleep/
III: Healthy Sleep.
http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/science/h
ow/external-factors