"Without enough sleep, we all become tall two-year-olds". -JoJo Jensen
Raise your hand if you got a full 8 hours of sleep last night.
Raise your hand if you felt rested when you woke up this morning.
Raise your hand if you are like Buddy the Elf and when your co-worker asked how you slept the night before you said, "Great! I got a full 40 minutes!" & mean't it.
I'm definitely sleep deprived and I have a feeling I'm not the only one who's hand stayed down after those three statements. Why is sleep so important? Don't we all have better/more important things to do than sleep?... Like exercise, watch TV, feed the kiddos, pay bills, study, plan a wedding, worry, etc. So why do we need EIGHT hours?! That's such a huge chunk out of my day that I could spend productively. Well, I'll tell you why sleep is so important pretty soon here, as well as debunk some sleep myths, and provide some sleep hygiene tips. I'm also going to be quoting retired Navy Seal and physician, Dr. Kirk Parsley's many time in his post. Dr. Parsley was bred throughout his young life through his military training, doctoral program, as well as just being a father, that sleep is for the weak. Part of the Navy Seal training is being able to stay awake for seven days straight. For those Grey's Anatomy fans out there, remember the episodes were the newbie interns had to stay up for days at a time, and whoever cracked first was thought as the weakling? And personally, I'm not a mom... but rumor has it that new mom's in particular need to wake up throughout the night to feed, pump, etc. So we can see how being a Navy Seal, doctor, and dad can make sleep not so much a priority. However, Dr. Parsley has now made his focus on teaching individuals the importance of sleep, and to break the cycle of sleep deprivation.
So now onto my personal sleep backstory, and why I decided to blog about sleep. I'm not sure if its the heat, or sleeping in multiple beds (.... I've been staying between my boyfriend's place and my house in NorCal), or what but I have been sleeping terribly lately! I've been waking up all throughout the night, and my boyfriend even told me a couple nights ago that I was sleeping in the weirdest position ever... lying on my back with my hands wrapped around one of my bent legs at the knee, like I was stretching out my glutes. WTF?! How/why does one sleep like that?... And that's very creepy. On top of poor sleep, when I do sleep I've been getting nightmares. Not the kid "boogyman" or the monster-under-the-bed dreams, I would call them adult nightmares. One in which people were physically harmed, and another where I didn't finish school. Most dreams I don't remember a few minutes after I wake up.
Those who know me well know that my past sleep patterns have been a roller coaster ride. I remember my first bout of insomnia when I had just graduated undergrad and was apply to graduate schools. For some reason, my mind wouldn't start working until 10 or 11pm, and that's what I would work on PT school applications until 4 or so in the morning. This lasted for months. During this time I was very lonely, I gained 20 pounds, was highly anxious, and on the verge of a depression. It took a mixture of time, exercise, and anxiety/sleeping medication to climb out of this sleep deprived state. The medication I took really did help decrease some of my anxieties, and it also majorly suppressed my appetite. I ended up losing the 20 pounds I had gained (yay!) plus another 15 pounds, and people were starting to notice. "Wow Jenn you look great! What are you doing?". Ugh... Not eating I would think, but never say. It wasn't because I had an issue with food, I was just literally never hungry. Once people started to comment, I knew I needed to get off the medication, so I did and my life eventually went "back to normal".
The second time I dealt with insomnia was my first year of graduate school. This time it was affecting my relationships and schoolwork much more than the first time. I would go for 2 or 3 nights with ZERO hours of sleep. It was getting to the point were I didn't want to sleep, because I knew the night that I finally did get sleep, I was much more exhausted the follow day. My boyfriend was fed up with my extreme neediness/moodiness, and I was beginning to miss class. (Missing class in graduate school is a big, fat no-no). I eventually got pulled aside by a professor for my "bad attitude", which really was just a reflection of my breaking point. I remember going to a DO (Doctor of Osteopathy) in order to get some sort of heavy sleeping medication since at this point I felt like this problem was outside of my control. She said to me "why don't we try some anti-anxiety treatment/medication since that most likely the reason you aren't able to sleep". I was so beyond the breaking point, that I didn't even want to listen to this doctor who instead of giving me the "easy way out", wanted to find the root of the problem. Instead, I just wanted to sleep, and she didn't want to prescribe any sleeping medications. I was not a happy camper. I'm not sure what got me out of this funk, but again it took some time, and eventually I was okay. Luckily, my grades didn't suffer too much, and I guess I wasn't too crazy since my boyfriend is still around.
This time around, I'm not really having trouble falling asleep... It's just the good quality sleep I am having trouble with. I decided to read up on what I'm missing out on, and there is a lot of interesting information on sleep.
Now, my math isn't so great anymore.. but here's a math problem. The average American sleeps 6.5 hours per night. If the average American is sleeping 6.5 hours per night when they should be getting 8 hours, that's only 80% of what's needed. That means they are missing 20% of sleep, that's almost 9 whole hours of sleep, per week. Eighty-percent of sleep, that's a B minus, that's not terrible, right? Well, B minuses overtime gets you a whole lotta no where. Some people then think, "I can make it up by sleeping-in on the weekend". The truth is, I highly doubt you are making up those 9 hours of sleep in only two nights, and plus studies show that in order to get rid of slept debt, it's better to do so over multiple days/weeks rather than in one night.
We all can spout off at least four reasons why tobacco is bad for you, but most people don't think of the effects of sleep deprivation on their health. Here are some facts that Dr. Kirk Parsley states in his Ted Talk (I have the link below).. Acute, sleep-deprived, healthy, college-aged adults who did not sleep for 4 days were found to have glucose and insulin levels consistent with obesity and diabetes. Chronic sleep deprivation increases one's likelihood of developing almost every disease (ie. cancer, heart attack, stroke, depression, obesity, diabetes, suicide). Plus, one is more fatigued during the day, more likely to be in an accident, and one's self-awareness is equally deprived. Meaning, one is not aware that they are sleep deprived.. making it a "silent killer".
Sleep deprivation is a silent killer.
Professionally, I have had a difficult time conveying the importance of sleep/ the results of sleep deprivation to my patients. Lack of sleep is not always an easy thing to talk about for many of the reasons I listed above, plus it can open up a large can of worms... Lack of sleep is almost always a symptom of something else, physical and/or emotional. In fact, with almost every single one of my patients, I would have a "sleep goal". On evaluation day, I would provide my patient's a handout on sleep hygiene, which just went into detail on different practices to perform around bedtime for sleeping well on a regular basis. Part of the reason I wrote this post was to remind myself of the reasons/repercussions of sleep/lack there of. I know that many of my friends/family in our stressful society are going through similar experiences as I am, so I thought it was important to share my story.
Since I obviously need a reminder on some sleep hygiene habits, I'm going to make a quick list here. Enjoy!
Jenn's Sleep Hygiene (Soon to be) Habits:
- Keep a notepad by your bed. That way, if something comes into your mind that you don't want to forget (ie. pay the phone bill, call your mom, set a reminder, etc.), you can write it down and not worry about forgetting it tomorrow.
- Establish a regular bed-time & wake up time. Your internal clock will thank you for it.
- The bed is for sleeping. Do not watch TV, listen to music, or read in your bed if you are having trouble sleeping. This way, you can associate your bed for sleeping rather than for something else.
- No electronics for 30 minutes before bed. (using your phone for a meditation is okay). Instead, stretch, do a little bit of yoga, read/watch TV (not in your bed).
- Reduce unnecessary light. For example, the little button lit up under the TV, digital clocks, PHONES etc. Put tape over any of these unnecessary lights since they really can confuse your sensory system.
Dr. Kirk Parsley's Ted Talk - America's Biggest Problem. (17 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s9C_8-OoxI
For those who have a little bit more time, check out NatGeo's Documentary - Sleepless in America. (126 min) http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2015/01/08/sleep-deprivation-documentary
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