Happy New Year! How'd You Sleep?

It is January 1st, 2014 and the World is MY Pearl.  Statement of fact.

Why?  Because I got a good night''s sleep, straight through, without waking.  I feel like a million bucks and ready to take on anything.  The best, most important thing for an insomniac like me to do after a good night's sleep is to take note of everything that was done differently in the lead-up to increase the chances of repeating it in the year ahead.

Last night, I was careful to get utterly no sugar in the 5 or 6 hours before bed.  Half the world was celebrating the outgoing old year and incoming first moments of the new year, and I celebrated with some low-carbohydrate broccoli and cheese patties.  Think what you'd like, but I'd eat them four nights a week to insure sleep like that.  Fortunately, I'm pretty sure I won't need to do that, but avoiding sugar always seems to help.

I cut back Melatonin use.  I've been trying to eliminate regular use and dependence on any sleep aid from my regimen, after reading reports that "too much of a good thing" can easily become bad.  In keeping with that goal, I cut back Melatonin by one-third starting a month ago and it's had a negative effect on my sleep.  It seems I'm getting somewhere on that effort.

I slept in my own bed, with my favorite sheets, in a cold room under light but warm covers.  Over the years, I've given my bedding a lot of thought and effort.  I don't like heavy covers.  An eider-down in East Europe would make me scream.  Or sweat.  I also don't like polyester; it pills.  I like a nice, light down comforter, dressed in cotton and linen duvet with plenty of feather pillows on the side.  I currently sleep with five pillows.

I eliminated tech and gadgets.  I did watch TV in my bedroom, but I shut down the computer a full 90 minutes early.  I put the phone on the side and tried to limit exposure to any bluish, insomnia-inducing tech-light.  I mostly succeeded.

2014 ushered its own noisy self in.  Since I worked early this morning, I didn't go out.  But I didn't go to bed "early," either.  A double feature of my favorite British sit-com was on and I treated myself to both episodes.  I got to sleep a full hour later than I should have.

But with in spite of less pillow-time, I had more quality shut-eye than I have had in weeks.  I woke up ready to take on the world.  I made New Years' Resolutions, career and workout goals and greeted everyone I met with a smile.  It's amazing what a good night's sleep can do for attitude.

And if this was any indication of what 2014 will bring, we're in for a wild, amazing, exciting, GREAT ride!

One more thing, if you didn't sleep as well as I did and you don't sleep well on a regular basis, you can change that.  It may be any of a hundred different things.  Check out The Great Sleep Checklist to see if it will help you.  It's never too late to start sleeping well.

Holiday Season Insomnia?

Fall and Winter usually help people to improve their sleep habits. The cooler temperatures, longer nights and shorter days are great for celebrating holidays, eating too much, exercising less and sleeping more.  Turkey served at several meals is always good for a few extra Zzz's. 

The holidays are also good for stories about subjects like sleep.  Here's an interview I did with Sandy Hausman of Virginia Public Radio:

Virginia Author hopes her book will "Put You to Sleep."

Happy Holidays and, now that they're almost over, get some rest!

Give Thanks for Great Sleep

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving: time to come together with family and friends, give thanks and express gratitude for what you have (and sometimes what you don't have), and eat an unusually ornate meal.



Since most of us make a tradition of overeating (and regretting it) on this holiday, what can you do to lower the chances that you'll over-indulge and feel uncomfortable, both physically and mentally?  Get a good night's sleep.

Why?  Because surveys show people who are under-tired, are more likely to overeat.   Maybe we overeat because we're so tired that we think we need a little comfort, or perhaps we do it because exhaustion doesn't help us make good decisions.  For whatever reason, we eat more when tired.  And very few of us are going to get exercise, beyond a light game of touch football (or hoisting feet on the ottoman for football on TV after the meal).

Sleep will help you get through the meal preparation, whether that's actual cooking or helping keep other guests out of the cook's way.  It helps keep people on an even keel, which is often tough to do on these big family occasions. It's important to everyone's well-being.  We all know that.

Even better news, it is the best time of the year to get a good night's sleep.  Summer's heat has gone.  The worst worries about "what am I waking up to" are yet to come.   The rain and, in some cases soggy snow, always seem to help me sleep in a way that bitter cold does not.

So remember the basics: go to bed at the same time every night.  Sleep in a cool, dark room.  Turn off the tech at least an hour (two is better) before you turn in.  Sleep on a good mattress.  Check those pillows to see if they need replacing.  Oh!  We'll talk about that next time!

Sleep: How Much Is Too Much?

You're reading this at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, as your having "one of those" difficult times, aren't you?  So at this point, you probably can't imagine the possibility of getting too much sleep.  But it can happen and it also has negative health effects.

The federal government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just released a new study on our favorite topic, sleep, in the October issue of the journal Sleep, showing that in fact, too much sleep has health consequences.  But here's the surprise: the 

Too little sleep and you're groggy, mentally absent, struggling to take care of your physical needs of exercise and generally grumpy.  That's the easy stuff.

You're also at risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity and mental distress.  Sounds like a description of the ills of modern life, doesn't it?

To get their results, CDC researchers examined data on more than 54,000 people ages 45 and above in 14 states.  They found the vast majority (65%) were "optimal sleepers," getting 6 to 9 hours of sleep per night.  About one third (31%) were "short sleepers," getting 6 hours or less per night.  Only a small percentage (4%) were "long sleepers" who slept an average of 10 hours or more per night.  No surprises there, right?

We already know what happens to the short sleepers: stressed out, heart and blood pressure issues, "Little Mr. Cranky Pants" at the office.  But what is surprising is, they found the same chronic illnesses among the "long sleepers," except links with coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes were even stronger.

Dr. M. Safwan Badr, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), says the evidence is clear:

"Sleeping longer doesn't necessarily mean you're sleeping well."

He says people should understand that sleep affects health: a healthy, balanced lifestyle is not just about following a good diet and staying fit, but also getting the right quantity and quality of sleep.

Study co-author Dr. Janet B. Croft, a senior chronic disease epidemiologist in the Division of Population Health at the CDC, recommends doctors looking after chronically ill people begin with questions, regarding their mental health, body weight and sleep patterns and quality.

Have you noticed any of these issues in your life, as you deal with your sleeping patterns? 

Why A "Checklist?"

Why did I write The Great Sleep Checklist?  Why does it take a checklist to restore sleep?  Why won't sleep happen if you follow a few tips?

I wrote the Checklist after spending my life trying desperately to get a good night's sleep.  Sure, there were periods (months at a time, matter of fact!) when I slept well.  I worked hard, played hard and fell into bed at night and experienced blissful nights of slumber. 

But there were other times, when I worked equally hard and enjoyed myself every bit as much, yet could not put my head and my pillow together for anything but what seemed like an eight hour battle.  It seemed no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get a restful night.

I finally realized that a lot of little things were keeping me from sleeping.  These were things that could be avoided.  And if I wanted to get to sleep, I'd better get started on knocking them out ofmy life.

Further, I realized that if I wanted to fall asleep, stay asleep and have very restful sleep, I was going to have to do more than just eliminate the obstacles and things that were preventing my sleep.  I was also going to have to start doing some other things to "smooth out the kinks" that kept me from the really great, restful and deeply satisfying sleep that I wanted.

The Great Sleep Checklist is a concisely compiled list of all the things that I changed to start sleeping better, and a few that I didn't have to bother with.  It's all the tips I saw on the internet, all the things that I found helpful, a few others that I could see were helpful (but didn't personally experience) and the ways I found to "boost" my chances of a good night's sleep.

Next time, we'll talk about one of my more controversial "strategies" for sleep and why it works.  Because you need a checklist to get back to sleep.  And you need a strategy to get GREAT sleep.

To Sleep Better... Reset Your Body Clock

Circadian rhythms.  Sounds like something involving a bug and a percussion section, doesn't it?  But what most of us refer to more simply as our "body clock" controls our sleep and for a lot of people, it seems out of whack.  It seems to control sleeplessness.

How to resolve the struggle between a person and their body clock has been a big question, but now there's a study showing evidence of a rather simple (and enjoyable) solution: go camping.

The study, conducted by the University of Colorado in Boulder, found that many people's body clocks responded to the simple "sun up, sun down" rules that are pretty clearly stated by the world around us.  It was reported in the online journal "Current Biology."

Researchers took their study group to the tents and campfires but left behind flashlights and all tech gadgets. "No artificial lights" allowed.  The result?  The eight (yes, it was a very small study group) were allowed only campfire light, and while they still shifted back on when they went to sleep, the total amount of time they spent sleeping stayed the same.

The advice agrees with a lot of the things that we've recommended in "The Great Sleep Checklist."  Back away from the computer screens in the evening.  Turn down the lighting around your house.  Dim the dinner overheads and see if you can "power down" the lit faces of the clocks around you.  You might sleep better for it.  

(Photo: courtesy BBC online.)