Sound Sleep

My last blog post described some of the weird things about sleep that I learned by reading the book Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep, by David Randall.  But let's get practical.  We all know sleep is good for you in countless ways:  immune function, creativity, emotions, longevity, and so on.  But what can we do to get a good night's sleep, at least according to this book?

• Ban booze before bedtime.  If I'd known the author would slip in this tidbit in the next to last chapter, I wouldn't have read the book!!  Darn it!!  But I read it, and now I can't pretend I didn't.  Apparently, alcohol can make a person fall asleep sooner, but in the latter part of the night, a person tends to wake up frequently until the blood alcohol level returns to zero.  So, even if statistics show that 1-2 drinks a night is associated with a longer life, it's probably best to have the last drink an hour or two before bedtime.
• Ban blue light.  This author is no fun at all!  No booze and no blue light before bed.  In the natural world, as the sun sets and light decreases, our bodies start to release melatonin to make us sleep.  But this doesn't happen if we fool our bodies with bright artificial light, especially the bluer wavelengths of light that come from our televisions, computers, and iPads.  I've started to try to dim lights throughout the house in the evening, and avoid the iPad and the computer in the last hour or two before bed.  This is a tough habit to break because I find these activities so relaxing, but I do want to sleep better, and "Dreamland" suggests that, as far as going to sleep, the negatives of blue light greatly outweigh the benefits of relaxing with my iPad.  My wife and I still watch TV at the end of the night, but I'm shutting off lights everywhere if she's OK with that and I plan to switch the TV settings to a dimmer display.
• Body temperature.  We sleep best when the temperature of the core or our bodies can drop.  A simpler approach is to be careful about pajamas, socks, and blankets.  According to the book, depending on what you choose to wear and to cover yourself with, most people can handle room temperatures ranging from 60 degrees F to 90 degrees F.  Above all, we need to keep the feet and hands cool.  When sleeping, body heat shifts from the body's core to the hands and feet, and we tend to wake up if these extremities get too warm.  So we might sleep better with bare feet.
• Exercise.  We don't need to exercise until we collapse from exhaustion, but exercise helps immensely.  (Finally!  The author has some good news).
• Familiar firmness. Will I sleep better on a hard mattress?  A soft mattress?  Something in between? Apparently the clear winner is to sleep on a surface that has the SAME firmness that we're used to, regardless of whether that is hard or soft.  There is no firmness that is "naturally" better for people.
• Letting go.  It's time for bed.  It helps to give yourself permission to solve problems and issues later, to say that "now is not the time".  The mind can otherwise be free to jump from topic to topic because trying to control thought just leads to insomnia.  The only control worth applying at this time is to say "now is not the time" to fix things at work or at home, to solve problems, to change anything.  With this letting go of "doing", sleep will come.