What can we do to Improve Sleep ?
Science-backed Tops and Tools
Dear Readers,
Welcome to Science Simplified!
This article will summarise the science-backed tips and tools that can be easily assimilated into lifestyle and within days help you to improve the quality of your Sleep.
Everything that has life Sleeps
Everything that has life Sleeps – one way of another. Birds sleep, chimps, polar bears, dogs.. Some of the animals have learned ingenious ways of sleeping.
For example take dolphin here – dolphin breathes air like us but lives in the water and when dolphin sleeps it slows down and stops swimming. It has developed an ingenious way of keeping half of the brain asleep at one time and half the other time. In this way it can breath and sleep under water! Isn't that mind blowing..
Even bacteria and viruses sleep, but not like us, however they go dormant in their life cycle and that can be possibly referred to as sleep.
In a nutshell, everything that has life sleeps, therefore, Sleep must be Important!
Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
The Significance of Sleep
Sleep is a big part of life. We spent about one-third of our life Sleeping.
Sleep is essential to every process in our body, it affects growth and stress hormones, immune system, appetite, breathing, blood pressure, cardiovascular health, brain health and much more. It turns out that Sleep is very important!
However, for the longest time we never paid attention to sleep, we all took it for grated and we paid attention only to time when we are awake. We never paid attention to sleeping on right time or getting up at right time - our awake time used to rule over our slumber.
Famous French singer, lyricist and actress, Edith Piaf used to say, “For me, sleeping is a waste of time. I’m afraid to Sleep. It’s a form of death”.
Stages of Sleep
Yes, when you Sleep, you have no idea of time your surroundings, but your brain and body stay remarkably active while you sleep.
It is not similar as turning off the computer, it doesn't mean that brain is turned off during sleep.
If we put electrodes on the brain and read its waves during sleep, we see a pattern. This pattern is dynamic and is referred to as Hypnogram.
If I ask you to look forward sit quietly and close your eyes for 2s and if I had EEG electrodes on your brain, your brain looks like graph in Stage 1, brain at this stage emits alpha waves, small rhythmic pattern and if you keep your eyes shut for few more seconds and if your eyes start to roll - you will start to feel sleepy – your brain is entering into Stage 2 of sleep. In Stage 2 you can actually rest, some of you can hear voices in this stage and some of you are already knocked out. This is when brain emits theta waves. Then you enter Stage 3 – which is the deep sleep state, deep relaxation state. In this stage brain emits delta waves.
And finally you enter the last stage that is REM state – which is rapid eye movement. It is characterised by small, variable-speed brain waves, rapid eye movements, increased heart rate, and muscle paralysis. Dreams are most vivid in REM sleep. .. During REM sleep, your brain may still “see.” When you move your eyes during REM sleep, new images may still form in your mind's eye
This cycle occurs multiple times throughout the night for different lengths of time, varying from 70 to 120 minutes each.
The stages generally repeat about four to five times during a 7- to 9-hour sleep period. Each of these stages of sleep have direct effect on the health of body and mind.
Why do we Sleep ?
There are a lot of important things that happen during sleep. It improves our physical health. The body repairs cells, restores energy, and releases molecules like hormones and proteins.
It helps prevent depression and PTSD.
Recent findings suggest that sleep plays a housekeeping role that removes toxins in your brain that build up while you are awake
It balances your hunger cues.
It restores your creativity, productivity and concentration.
The cardiovascular system also gets a break during sleep
There is 10-20% reduction in heart rate, called Dipping.
Decreases 20-30% reduction in blood pressure
It strengthens the immune system.
And it’s also where a lot of our learning takes place (when sleeping, our brain processes the day’s experiences).
We also sometimes have vivid dreams that help us view life in a bigger way.
The bottom line is sleep keeps us healthy and functioning well. It lets your body and brain repair, restore, and reenergize.
If you don’t get enough sleep, you might experience side effects like poor memory and focus, weakened immunity, and mood changes.
Physiological changes during Normal Sleep
Let’s understand some of the physiological changes which happen during sleep
Poikilothermic in REM Sleep: During REM Sleep we cannot control our temperature - our body gets cold – luckily we do not stay there for long
Atonia: Our muscles don’t move during REM
Decrease in Blood Pressure and Heart Rate
Hypoventilation: We don’t breath as deeply during sleep and that’s ok with few exceptions like people with COPD and lung disease or pulmonary hypertension.
Recommended amount of Sleep
Sleep architecture changes with Age
Look at this graph, you must have figured out that sleep pattern changes with each passing decade. These are some of the characteristic changes in sleep stages:
Decline in total Sleep time
Decline in sleep efficiency
Decline in slow-wave sleep (deep sleep)
Rise in wake after sleep onset
Most of the drop in deep sleep is observed in men as compared to women!
In other words, sleep is lighter and more fragmented with brief arousals or longer awakenings throughout the night. These changes are also linked as the result of medical comorbidities rather than age per se.
Sleep Well, no matter your Age!!
Now let’s talk about The Sleep Tool Kit - Behavioural Modifications to Boost the Quality of your Sleep.
Advice 1:
Viewing morning sunlight within 30-60 minutes of waking will help you fall asleep and stay asleep at night. Spending time in sunlight helps to reset your body's sleep and wake cycles.
Advice 2:
Sunlight in the later afternoon/evening when the sun is low is helpful as it helps to optimize transition to sleep
Taper the amount of artificial bright light & start dimming house lights a bit
Use a nightlight if needed, but be aware that bright light disrupts sleep/wake patterns.
Use curtains, blinds, or a sleep mask to block out light. To block out noise, use earplugs, soothing music, or a "white noise" machine.
Advice 3:
Reduce liquid intake before bedtime.
Use the toilet right before bedtime to help prevent night time waking.
If you wake up in the middle of the night, use as little light as possible
If you need to be awake during the sleep cycle (e.g., wake up early for travel, feed baby), use red light – this will not disrupt the circadian rhythm
If you can't sleep, get up and do a quiet or boring activity until you feel sleepy.
Science behind Effect of Light on Correcting Sleep-Wake Cycle
Deep beneath the cerebral cortices, a vestigial eye measures and keeps time. Darkness causes the pineal gland to produce more melatonin, which signals the body to prepare for sleep. On the other hand, light (especially the blue spectrum light coming from screens of smartphones, television, tablets), decreases melatonin production and signals the body to prepare for being awake. It’s important to note that brief pulses of light of sufficient intensity and duration also abruptly suppress its production.
A robust light and dark pattern (high circadian effective light during the day and low in the evening) is important for our health and wellbeing.
Humans possess an internal 24-hour clock, also called the circadian pacemaker, that partly determines the time when people fall asleep and when they wake, as well as their alertness level while they are awake.
This is an important clock. You must have noticed when you travel to east or west you are out of sync. Your bathroom necessities are out of sync and its very bothersome. Pretty soon you become like natives by following the sun. In every day we can shift the clock by a hour and so 7 hr shift can be easily recovered in 7 days
Advice 4:
Keep a regular schedule: Go to bed at the same time every night. And get up at the same time every morning, even if you feel tired.
Create a relaxing bedtime routine. You might want to take a warm shower or bath, or listen to soothing music.
Avoid the use of tablets and smartphones before going to bed.
Ease the transition from wake time to sleep time with a period of relaxing activities an hour or so before bed. Take a bath (the rise, then fall in body temperature promotes drowsiness), read a book, watch television, or practice relaxation exercises. Avoid stressful, stimulating activities—doing work, discussing emotional issues. Physically and psychologically stressful activities can cause the body to secrete the stress hormone cortisol, which is associated with increasing alertness. If you tend to take your problems to bed, try writing them down—and then putting them aside.
Advice 5:
Try not to nap during the day; if you do nap, try to do so before 3 p.m. and try to keep the nap short (about 20 minutes).
Advice 6:
Make sure the temperature in the bedroom is comfortable (not too hot and not too cold).
Take a warm bath or shower and drop body temperature to make it easier to fall asleep.
If you’re waking up because you’re warm, be sure not to wear socks while sleeping and stick out hand(s) and foot/feet from under the covers.
Advice 7:
Eating early in the day makes you more alert and triggers an increase in metabolism and temperature that will make you feel more alert
Finish your dinner 3h before going to bed
If you think being hungry at night is a problem, have a light snack just before bed.
Advice 8:
Avoid alcohol and products that contain caffeine (tea, chocolate or soda) and nicotine; these can cause overstimulation and interfere with sleep.
If you want your caffeine first thing in the morning before exercising, you will likely get an early afternoon dip in energy so plan accordingly.
Advice 9:
Try to exercise daily but not within three hours of bedtime
Tool-Kit # 1 - Non-Sleep-Deep-Rest (NSDR)
NSDR can restore mental & physical vigor, dopamine levels and offset missed hours of sleep. There are evidences that meditation and mindfulness promote good sleep.
Tool-Kit # 2 - Breathwork
Train yourself to breathe through your nose
Lets try 4-7-8 breathing technique
To start, breathe in normally for 4 seconds.
Hold your breath for 7 seconds, and
Then purse your lips and breathe out through your mouth for 8 seconds making a whooshing noise.
When first starting, it might be difficult to breathe out completely. Start with just 2-3 sets, and eventually as your breathing gets stronger, up to 8 sets can be performed. 4-7-8 help us get out of our own head and allow us to relax, reduce anxiety and fall asleep.
Thanks for reading ‘Science Simplified’ — a newsletter to share science in a simplified way!
Please share this article with at least one person, this is the best way you can show your support and spread the knowledge and love for science.