The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep is Broken and How to Fix It
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While virtually every system and organ of the body is in some way affected by sleep, sleep resides in the brain. This is where sleep both originates and is controlled. Sleep is a neurological state, so when it comes to sleep, the brain is where it’s at.
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brain does in fact have a system for removing waste: the glymphatic system. Although scientists today generally agree on its existence, it was another aspect of the glymphatic system that really grabbed headlines. Scientists discovered that the main waste product the glymphatic system is removing is amyloid beta (Aβ), the protein that accumulates in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. While that fact itself is fascinating, there’s more: The glymphatic system is 60 percent more productive when we sleep than when we are awake!
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as sleep duration goes down, ghrelin production goes up, increasing the likelihood of overeating and obesity.
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When we sleep poorly, leptin levels are reduced, which makes us want to eat more,
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How Much Sleep Do We Need? Enough. That’s the answer. You need enough sleep.
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If you sleep well, feel well, and don’t have symptoms of excessive sleepiness, whatever amount of sleep you are getting is probably okay.
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According to Stanford sleep researcher Maurice Ohayon’s 2004 study, all through our life, our sleep need is declining.
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people often use the terms sleepy and fatigued interchangeably when in fact they do not mean the same thing. A person who describes herself as sleepy but tells me it takes her four hours to fall asleep is not particularly sleepy based on my definition.
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I tell my patients all the time, when you are fatigued, get some rest. When you are nodding off, get some sleep.
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There are two main systems in your body that work to produce sleepiness: the homeostatic system and the circadian system.
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Homeostasis refers to bringing balance or equilibrium to a system; it’s in charge of bringing rest to a system that is not at rest.
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A chemical called adenosine mediates the homeostatic system of sleep. As you’re awake for longer and longer periods of time, more adenosine collects in your brain.
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Caffeine blocks adenosine.
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Physical activity also increases adenosine, so the harder you exert yourself, the more likely you are to be sleepy. Exercise is a vital part of any sleep program, with hard work often being a fantastic tool to combat occasional difficulty sleeping.
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Located within the SCN, the circadian pacemakers of the brain work to counteract the buildup of homeostatic sleep pressure occurring during the day.
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I think a nap in the afternoon is fine as long as it does not affect your ability to sleep at night.
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Most likely, these systems are working just fine, but you are disrupting them in some way.
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how we view ourselves as sleepers and the labels we give ourselves may be more predictive of daytime dysfunction than our actual sleep quality. In other words, if you are a poor sleeper who views yourself as being a confident, good sleeper, you may function as well during the day as a person with far better sleep quality.
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Sleep itself has three important phases. The foundation state is light sleep. Notice how light sleep serves as the passageway between wakefulness and deep sleep. Deep sleep is our most restorative sleep but you have to pass through light sleep to get there. Figure 4.2. Sleep divided. The third kind of sleep is dream sleep (REM sleep).
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Every great creation needs a solid foundation, and for our sleep at night, light sleep provides the bedrock for our night of dynamic sleep. Light sleep represents the state between being fully conscious and either being in deep sleep or dreaming.
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Almost half of an individual’s night is spent in N2 sleep. Through N2 sleep, all other stages flow
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This is crucial for those of you who think you never sleep to understand: You are sleeping, but you might be spending a disproportionate amount of the time in light sleep.
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Stage N3 sleep constitutes deep sleep. Deep sleep is sometimes called slow-wave sleep or delta sleep because of the slow brain waves seen during this stage of sleep
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Typically, adults spend approximately 25 percent of their night in deep sleep with the majority of deep sleep activity occurring during the first half of the night. This sleep is restorative sleep and makes individuals feel rested (not sleepy) the following day.
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Why is deep sleep restorative? Mainly because the time you spend in deep sleep happens to also be the time of greatest growth hormone (GH) production.
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The processes in our brain that control sleepiness are distinct from those that control wakefulness.
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So on Team Sleepiness, think about adenosine and melatonin. On Team Wakefulness (or vigilance or arousal), think histamine, dopamine, and orexin.
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Sleepiness does not wax and wane during the day. It marches relentlessly upward and onward. The longer you are awake, the more adenosine you are accumulating and the more driven your body is to sleep.
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She’s sleepy, and she has years of good sleep under her belt, but the anxiety she will feel starting with the reading of that note will all but guarantee her failure at the task. What has changed? This individual is now working to fall asleep rather than allowing sleep to simply happen.
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Overthinking, stress, and anxiety can ruin activities that we consider automatic.
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So there are forces at play that make us sleepy, and there are forces at play that wake us up. Imbalances in these forces result in sleep problems. In these cases, it is essential that we focus on reducing the anxiety surrounding the act of sleeping. This book was, in part, born out of a desire to help my patients reduce the anxiety that often surrounds sleep by providing them with knowledge about sleep.
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Paradoxical insomnia
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For many, simply relaxing and understanding that they really are not in danger of not sleeping cures their sleep woes.
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Sleep hygiene is the act of controlling your sleep behaviors and environments in an effort to optimize your sleep. Basically, it’s doing what you can to set yourself up to sleep successfully. It is controlling what you can control.
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Make your bedroom dark: really dark. Remember how melatonin makes you sleepy but only if your eyes aren’t seeing the light? Well, block the light, every bit of it, if you want to sleep well.
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And when I say make your room dark, I mean dark. Your brain is like the zombies on The Walking Dead—it can pick up on the smallest sources of light such as a clock radio, a cell phone display, the crack underneath your door. So turn off your phone (or better yet, keep it in the kitchen) and turn your clock away or do something to block the light it emits.
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Go into your bedroom, close the blinds, shut the door and turn off the lights. Put your hands in front of your face. Can you see them? If yes, keep working. Your room isn’t dark enough.
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turn off your smartphone, laptop, tablet, or any other electronic device. Completely off. That light is killing your sleep.
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If you must use light, try either to filter out the blue and green from your device or consider wearing blue-blocking glasses. Screens and similar lights should be turned off several hours before going to bed.
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we all like different things, but you should love your bed. Buy the nicest bedding you can afford.
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SHEEX is another company that has been around for a while making similar performance bedding.
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It’s best if you can’t see what time it is when your room is dark.
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Every sleep doctor worth his or her weight in foam earplugs will tell you the bed is for two things: sex and sleep. I’ll say it again: The bed is for sex and sleep.
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I spend a lot of time in my clinic telling couples it is okay to sleep apart sometimes.
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what’s not disputed is the mess alcohol makes of the second half of your night as the alcohol is metabolized.
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when it comes to food, the National Sleep Foundation feels it best not to eat any of it within two to three hours of bedtime.
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Foods heavy in protein can have the unwanted effect of keeping you up at night.
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In 2007, research by Chin Moi Chow from the University of Sydney showed conclusively that a high-glycemic-index meal consumed four hours before sleep resulted in a significantly shorter time to fall asleep than a low-glycemic-index meal. Take your cue from the holiday when you need a midnight snack. Look for dried fruit, cereal, or bananas. High-glycemic-index foods produce sleepiness, so if food must be consumed at night, these are good choices. Other foods that are good choices for sleep contain high amounts of melatonin. These foods include walnuts and tart cherries (dried or juice). Foods ...more
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Everyone can benefit from a bedtime routine, and it can be whatever you want. Routine lets the brain know what’s coming.
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For a great bedtime routine, start with exercise in the morning.
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