The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep is Broken and How to Fix It

by W. Chris Winter

Circadian rhythm disorders are frequently associated with depression and other mood disorders. As patients spend more time in bed and withdraw from typical activities, their schedule and sleep-wake cycles become a big mess.

Our immune system’s function is intimately tied to the amount and quality of our sleep.

As you’re awake for longer and longer periods of time, more adenosine collects in your brain. Because adenosine induces sleepiness, the longer you’re awake, the more likely you are to be sleepy. This is the chemistry behind sleep being a primary drive.34

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.

Melatonin is produced in conditions of darkness. When your eyes (retina) see darkness, a collection of cells called the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs)36 is responsible for receiving the signal and sending it to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the brain’s timekeeper. It’s the suprachiasmatic nucleus that prompts the pineal gland, a little pea-size gland in the brain, to release melatonin.

Sleep perception and sleep reality are not always related.

So on Team Sleepiness, think about adenosine and melatonin. On Team Wakefulness (or vigilance or arousal), think histamine, dopamine, and orexin. Think of these teams as being two distinct systems making up two opposing forces,

anytime sleepiness gets the upper hand over vigilance, sleep will occur.

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.

The reality of the time we sleep is often quite different from the perception of how long we have slept.

There are many steps that go into transforming your bedroom into a sleep lair, and step one involves light. Make your bedroom dark: really dark.

turn off your smartphone, laptop, tablet, or any other electronic device. Completely off. That light is killing your sleep.

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 high in tryptophan are sleep promoting because tryptophan is the building block of melatonin. Game meat like elk and chickpeas are high in tryptophan content. Finally, foods high in magnesium (almonds) and calcium (milk, kale) can help promote relaxation and sleep. When it comes to sleep promotion, hot chamomile tea or passionflower tea can also be helpful.56 Sweeten the tea with honey, itself sleep promoting, for an added kick. Avoid proteins that can often promote the synthesis of dopamine, a wake-promoting neurotransmitter.

Exercise is good any time of the day, but if it is done consistently in the morning, particularly in bright light, it can create a positive effect on sleep when it is time to hit the sack.

relaxing exercises or meditation before bed.

Remember, for sleep to have an impact in your life, it needs to include a robust amount of deep sleep and all of the restorative things that go along with it. This is sleep. Simply sedating someone does not produce this effect.

Just remember, everyone has a different sleep need and that need changes (usually shrinks) over time.