Sleepless Nights, Drowsy Days

You’ve memorized the light patterns on the wall, counted the ceiling tiles and gotten up a couple of times already, yet you still can’t get to sleep.  Your mind just won’t shut off.  You’re thinking about your kids, your job, your health, your marriage, your parents, basically everything and you still can’t stop your mind.  It’s frustrating, exhausting and can have a detrimental effect on your alertness, energy level, relationships and work performance. 

       According to a 1993 Louis Harris poll, half of the people surveyed didn’t get their ideal quota of sleep.  That’s a pretty significant amount of people walking around with impaired abilities.

     Insomnia can happen to us at any age but seems to increase in frequency as we enter mid-life.  It hits both men and women, with women the hardest hit.  As we age our sleep becomes lighter so we are more easily disturbed.  It also becomes less efficient and restful.  Delta sleep, the deepest sleep sees a gradual decline so you may experience more frequent periods of wakefulness.  Delta sleep is the type that allows you to recover energy stores.  REM sleep on the other hand, the type where your eyes move rapidly and you tend to dream, allows for mental recovery.  Without REM you may find it difficult to make sense out of your life and daily events.  Both are necessary for good health and healing.

     When you don’t get enough sleep you can lose motivation for doing anything other than sleeping, work becomes more of a challenge and it becomes difficult to concentrate on daily tasks.  Missing one night’s sleep doesn’t usually impact life more than making the next day difficult to maneuver through.  Usually adrenaline gives us enough of a boost that we can function.  It’s when lack of sleep becomes chronic that we begin to see problems emerging.

    Researchers found that when deprived of sleep over an extended period of time, people lose their sense of joy and become easily depressed,  numbers become difficult to remember and there may be lapses in concentration; not a good thing if you’re driving!  Other mental functions decline as well, like the ability to make good judgment calls. 

     So what kind of insomnia do you have?  Do you have a history of insomnia?  Is it caused by depression or other psychological problem?  Is there a medical reason for your insomnia? Does pain keep you awake or a congested nose?  Are you menopausal? What is your lifestyle like?  Do you smoke or drink caffeinated beverages?  Are you under a lot of stress?  Depending on how you answered these questions your insomnia could be either caused by a medical, psychological or lifestyle condition.  To get a better idea of what may be causing your insomnia why not try keeping a sleep diary.

     Dr. Peter Hauri, author of “No More Sleepless Nights,” suggests you fill out a sleep log every morning after getting up and to rate yourself on the following:

·          I took a nap today.  Record how long you actually slept.

·          I took sleeping pills. Record the time you slept and the amount of medication.

·          What time did you turn the lights out to try to get to sleep?

·          It took me …….. minutes to fall asleep after the lights went out.

·          I woke up …… times.

·          I was awake for …..minutes last night.

·          What time did you wake up the last time?

·          I slept for ……. hours last night.

·          I got up at ……. for the last time.

·          On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst sleep and ten being the best, how would you rate your sleep compared to the last month’s worth of sleep.

·          How did you feel when you woke up in the morning?  On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being not very refreshed and 10 being very refreshed.

      Keep track of your sleep for one week to see if any patterns develop.  Go one step further and record your food intake for that time as well as food sensitivities can affect your sleep.  If you have Beth Yim’s book “Fresh Start” use the diet diary for recording your food intake.  Add daily activities and exercise to your daily recording as well.

       To analyze your logs, look for patterns.  Are you having a cup of hot chocolate before you go to bed?  Are the nights you have the cocoa the ones where your sleep is disturbed?  If you exercise in the evening do you find it more difficult to sleep?  Does talking on the phone to a relative or friend keep you awake at night?  Or does a certain television show have your mind racing. 

     If you see patterns emerge you may want to work at changing your habits, if no pattern emerges you may want to keep an additional two or three weeks log.  If you still haven’t come up with a solution then I encourage you to see a naturopathic physician for testing and treatment possibilities.  Make sure you take in your logs so he can check for patterns too. 

     If a pattern doesn’t jump out at you then look for the following:

·          Are you consuming hidden caffeine?  Some brands of pop like ginger ale contain caffeine, so does iced tea.  You can also be getting a dose of caffeine from medications like pain relief meds, cold and allergy remedies or diuretics.

·          Alcohol can negatively impact sleep patterns.  Though it may help you fall asleep, studies show that the sleep is more disturbed and fragmented.

·          Smoking is a sure contributor to insomnia.  Nicotine is a stimulant, just like caffeine.  Instead of having a cigarette before bed try reading a book instead.

     Insomnia robs you of more than sleep.  It can take away your enjoyment of life and negatively impact relationships.  As we enter mid life we need to feel the pleasure of daily living and develop our relationships, don’t let lack of sleep interfere with either.