9/14/2018
SLEEP YOUR WAY TO OPTIMAL WELLNESS
Kasia Hrecka, PhD Functional Medicine Coach www.nourishup.com
April 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion
March 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker Spills 50 million gallons of crude oil
January 1986 The Challenger Explosion
„I’ll sleep when I’m dead”
„Sleep is a waste of time”
„I don’t have time to sleep”
„Sleep is for suckers”
etc.
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Protect the Asset
Sleep makes us more productive, not less
Violinists study by K. Andres Ericsson*:
• the best violinists spent more time practicing • Second most important factor differentiating good violinists from the best was sleep – Best violinists slept on average 8.6h in every 24h period and + 2.8h napping average week time.
* Ericcson et al., 1993 “The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance” Psych. Review 100, no. 3
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Sleep depravation undermines high performance*
• Sleep deficit is like drinking too much alcohol: – “Pulling an all-nighter or having a week of sleeping just four hours a night actually “induces an impairment equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.1%. Think about this: we would never say, ’This person is a great worker! He’s drunk all the time!’ yet we continue to celebrate people who sacrifice sleep for work”
* Charles A. Czeisler, “Sleep deficit: Preformance killer” Harvard Business Review Oct. 2006
Sleep is about the brain: Full night’s sleep may increase brain power and enhance our problem-solving ability*
• 100 volunteers solving a puzzle with an unconventional twist – they had to find a “hidden code” • 2 groups: 8h uninterrupted or interrupted sleep • Twice the number of people who slept got the code! – While we are asleep our brains are hard at work encoding and restructuring information and possibly creating new neural connections = a broader range of solutions to problems
* Wagner, et al., 2004 “Sleep Inspires Insight” Nature 427: 352-55
Sleep makes us better at making decisions
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Well-slept people make better financial decisions
• One night without sleep causes particular impairment to tasks requiring flexible thinking and the updating of plans in the light of new information[1].
• In 2011, Duke University researchers examined the choices people make when they are gambling and are sleep-deprived. • sleep-deprived gamers were making bad calls and taking higher risks on bad bets = LOSING money • found that sleep loss affected impulse control, judgment, emotional response and complex decision-making • The regions of our brains that determine rewards and positive outcomes were negatively affected by the lack of sleep [2] .
[1] Harrison & Horne 1999 “One Night of Sleep Loss Impairs Innovative Thinking and Flexible Decision Making” , Elsevier; Volume 78, issue 2 [2] Venkatraman et al., 2011 . “Sleep Deprivation Biases the Neural Mechanisms Underlying Economic Preferences". Journal of Neuroscience ; 31
WHY and HOW do we sleep and how to make it better?
The sleep – wake cycle is an innate need
8 h nocturnal sleep 16 h of wakefulness
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„Biological clock”
A bundle of neurons in the brain located in SCN of the hypothalamus
Clock cycles approx. 24h - Circadian rhythm tends to keep us awake as long as there is daylight, prompting us to sleep as soon as it becomes dark
Sleep quality and restfulness are best when the sleep schedule is regularly synchronized to the internal circadian rhythms and that of the external light-dark cycle — when we try to go to bed and wake up at around the same time each day, even on days off and weekends.
Melatonin and cortisol fluctuations
SLEEP
We are ‘programmed’ to sleep
The body maintains a “steady state” of internal conditions such as blood pressure, body temperature, and acid-base (pH) balance. The amount of sleep each night is also under strict control.
We naturally get sleepier due to accumulation of ADENOSINE as time goes on, regardless of whether it’s night or day
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True or false?
“Sleep is time for the body in general and for the brain specifically to shut down”
What happens when we sleep?
• Sleep is an active physiological process. – metabolism generally slows down during sleep, but all major organs and regulatory systems continue to function.
• Sleep can be categorized into distinct phases: – Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep – Non-REM (NREM) sleep: • Occupies 75-80% of the nights sleep • Includes distinct stages that differ in their brain wave activity patterns.
• Changes in brain activity that take place are measured using an electroencephalogram (EEG).
http://ipemb.org.uk/the-stages-of-sleep/
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What happens when you are asleep
www.sleep.org
What happens when you are asleep
You wake up dehydrated – drink water first thing in the morning
www.sleep.org
What happens when you are asleep
www.sleep.org
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What happens when you are asleep
www.sleep.org
When we don’t sleep enough…
• Sleep loss results in the accumulation of a sleep debt that must eventually be repaid. • When we stay up all night, our bodies will demand that we make up each hour of lost sleep—by napping or sleeping longer in later cycles—or suffer the consequences. • Even the loss of one hour of sleep time that accumulates for several days can have a powerful negative effect on daytime performance, thinking, and mood.
Consequences of Poor Sleep
Cognitive Performance, and Mood
– sleep deprivation adversely affects cognition and motor performance : Study showed that people who were awake for up to 19 hours scored substantially worse on performance and alertness than those who were legally intoxicated*. – inadequate sleep is correlated with anger, anxiety, and sadness and even depression • During sleep the body secretes many important hormones that affect growth, regulate energy, and control metabolic and endocrine functions
* Kuo AA. Does sleep deprivation impair cognitive and motor performance as much as alcohol intoxication? Wes J Med. 2001;174(3):180.
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Consequences of Poor Sleep
Sleep makes you thinner:
_ Inadequate sleep disrupts leptin secretion, the hormone which regulates carbohydrate metabolism. Low levels of leptin cause the body to crave carbohydrates regardless of the amount of calories consumed.
Weak immune system:
• The best evidence for sleep’s impact on the immune system comes from a recent study*: – the effectiveness of flu vaccinations is severely delayed in individuals who are sleep deprived.
* Spiegel, et al., 2002 ”Effect of sleep depravation on response to immunization.” JAMA 288(12): 1471-2
How much sleep do we need?
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We sleep 1/3 of our life so that we can fully live the other 2/3 when we are awake
What do we need for optimal sleep?
• Darkness • Silence • Comfortable temperature • Enough neurotransmitters of the right kind • ‘Space’: physical, physiological and emotional • Rhythm and routine • No sleep disruptors/antagonists PRACTICE SLEEP HYGIENE
Melatonin – ultimate sleep hormone
Enough neurotransmitters of the right kind – Right foods – Strong digestion – Less stress
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Dealing with shift work
• Keep the eating rhythm of the day • Sleep in totally dark room when time for sleep • Necessity to regulate sleep schedule (minimum sleep chunks) • Shift partners may be a healthy option • limit coffee to first 2h after waking up • Low glycemic diet: complex carbohydrates provide a long sustaining energy and prevent energy dips
“Sleep antagonists”
• Light • Noise • Temperature • Caffeine • Nicotine • Alcohol • Prescription and OTC meds: decongestants and steroids; heart and blood pressure meds “beta- blockers” (deplete melatonin)
Your sleep ‘hygiene’: drink
• Limit your caffeinated drinks to the morning - no tea, coffee, soda, mate after 2pm in the afternoon. • Have an herbal tea in the evening (e.g. lavender, chamomile, valerian, passionflower, roiboos, honeybush), it can help you relax and set the tone for sleep.
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Your sleep ‘hygiene’: food
• Make sure you are eating enough good quality protein and fats – these are necessary for your sleep hormones and neurotransmitters production.
• Your food choices matter and so does your ability to digest them. Take time to relax and chew your food to improve digestion and absorption of nutrients.
• Refrain from eating any food a full 2 - 3 hours before bed – too much food can make you sleepy at first but will disrupt the deep phases of sleep.
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Your sleep ‘hygiene’ – food & drink
• Limit your caffeinated drinks to the morning - no tea, coffee, soda, mate after 2pm in the afternoon. • Have an herbal tea in the evening (e.g. lavender, chamomile, valerian, passionflower, roiboos, honeybush), it can help you relax and set the tone for sleep.
• Make sure you are eating enough good quality protein and fats – these are necessary for your sleep hormones and neurotransmitters production. • Refrain from eating any food a full 2 - 3 hours before bed .
Your sleep ‘hygiene’ - environment
• Opt for quieter, calming evening activities instead of screen time at night. – reading a book, – taking a warm bath, – going for a light stroll outdoors, – playing with a pet, – folding laundry, – listening to relaxing music, – chopping veggies for the next day, etc.
• Have a 1 full hour before bedtime without checking email, TV, playing with your phone, next-day-planning or stressful conversations . Give your brain a chance to truly relax and get into sleep mode.
• Make sure your bedroom is not too hot - your body temperature drops at night and thus it is more comfortable to sleep in a cooler room. This also prevents sleep disruption.
Is that TV show or one last email or just-one-more-thing-on-the-to-do-list REALLY more important than being rested and feeling great? AND making better decisions?
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The quality of our sleep determines our daily energy
• Go to bed early enough that you don’t need the alarm clock 90% of the time • Hours before midnight do matter. • Practice good Sleep Hygiene! – Avoid caffeine later afternoon or evening. – Sleep in a dark, quiet space. – Do something in the evening that quiets your mind (typically*not* a crime show or the 10 o’clock news or checking your email or paying bills).
• Spend a few minutes thinking (or writing) about what you are grateful for in your life
Sleep as new ‘status symbol’
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com: “I’m more alert and I think more clearly. I just feel so much better all day long if I’ve had eight hours of sleep.”
Mark Andreessen, cofounder of Netscape (reformed sleep restrictor): “I would spend the whole day wishing I could go home and go back to bed. Now, I know that if I sleep only seven hours I start to degrade. Six is suboptimal and five is a big problem.”
Encourage sleep!
• Greater creativity • Enhanced productivity • Lower health care costs • Decrease in “presenteeism” – all that has the potential to affect the bottom line
Create new policies: • Charles Czeisler at Harvard has proposed policy that no employee is expected to drive to work after red-eye flight • Other companies allow employees to come in late after staying late at work the previous night
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Encourage sleep of the people you care for
• Help create good bedtime routine (minimize screen time) • Make sure the beds are comfortable and that the rooms are not too cold nor too hot • Provide dim, spot lights in shared rooms if night-time intervention is needed to minimize sleep disruption • Serve healthy, wholesome foods at your facility, focus on complex carbohydrates and quality protein options • encourage gentle, calming evening exercise like yoga or “legs up the wall” pose if possible • consider using aromatherapy and diffuse essential oils such as lavender or ylang-ylang; teach the usage of the oils on the bottoms of the feet • Create possibility of taking an Epsom salt baths
The problem is we’re not very good at doing these three things consistently . The result: chronic disease.
Sleep is what allows us to operate at our highest level of contribution so that we can achieve more, in less time
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Thank you!
Want to know more? Contact Dr. Kasia 631 742 5895 [email protected] www.nourishup.com
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