It's four days into Sleep Challenge 2010 -- the experiment Arianna Huffington and I kicked off to try to encourage American women to get more rest. So how's this American woman doing? Well, I've gotten seven-and-a-half hours every evening this week (which, embarrassing confession, actually feels like a major accomplishment), and I've learned a few things along the way that every drowsy female should know.
1. I realized that despite my sleep deprivation, I wasn't actually making myself go to bed. Duh. One of the reasons we launched this challenge was our conviction that women, more than men, are cheating themselves out of sleep. Lisa Belkin of the New York Times, covering our crusade, noted that that's not women's fault, it's society's, for making women's lives busier (work outside the home plus work inside the home equals a whole bunch of tired women). I agree with that, but it doesn't mean women are helpless here. I should know.
This week, for the first time since, oh, third grade, I actually forced myself to go to bed at a predetermined bedtime. (I counted backwards seven-and-a-half hours from the time I had to get up.) Now, I'm a responsible person. I'm not late for meetings with my boss; I show up for dinner dates when I say I will; I've never missed curtain time at a play. (Those of you who are just receiving my holiday cards this week can pipe down. No one's perfect.) But somehow, it never occurred to me until this experiment to consider bedtime an actual appointment to try to honor. I'd say, "Sure, I'll be in bed by 10 p.m.!" and then before I knew it, it'd be midnight, and I'd be in front of my computer, or wiping down the kitchen counter, or at the tail end of a "Real Housewives" marathon, blinking and thinking, "How did that happen?" Well, I let it happen. And this week, I didn't. Huh. That was easy.
Here's a tip for those of you who have the same problem I did with that "twilight zone" of time between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.: Michael Breus, Ph.D. recommends setting an alarm clock for the time you need to go to sleep. You'll be forced to enter your bedroom to turn the damn thing off -- which at least gets you into the right room at the right time.
2. Your body isn't meant to digest stuff lying down. My usual nighttime routine includes a late dinner. But Dr. Breus was unequivocal: "I ask people to eat four or even five hours before they're going to go to sleep," he says. "The body was meant to digest sitting or standing -- not lying down." You just won't sleep as well, or feel as rested, if you're full. (He also recommends no coffee after 2:30 p.m., period. Even those people who believe they can drink an espresso after dinner and be just fine aren't getting the quality sleep they would without the java). I've been doing my best to follow his rules, chowing down as early as is humanly possible, and while I kinda can't stand it, I do feel better-rested. Speaking of which...
3. Getting more sleep makes you crave less junk. I've read all the research about the sleep/weight loss link; Glamour even published a major story last spring detailing, among other things, how you instinctively eat healthier food when you've gotten more sleep. And y'know, it's true. I found myself beelining to the chick pea soup in the cafeteria today voluntarily. Are any of you feeling this effect and eating healthier with more sleep?
Oh, and thanks to all of you who are commenting and doing the sleep challenge along with us. My, there are a lot of sleepy women out there! "I just broke my collar bone a month ago when I fell running with too little sleep," admitted commenter cmm. "I wanted to be thin but I wasn't even heavy ... Before then I was getting up at 6:30 a.m. ... but to please my friend I got up earlier ... Maybe my friend needs sleep too! Thanks for the encouragement for a healthy lifestyle!"
You're welcome, and take note, everyone: People-pleasing is not a worthwhile reason to cheat yourself out of sleep. As commenter Jess_I puts it, "It's so true that when you lose even a little sleep everything is just thrown RIGHT off. I owe it to myself to take care of myself by getting enough rest."
We all do! So let's do it together, and check back here next Monday to see how things are going. Good night!
More from the glamour.com Sleep Challenge 2010:
Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D.: Sleep And Weight-Loss: They Are More Connected Than You Think
Our ancestors synchronized their sleep habits to natural light. In particular, the release of melatonin by the pineal gland is stimulated by darkness, and melatonin can contribute to normal sleep patterns. Many of us stay awake in a bright environment until bedtime, not giving the gland much time to adjust to darkness and begin melatonin production. Recent studies have shown that it is the blue portion of the visible light spectrum that shuts off melatonin production.
Enterprising companies have developed blue-light blocking eyeglasses and light bulbs that can be used indoors for, say, three hours prior to bedtime to acclimate the pineal gland to darkness. The other portions of the light spectrum do not appear to suppress this hormone production.
Imagine a lifestyle habit that increases alertness, boosts creativity, reduces stress, improves perception, stamina, motor skills, and accuracy, helps you make better decisions, keeps you looking younger, reduces the risk of heart attack, elevates your mood, and strengthens memory. The answer is a daily nap. Research studies continue to show physiological benefits from naps, and I try to nod off for 15 to 30 minutes in the early afternoon. Dr. Sara Mednick has researched and written extensively on the subject.
When considering a magnesium supplement, think magnesium taurate. Taurine actually exhibits some of the same relaxation properties as magnesium, and they complement each other in the body.
Roy Mankovitz, Director
http://www.MontecitoWellness.com
Did anyone read about the increase in auto accidents the result of driving while tired? No one should drive while tired. Not even professional truck drivers, who often do. No one should operate machinery while tired.
Anyone who claims they can get along just fine on 5 hours of sleep is lying to themselves and possibly putting others in danger.
You can't train your body to ignore natural physiology. If the human body needs 8 hour of sleep, that's what it needs. The military has done plenty of studies on sleep deprivation. There are reasons the FAA has rules regarding how many hours pilots can fly and how many hours are mandated between flights. There should be similar rules for Doctors and they should do away with those grueling on call marathons interns have to put in.
I heard a great suggestion on Dr Oz yesterday. Count backwards in increments of 3 starting with 300.
It helps those of us who have trouble turning turning off the chatter in our head at bedtime.
After awhile - you have to do fours and sevens because you memorize all the numbers by 3's!
Good luck!
periods of insomnia and restless sleep. For me a mixture of weights, walking/ swimming and
yoga is best. I cannot say enough about how this has turned things around. I would never take
drugs to sleep, never have, never will.
I let my child go to sleep when she was tired. She has never had a problem sleeping. Anywhere.
And I started taking melatonin about 12 years ago. I remember waking up day two or three and being refreshed - and amazed and thinking is this how most people feel in the morning?
Mostly now I sleep through the night. Once or twice a month I'll be wakeful, but I think that is normal.
The hardest thing for me to learn, as a caregiver to my husband and disabled senior, is that I deserve to get rest.
If I'm tired, I take a nap...might only be half and hour, but it's true rest. I've never gotten this kind of rest in my life. It lets my brain to numb, which is rare and allows me to catch up on 50+ years of sleep deprivation.
It took 3-4 years to learn how to relax enough to let it happen, but I like it a lot!
I'm joining in on your campaign anyway.
I'm exhausted.
I am an insomniac and my reaction to stress is to lose sleep.
I find that getting up after lying awake for 30 mins or more, for about an hour, just to read a book or something helps get my mind off things and I can usually fall asleep once I get back to bed. A change of scenery really helps and psychologically it frees me up from bed being the bad place where I can never sleep.
It is so frustrating though! I do find exercise helps and I have a sun lamp for melatonin during the dark winter days which helps with depression and insomnia as well.
But my cat always wakes me up in the middle of the night to eat, so it wouldn't be difficult to go back to sleep and decided to not take the SR, but use the regular dose instead. The sleep was so good and predicable, I took them every night for a month. Then the skin rash appeared. My elbows, back and lower calves developed itchy skin blotches. Stopped the Ambien cold and suffered through thirty hours without sleep. Will talk with my Dr about a sleep lab test to see what the heck is going on. Anyone have a story like mine? Help!
Cats and dogs will wake you in night asking for food, petting or, in case of older dogs, to be let outside. Dogs turn around several times a night, if you are a light sleeper this can awake you. This is a real problem, seems obvious but I haven't seen it addressed. And no simple solution --all pets I've known would stand outside the door whimpering all night if exiled.
Come to think of it, pretty much the same thing for human sleeping partners.....
Not only that fungi can be found on unrelated products say peanuts, so someone might think they are allergic to peanuts but actually be allergic to fungus, since more and more peanuts are becoming infected (overrun?) with fungus.
Especially since you mention all those other symptoms that sound like allergic reactions, too.
Good luck. :)