Sleep is the new black
Sleep is the new black and some of us are just waking up to it. (I couldn’t help myself.) After a client told me I had to read Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep, and Bill Gates gave it the nod in his GatesNotes last month, it moved to the top of my bedtime reading stack.
I didn’t love this book or trust everything Walker shouted as fact. It had a scared-straight effect on me, ironically causing me to lose sleep for a few nights as I worried about getting better sleep. I wasn’t too many pages in when I began to wonder why I wasn’t dead yet, or at the very least diseased or insane, based on my sleep habits. (And, I’ve not had chronic sleep troubles!) Gates summarized it well saying, “Walker, the director of UC Berkeley’s Center for Human Sleep Science, explains how neglecting sleep undercuts your creativity, problem solving, decision-making, learning, memory, heart health, brain health, mental health, emotional well-being, immune system, and even your life span.” It felt to me like Walker’s version of “neglecting sleep” included not getting eight or more hours every single night of your life in a cool, dark environment, avoiding caffeine, nicotine, any amount of alcohol, and blue light. And, that your mother did the same while you were in the womb and nursing.
Yet, it’s a captivating data-jammed Fantastic Voyage-like adventure through what we’ve discovered about the work of sleep in the last two decades. It did its job in nudging me to make healthy changes to my sleep habits, and, I’m writing about it, aren’t I?
Sleep’s work
Our slumber is a brilliant choreography of alternating REM (rapid eye movement) and NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep that Walker passionately guides us through in vivid detail. Here’s the Reader’s Digest version:
Light sleep: We begin to drift off to sleep.
NREM sleep: We’re disengaged from our surroundings, body temperature drops, breathing and heart rate are regular.
Deep NREM sleep: Blood pressure drops, breathing becomes slower, muscles are relaxed, hormones are released, and blood supply to muscles increases. The body repairs muscles and tissues, stimulates growth and development, boosts immune function, and builds up energy.
REM sleep: Eyes dart back and forth, our brains are active, and dreams occur, promoting memory function, emotion regulation, and learning. This starts about 90 minutes after falling asleep and recurs about every 90 minutes, with more REM sleep occurring toward the end of the night.
If sleep’s cut short, we don’t complete the work of muscle and memory repair and strengthening, or the release of hormones for regulating growth and appetite. We wake up less able to concentrate, make decisions, or engage fully in our work, school, and social lives.
The hundred years’ war on sleep
I entered the workforce when 60+ hour workweeks, all-nighters, and sleep neglect were givens. The Industrial Revolution upended the rhythm of our work and lives and the consequences had reached a crescendo. “Presenteeism” was coined a few decades ago — present in the workplace but not fully functioning — and lack of sleep was a major culprit. In Walker’s words, “Within the space of a mere hundred years, human beings have abandoned their biologically mandated need for adequate sleep—one that evolution spent 3,400,000 years perfecting in service of life-support functions.”
Well-being programs, sleep education, stress management, and more generous time-off practices are taking hold in workplaces, and movements like Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global are working to get us back on track.
Orthosomnia, for pete’s sake
The recent focus on sleep, fueled by our beloved Fitbits, has had unintended consequences. Dr. Sarah Abbott, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University, began to notice a new kind of sleep problem presenting in her patients: ”. . . people were stressed out—and in some cases, their sleep was suffering further—because they weren’t measuring up to their tracker’s definition of ‘good sleep.’“ She calls this Orthosomnia.
In addition to sleep trackers, gadgets, apps, and podcasts are bombarding us — from grounding mats to gizmos that measure conditions in our bedroom, to lamps, and even Icelandic folk tales — with limited or no evidence they help, and they might be contributing to our orthosomnia.
Nature’s sleep aids
Remember those centenarians from 1959 that George Gallup studied? They mostly slept eight or more hours a night, didn’t drink alcohol, exercised (often in their work), didn’t overeat, and liked fresh air at night. No help needed from research or gadgets.
Below are most of the Twelve Tips for Healthy Sleep (from NIH Medlineplus) that Walker includes in the Appendix to his book:
Have a regular sleep schedule. Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. Research shows we can’t “catch up” on sleep. We do better with a consistent habit.
Try to exercise at least 30 minutes per day, but not too close to sleep
Nap during the day, though not too late.
Avoid caffeine and nicotine.
Don’t drink and sleep. Alcohol (even a little bit) is the enemy of REM sleep. (Groan)
Don’t eat big meals or drink too many fluids too close to sleep.
Relax before bed and avoid laptops, phones, iPads, Kindles and LED lights. The light emitted from these sources disrupts the electro-chemical cascade that helps us fall asleep.
Sleep in a cool, dark, gadget-free environment
Follow the sun. Daylight is key to regulating sleep. Try to get 30 mins of sun exposure each day and wake up to the sun or use bright lights.
I’d add daily meditation to this list based on the research, and of course, sleep is part of a whole-life system. General well-being leads to healthy shuteye. The class of 1959 centenarians were exemplars.