Getting a good night’s sleep may seem near impossible for most of us. Yet the research is clear: sleep is vital to our health. What’s more, researchers have shown a direct link between sleep and body weight. We spoke with Ellen Michaud, author of Sleep to be Sexy, Smart and Slim (Readers Digest, 2008), to find out why that all-important shut-eye eludes so many of us and what we can do to reclaim our sleep – and our figures.
Over the past 20 years, Americans have been getting less sleep than ever. “Part of the reason is that most of us are working harder and longer hours than we ever have before,” Michaud says.
In fact, surveys from various health groups, including the American Psychological Association, show that more than half of us are taking work home, twice the number who did so in 1990. “In addition, 69 percent of us check work email from home, and 30 percent of us keep our cell phones on 24/7 in case our employer needs us,” Michaud points out. “Twenty years ago [we] didn’t have email at home or cell phones.” With work encroaching on the time we once devoted to household chores, we now find ourselves folding laundry and putting away dishes late into the night.
And we’re not just going to bed later because we have more tasks to complete. We’re depriving ourselves of critical downtime, which has harmful effects once we do finally crawl into bed, Michaud says. “Many of us hit the sheets and lie there with our minds still churning. We’re simply too wound up to sleep.”
Most of us have trouble falling or staying asleep every now and then. But it can be tough to tell whether we’re going through a temporary rough patch due to a disruption of our natural rhythms, or whether we truly have a problem sleeping.
Michaud offers a general rule to follow when assessing your sleep situation: if you wake up in the morning feeling refreshed and happy, you’ve had enough sleep. Feeling like you’re hungover after a night’s sleep or needing a blaring alarm clock to wake you are tell-tale signs that you’re not getting the ZZZs you need.
In her book, Michaud provides a quiz to help readers figure out where they fall on the spectrum and determine whether they are dealing with a true sleep disorder.
A National Sleep Foundation survey found that 60 percent of the women said they only get a good night's sleep a few nights a week or less. And by age 50, only 32 percent of women get a good night’s sleep even a few nights a month. Stress, worry, work, kids, money, hormones, and biological changes are among the many roadblocks that prevent us from getting the sleep we need.
Sleep is regulated by brain chemicals, which are impacted by reproductive hormones, Michaud explains. “As your hormones shift as you menstruate, support a pregnancy, or move toward menopause, they mess with the brain chemicals that affect sleep,” she says.
Researchers are finding increasing evidence of a connection between the amount of sleep we get and our health. Sleep deprivation has been linked to heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure, among other major health problems.
Cutting back on sleep time might seem like the smartest way to get things done, but we’re sacrificing our health over the long term, Michaud warns. In addition, we’re packing on the pounds. “[It] turns out women who sleep five hours a night are 32 percent more likely to gain 30 pounds or more as they get older than women who sleep seven hours or more,” Michaud says, citing one Harvard Medical School study. Another study conducted at Hendrix College in Arkansas found that students who slept an additional two hours ate almost 300 fewer calories per day.
If you’ve failed at repeated attempts to lose weight, lack of sleep may be the culprit. If that’s not incentive enough to get more shut-eye, consider the link between obesity and serious health risks.
So, how can you reclaim your right to a good night’s sleep? Michaud says it’s possible: “Your body’s biological clock – a tiny part of the brain that, among other things, tells you when it’s time to get up and when it’s time to sleep – is easily reset.”
To make sure you’re tired when you hit the sack, go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning – even on weekends. Don’t use Saturdays and Sundays to catch up on sleep.
Sticking to a strict schedule will “trigger changes in your brain chemistry that will both make you more alert in the morning and sleepier at night,” Michaud says. And being “more sleepy can translate into a shorter time getting to sleep and a better chance of staying that way through the night.”
Next, give yourself an hour of wind-down time before going to bed at night. “It helps if you do the same things each night during that hour – [taking a] bath, laying out the next day’s clothes, reading in bed, whatever,” she says. “The body loves ritual.”
Too stressed to sleep? According to the National Sleep Foundation, about 80 percent of us lie awake fretting at night. Michaud suggests keeping a worry book beside the bed, a trick she picked up from UCLA sleep expert and neurologist Dr. Frisca Yan-Go. “Write down the problem or issue you’re worried about, write down a few ways to deal with it, then put the worry book beside your bedroom door so you can grab it on your way out the next morning,” Michaud advises. “After that, whenever your mind turns to the problem that’s worrying you during the night, you can stop your rumination with one sentence: I’ve got a way to handle it, and I’ll get right on it first thing in the morning. Ten to one, you’ll relax and let yourself sleep.”
Finally, Michaud suggests you stay away from the television and the Web before bedtime. News can rev you up and the light from your computer monitor can be stimulating enough to kick your brain into alert mode, thinking its morning.
If you’ve been struggling with poor sleep for a long time, Michaud suggests discussing the problem with your doctor. “Make sure your sleep issues aren’t the result of some underlying health issue that has yet to raise its ugly head,” she says.
Once you’ve ruled out any other health concerns, you may want to seek help from a specialist at a sleep center certified by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Steer clear of doctors and sleep centers that are not certified, Michaud warns.
Medication, too, can offer a short-term solution to get you through brief periods of insomnia, but long-term use is controversial, Michaud says. Studies have shown cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) to be much more effective in treating sleep problems and it has none of the negative side effects of pills. To find out more about CBT, go to cbtforinsomnia.com. The site outlines a CBT program for insomnia developed by a Harvard researcher, which Michaud claims is “the best-kept secret in the sleep business.”
Lisa Zamosky is an independent health care journalist who writes for consumer and professional audiences in magazines, websites and daily newspapers. She lives in Southern California with her husband and son.
