How To Improve Sleep

Most of you are up to your eyeballs in debt.⁣
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You’re not alone!⁣
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50 to 70 million Americans have a sleep debt, too.⁣
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Oh wait…when I said “debt”, you thought I was talking about all that money you owe to Russian mobsters because of your degenerate gambling habit that you’re hiding from your friends and family?⁣
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I’m appalled that you would think I’d blab about that because when have I ever been known to put your business out in the street for everyone to know?!?!⁣
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Anyway, sleep debt is the difference between the amount of sleep that your body needs and the amount of sleep that you actually get. When a large enough deficit is created over time, it can have deleterious effects. For example, ongoing sleep deprivation can contribute to weight gain and signs of aging.¹Sleep is when the body has the chance to repair and rejuvenate itself. Without that time, one of the effects of inadequate sleep is faster aging skin on account of recovery from sunlight and other everyday damage not occurring as efficiently as it would under better sleep. The development of wrinkles and fine lines also stems from cortisol, a stress hormone that builds up to high levels with sleep loss and has the ability to break down collagen, the protein that keeps skin smooth. In addition to the matters with the skin, other visible signs of aging that are increased by sleep deprivation include swollen eyes, drooping eyelids, and dark circles under the eyes.

As for weight, sleep reduces appetite by increasing leptin, the satiety hormone, and decreasing ghrelin, the hunger hormone. When the body is deprived of sleep, those appetite-regulating hormones get thrown out of whack, with studies finding that people consume as many as 500 more calories than they ordinarily would the day after less than ideal hours of sleep. Additionally, not only do sleep-deprived people overeat by succumbing to increased cravings or eating bigger portions of food but studies have also found that the foods they eat are usually energy-dense junk foods high in carbs or fat. What explains this selection of fattening food is that the lack of sleep affects the decision-making and impulse control centers of the brain. These two things alone should be enough to illustrate how important sleep is to weight management but it doesn’t stop there.

As mentioned earlier, the lack of sleep can spike cortisol, which in turn can hinder the body’s insulin response. As for why that’s bad, the elevated levels of cortisol can cause you to conserve energy for fuel rather than burn it and decreased insulin sensitivity means less fat gets processed from the bloodstream. So in other words, the lack of sleep can jack up your metabolism and make you store fat.

Lastly, the loss of sleep affects the body’s ability to store energy and control its availability. As a result, you’re not only more apt to skip a workout but also be less active throughout the day due to fatigue, which increases the difficulty of weight loss by virtue of the body not burning excess calories via physical activity and/or intentional exercise. Beyond changing your appearance, the lack of sleep can also weaken the immune system and make you more susceptible to illness; increase the risk of high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and dementia; and worsen symptoms of depression, anxiety, and paranoia, if not cause their development. Those are just a handful of the many ways that sleep deprivation and deficiency can impair your health and wellness. It’s for those reasons that you should make it a priority to get more and better sleep with some of the following suggestions.

Go To Bed

In most instances, the easiest way to increase the amount of sleep you get is by going to bed at a time that allows for a full 8 hours of sleep before waking up and starting the day. For people who aren’t getting enough sleep, that usually tends to involve going to bed earlier than they currently do. Refer to the sleep calculator chart for assistance if you need help figuring out what time you should go to bed to undergo the 5 to 6 cycles of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-REM sleep that are necessary for the body to be properly rested.

Example: Assuming it takes you 15 minutes to fall asleep, you should go to bed at 7:45 PM if you have to get up at 4:00 AM instead of staying up until the wee hours of the morn to do the sketchy shit that you do that you should do during the day like the rest of us depraved weirdos do.

Be Consistent

Another way to increase the length of sleep is to reduce the amount of time it takes to fall asleep. That’s one of the reasons why you should go to bed at the same time every day, as maintaining a consistent sleep schedule helps the body develop a rhythm for when it should release melatonin, a hormone that facilitates sleepiness. It also helps to wake up at the same time every day to program the body to stop producing melatonin so you get out of bed feeling refreshed.²Getting up at the same time every day means getting up at the same time even on weekends…and when you’ve slept badly…and when you didn’t get enough sleep the night prior…and holidays…and whenever else you might want to sleep in.

Create The Right Environment

A supportive mattress and comfortable pillow can not only help make it easier to fall asleep but also ensure that you sleep well so the quality of your rest isn’t disrupted by tossing and turning throughout the night. As important as bedding is in improving the quality of sleep and making it conducive to fall asleep faster, so too are the bedroom conditions.

On that end, you should eliminate or reduce all artificial and natural light sources so there’s nothing to interfere with your body’s secretion of melatonin, which is affected by light exposure.³That means drawing your blinds and curtains to block out light that comes through the window and covering the LCD displays of digital alarm clocks and the glowing lights from DVD players, routers, and other plugged in electronics. If it’s still not dark enough because you live in some part of Alaska where the sun doesn’t set for two months of the year, then invest in blackout curtains or a sleep mask. To further assist in falling asleep when you want to, you should minimize or drown out noise, which also has the effect of not causing you to wake up earlier than you should.⁴To achieve this, you can use a fan, white noise machine, ear plugs, or the threat of violence when you knock on your neighbor’s door to tell them to turn down their fucking music. In addition to making your sleep environment as dark and quiet as possible, you also want it to be cool to lower your core body temperature to help signal to the brain for it to make melatonin.⁵Taking a warm shower or bath before bed provides the same benefit, as does sleeping naked. Here, where you set the thermostat is a personal preference and will vary upon the individual but 65°F to 68°F has been found to be ideal for most people.

Get Natural Light

Are you a vampire? If not, then you should expose yourself to sunlight throughout the day, as natural light helps regulate the body’s internal clock. If you’re cosplaying as a vampire and going outside or opening windows and blinds would ruin the fantasy, then an artificial bright light device or bulbs might do.

Reduce Blue Light Exposure

Light of any kind at night suppresses the secretion of melatonin but the effect is more pronounced with blue light. To protect yourself, replace fluorescent and LED bulbs with ones that emit red or orange light and refrain from looking at smartphones, LED TVs, computer screens, and ebook readers 2-3 hours before bed. If stopping the use of those electronic devices isn’t feasible, then look into lowering the device’s brightness setting, turning on night mode, employing a screen shading app that reduces the emission of blue light, or using blue-blocking glasses.

Nap Appropriately

You should avoid napping the entire period of wakefulness so your body builds up the desire to sleep at night. However, there are times when a nap is absolutely necessary. The problem is that napping for too long or too late in the day can interfere with your ability to fall asleep later. To prevent a disruption to your nighttime sleep, it’s best to take a siesta before 3 PM and for no longer than 20 minutes.⁶Psst…”siesta” is Español for a short nap, which you would’ve known if you had paid more attention in Spanish class!

Watch Food Intake

You’re less likely to feel tired when the body is active with digesting a large meal. For that reason, you shouldn’t eat a large meal before bed, as well as so you’re not kept awake by heartburn, acid reflux, and other digestive issues that may occur upon lying down with a full belly of food.⁷This is especially the case if the food is spicy, acidic, or high in fat. If you have to eat before bed, it should be a light snack.⁸Ideally, what you consume before bed should promote better sleep like kiwis and nuts do via their respective amounts of melatonin, serotonin, and tryptophan. Either that, or the item should be easily digestible like apples and bananas. Even still, for good quality sleep, you should cut off all food at least two hours before bed, as a study found that people who did so had a lower incidence of waking up during the night than those who ate less than an hour before bed.

Hydrate Properly

Try not to drink water and other fluids 1-2 hours before bed so your sleep isn’t disrupted by having to wake up to relieve yourself.⁹On the topic of liquids, tart cherry juice, milk, and powdered milk have been found to improve sleep quality and duration thanks to their respective melatonin and tryptophan content. As such, it may be wise to consume them before the cutoff time.

Limit Caffeine

Caffeine makes you more alert and awake, so try not to consume coffee, tea, soda, energy drinks, and other caffeinated beverages later in the day to reduce the possibility of the stimulant acting as a barrier to falling asleep.¹⁰As a rule of thumb, the cut off time for caffeinated beverages is 8 hours before bed and 13 hours for caffeine supplements. That should be long enough for caffeine to leave your bloodstream and not have as much of an impact. The same goes for other stimulants like nicotine and prescription drugs like Adderall and Ritalin, as well as coke, crack, meth, and Molly.

Limit Alcohol

An occasional glass of wine or shot of liquor late in the evening? That isn’t going to do much. But numbing the pain of what your life’s become by ending every day with a drink? Ha, that’s a different story! That’s because although alcohol can make you drowsy, it’s not much of a benefit for sleep purposes because when alcohol is in the system, sleep quality has been found to diminish in a number of ways, one of which has to do with alcohol changing the production of melatonin.

Manage Stress

Stress has various effects on sleep, from lengthening the time it takes to fall asleep, to reducing deep sleep and REM sleep so you enjoy poorer quality sleep, to causing restlessness so you don’t want to go to sleep or wake up earlier than you should. Given these adverse effects, it’s important to get a handle on stress by creating boundaries with people, practicing yoga, picking up a hobby, and spending time with friends and family. As for ways to alleviate stress right before bed, examples include journaling, meditation, stretching, reading, and performing deep breathing exercises.

Exercise

Physical activity has been shown to have a positive effect on sleep quality and duration, though the exact mechanism by which this improvement happens isn’t exactly known. One possible explanation is that exercise requires energy, which helps regulate the body’s internal clock so it feels tired, thus prompting you to fall asleep faster. Another possible reason may have to do with exercise promoting relaxation by enhancing the mood and reducing stress, which opens the door for deeper sleep. Now, given that exercise is beneficial to sleep, you should make it a point to engage in it regularly — so long as it’s not too close to bedtime due to exercise elevating internal body temperature and triggering the release of stimulatory hormones that can raise your level of alertness. Taken together, exercising before bed can have the counterproductive effect of disrupting your ability to settle down.

Sleep supports good health and wellness. If the quality and quantity of your sleep is poor, then one or more of the provided lifestyle changes may be enough for improvement. If trouble persists, you should consult a healthcare professional to rule out a sleep disorder or any other underlying condition.¹¹Common sleep disorders include insomnia, restless legs syndrome, narcolepsy, and sleep apnea. From there, they can supply detailed and personalized guidance, such as the use of a CPAP machine or prescribed tranquilizer.

Glossary: calories, dietary fat, exercise, fat, hormones, metabolism, priority, supplement, workout, yoga

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Monster Longe

Monster Longe is a personal trainer in San Diego. He has been lifting weights for +25 years and training clients in the gym and online for about half of that time. When not working with clients or making content that's easy to read, understand, and apply to everyday life, he enjoys long walks and leaving buildings crushed and entire city blocks decimated in his wake.

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