Sleeping Steve

I sleep well. Ask anyone who knows me. My wife will tell you that I can even fall asleep during a conversation — even while I am speaking. This was not always the case and over the years I have followed some advice that has really worked for me.

Firstly, I try to keep to a schedule: getting to bed and waking up at around the same time. I do have the advantage of three four legged friends who are also on a schedule; so if I am late waking up, they let me know. I am not suggesting that you need to be so rigid that we can set a watch by your sleep pattern. But trying to be within an hour or so will help your body to know when it is time to sleep and to wake.

They say if you snooze, you lose. This is also true for sleep hygiene. Try and avoid lingering once the alarm goes off. Instead, get up, make the bed (assuming that someone is not sleeping in it) and get on with your day. One of my favourite morning rituals — after coffee of course — is walking the dogs. Studies show that exercise can improve sleep cycles, if done earlier in the day. Exercising immediately before bed can have the opposite effect. Another advantage of walking the dogs is exposure to sunlight. Sunlight stops the brain’s production of melatonin. 

What and when we eat can affect our sleep. Large meals or snacks prior to bed can make a person feel uncomfortable and cause waking. Similarly, if you are famished, hunger may wake you through the night. Caffeine and nicotine consumed closed to bed can take hours to wear off, leaving a person too stimulated. Alcohol, which may make you feel groggy at first, can affect the amount of quality of sleep. Alcohol increases deep sleep initially, limiting the important REM (Rapid Eye Movement) cycle that is necessary to feel refreshed. Later in the evening, once your body has metabolized the alcohol, you will experience increased light stages of sleep and frequent awakenings.

Although I have petitioned for work-sanctioned naps, I avoid napping. Sleeping throughout the day especially later in the day can affect our sleep cycle. If a nap is your thing, do it early and for no less than one hour.

There is a hack called the 10-3-2-1-0 sleep hack that sums up good sleep hygiene: No caffeine within 10 hours of bed; no food or alcohol within 3 hours; no work within 2 hours; and avoid screens within 1 hour. The zero? That is the number of times we hit snooze when our alarm goes off.

These are just some suggestions to help you get the rest you need. Incorporate them into your routine and soon you will be so good at sleeping, you can do it with your eyes closed. Take care of yourselves and each other.

By Steve Bond, BScPhm, RPh, CDE, FASCP