How well do you sleep? A good night’s sleep will guarantee you stay on top throughout your day, helping you live life to the fullest.
If you’re tormented by hours spent staring at the ceiling while the rest of the world slumbers (or so you imagine), there may be comfort in knowing the regulation eight hours’ sleep a night is a relatively new concept.
Until the late 19th and early 20th centuries, “biphasic” sleep was considered the norm: two blocks of roughly four hours.
Prior to the invention of electric light in the Victorian era, people tended to retire at sunset and wake at sunrise. Depending on the season, it could be dark for 14 or more hours a day, hence the need to break up the hours spent asleep.
In his book At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past, US historian Professor Roger Ekirch cites sources as diverse as ancient Greek philosopher Homer and St Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century, who wrote of sleeping in two segments with a wakeful break in between.
People used this time to pray, make love, socialise with their family or other housemates (communal bedding was common for centuries, as having a separate room for sleep was a luxury most could not afford) or just reflect and regroup. Then they would go back to sleep until morning.
The transition from a “first” and “second sleep” to one, longer period of sleep may be tied to cities lighting their streets at night, thereby extending the number of productive and leisure hours one could have outside the home.
Despite the opportunity our society affords for long stretches of slumber and far greater comfort levels than our antecedents could ever have dreamed of, we are more sleep-deprived than ever, according to experts.
British journalist David Randall didn’t give sleep much thought until he began suffering insomnia and sleepwalking. After crashing into a wall in the middle of the night during one of his somnambulant stirrings, he began to investigate the secrets of sleep. The result is his book, Dreamland – Adventures In The Strange Science Of Sleep.
‘We are living in an age when sleep is more comfortable than ever and yet more elusive,’ he says.
‘We’ve put ourselves into this trap of thinking time spent sleeping is time wasted. Yet research shows the opposite is true. Rather than being a sign of laziness, sleep helps our bodies and brains perform at their highest levels.
‘When a person lies down to sleep, the brain undergoes a process that is crucial to learning, memory and performance.’
Randall says we need one hour of sleep for every two hours we are awake.
A lack of sleep can affect metabolism, reducing the rate at which we burn kilojoules. Chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to increased rates of obesity and diabetes, according to research at the UK’s University of Warwick, which found that adults who get less than seven hours of sleep a night are twice as likely to become obese.
On the other hand, sufficient quality sleep can even help you lose weight. The theory is that when we are tired, we eat more – and often sugary foods – to get energy.
According to a study at the University of Michigan in the US, depression rates are 40 times higher for patients with insomnia and an extra hour of sleep does more for our happiness than a pay rise.
‘Even a short nap primes our brains to function at a higher level,’ adds David Randall, ‘letting us come up with ideas, identify patterns faster and recall information accurately.’
Sleep provides an opportunity for the body to repair and rejuvenate itself. Many of the major restorative functions in the body like muscle growth, tissue repair, protein synthesis, and growth hormone release occur mostly, or in some cases only, during sleep.
The first three hours of sleep are the deepest (Slow Wave Sleep). Patterns change through the night in cycles of about 90 minutes. There is Rapid Eye Movement (REM, or dreaming) sleep in every cycle, even if only for a short time. We also have very brief arousals many times across the night. We are not aware of most of these forget most dreams.
For some decades, high achievers have been almost lauded for getting by on less sleep, as if it were a sign of greater dedication to work and other, “more pressing” commitments.
Indeed, many of us feel the need to be “switched on” 24/7, sleeping with phones by our beds and even checking the internet and emails after lights out.
But the tide is turning: a host of business leaders and scientists argue that, far from being a waste of time, getting enough sleep is crucial to success, health, happiness, even body shape and relationships.
One of the most outspoken proponents is US-based Arianna Huffington, the 61-year-old academic, author, journalist, politician and founder of the internationally influential Huffington Post website.
She began her crusade about the need to sleep after collapsing with exhaustion, resulting in a broken cheekbone.
Huffington argues that, thanks to the pressures of modern life, people are becoming so exhausted they can’t function properly.
‘The advice I would give to my younger self is very simple,’ she says.
‘Get enough sleep and you will be more productive, more effective and more likely to enjoy your life.’
Huffington is so convinced sleeping will help us get ahead she has started a campaign urging us to ‘sleep our way to the top’ and put beds into her offices to allow people to nap.
Former US president Bill Clinton has even blames lack of sleep for some of the bad decisions he has made. He once admitted: ‘Every important mistake I’ve made in my life, I’ve made because I was too tired.’ Enough said!
Not sleeping easy?
According to Australia’s Sleep Health Foundation, these are among the most common reasons people don’t get enough rest:
Too much caffeine, alcohol, cigarettes or sleeping tablets. The caffeine in tea and coffee is a stimulant, as is tobacco. Alcohol may make you drowsy, but your sleep will be very restless. Sleeping tablets may be used occasionally under a doctor’s supervision, but not regularly. They stop working well and you may become addicted.
Working on shifts that keep changing. This makes it harder to get into a regular sleep pattern. You may need to seek professional help to cope with this.
Eating, drinking or exercising late. Eating too close to bedtime can cause heartburn and other discomfort. Try to limit fluids before bed so that you don’t have to go to the toilet during the night. Exercising can leave you too hyped up.
Not having a regular sleep routine. Try to go to bed around the same time every evening and get up at the same time every morning.
Television, computers and other distractions can interfere with your sleep. Try to avoid using your computer within one hour of bedtime and don’t leave the TV on. Your bed for sleeping, not entertainment (of the technological kind, anyway).
Taking your worries to sleep. Have a buffer zone before bedtime. Sort out any problems well before going to bed. This may mean setting aside a ‘worry time’ during the day where you work out a plan of action.
Uncomfortable conditions. You should have a quiet, dark room with comfortable bedding and good temperature control.
Sleeping too much during the day. If a nap is absolutely necessary, for example because of a late night, then limit this to about 30 minutes. Do not sleep within four hours of officially retiring for the night.
Watching the clock. If you are having trouble sleeping, it will just make you more anxious to watch time ticking by. If possible take the clock out of your bedroom or at least turn it around so you can’t see the time.
Time to call in the experts
There’s a big difference between having trouble sleeping from time to time due to lifestyle factors and sleep disorders that can require professional help to resolve. According to Sleep Disorders Australia, these are the 10 most common problems:
- Chronic insomnia
- Snoring, when it reaches a point where the quality of both the snorer and his/her bed partner’s life is affected.
- Obstructive Sleep Apnoea: This means losing your ability to breathe freely. It happens over and over while asleep, caused by a narrow, floppy throat, meaning the sleeper continually wakes. This causes excessive tiredness during the day.
- Sleep Hypoventilation. People who have breathing muscles that are weak or under excessive load from severe lung disorders or obesity may not breathe strongly enough during sleep. Without treatment, this can lead to breathing/heart failure during the day.
- Restless Legs Syndrome. Sufferers have uncomfortable feelings in the legs and the only way they can stop these is to move their legs, which can severely disrupt sleep.
- Bruxism. This involves grinding of the teeth during sleep.
- Narcolepsy. Sufferers can feel sleepy more often than they’d like but may have disrupted sleep as well. They can also hallucinate. Sometimes when they wake up they can’t move for a moment. This is called sleep paralysis, although the latter can occur by itself with no relation to narcolepsy.
- Sleep talking/walking and other automatic behaviours. There are many things that we normally only do when we’re awake that sufferers act out while they’re only partially awake. These can include binge eating and sexual behaviour.
- Nightmares and night terrors.
- Rapid Eye Movement behaviour disorder. During the REM phase of sleep all limb muscles are usually relaxed. However, when there is a disorder, the muscles are active and people can act out their dreams. This can involve violent movement and lashing out.
Visit www.sleepoz.org.au, a voluntary group offering assistance and support to people and their families living with sleep disorders.
