Sleep well and life’s smoother
As a society, we are chronically fatigued. And a lack of sleep has become a perceived necessity for many — a marker of modern life and symbol of success, even — in a vain attempt to squeeze more hours into the day.
Work and financial stress, parental and caring responsibilities, study, social pressures and personal worries can all impact sleep. Reduced sleep or insomnia may also be due to physical and mental health issues, such as chronic pain, sleep disorders, anxiety and depression. Poor sleep can conversely worsen symptoms of existing health conditions.
A 2019 global survey found that 62 per cent of adults were chronically sleep deprived. More recent data indicates that up to 70 per cent of adults have experienced one or more new sleep challenges since the onset of the pandemic.
Counting sheep at night is never much fun. When persistent insomnia rattles you awake, it can be hard to think, let alone function throughout the day. Sleep deprivation disrupts the body’s circadian rhythms and hormones, and causes premature ageing.
It can lead to weakened immunity, reduced cellular repair, digestive issues, weight gain, and an increased risk of disease, such as obesity, heart disease and cancer. Additionally, poor sleep impairs cognitive function, mental clarity and memory, emotional regulation and mood, and can lead to poor decision making, too.
Sleep, according to Mathew Walker in his book Why We Sleep, is “Mother Nature’s best effort yet at contra-death”. Walker is a professor of neuroscience and psychology and the director of the Centre for Human Sleep Science at the University of California.
He suggests that adults, regardless of age, need up to nine hours of sleep a night. Though, this figure has been debated by other sleep scientists, who maintain that seven to eight hours is ideal for optimal cognitive functioning and maintaining overall health.
Results from the world’s biggest sleep survey, conducted in 2017 by neuroscientists at the Western University’s Brain and Mind Institute, found that people sleep 6.3 hours on average. Less than four hours of sleep a night results in reduced cognition, akin to the level of a nine-year-old. They also found that too much sleep has an equally debilitating impact as too little.
If you are struggling to get a good night’s sleep, there are few simple things you can do. First, learning more about your body’s circadian rhythms can be an absolute game changer. They regulate your body’s sleep-wake cycle across a 24-hour period, connected to the sunlight and dark.
It’s a good idea to wake up with the sun in the morning and try to get outdoors for at least 30 minutes a day. Dim the lights of an evening and limit exposure to blue light from screens and bulbs, to help stimulate melatonin production necessary for inducing sleep.
Keep your devices outside the bedroom and go to bed by 10pm, to improve sleep quality and duration. And it might sound overly simple but ensure you’re adequately hydrated and less caffeinated throughout the day — caffeine produces a stress response in the body. Alcohol is a diuretic and sleep disruptor, too, so it’s wise to limit consumption.
Lastly, maintain a routine and keep a sleep journal to track your sleep times, quality and disturbance, any worries and thoughts, and external or environmental factors that could be keeping you awake at night. If you’re really struggling, consult your friendly GP.
We need to live in harmony with nature and our natural biological rhythms, whilst balancing the cultural, social and financial demands of modern life. Sleep is a non-negotiable — prioritise it for your health, happiness, safety and sanity.
This article was first published in The West Australian in Renée Gardiner’s weekly column in Agenda, 23 July 2022.