​Sleep

The power of snoozing

We all know the feeling of tossing and turning in bed, counting sheep, and wishing for just a few extra minutes of shut-eye. But did you know that poor sleep is not just a temporary inconvenience but a significant threat to our health? Research shows that poor sleep is linked to an increased risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. 
But don’t lose sleep over it! One of the most powerful tools in our health and wellness arsenal is sleep, and with proper sleep hygiene habits, you can harness its full potential. 

One of the most exciting frontiers in sleep research is the role of circadian rhythm (our internal clock) in regulating our sleep patterns. We have several circadian clocks operating throughout our body, but our primary clock is in the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN) just above the roof of our mouth. It can sense morning light through our optic nerve (eyes), causing a rise in our body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, and cortisol (stress hormone) and delaying our melatonin (sleep hormone) release 2 . The opposite events occur when our SCN detects changing light in the evening 2,4 . 

Strategies to enhance your sleep:
1. Exposure to light: Viewing low-angle sunlight in the morning and evening for 5-15 minutes (Don’t compromise safety: wear sun protection, sunglasses or prescription lenses if required and never look directly at the sun.) 3,5 .

2. The Caffeine Effect: The chemical messenger "adenosine" facilitates sleep. Caffeine can park itself in the receptors of adenosine. Hence, as the caffeine wears off, adenosine moves in and starts a sluggish afternoon crash. Delay your morning coffee by 90 minutes after waking to reduce this result 3 .

3. Stick to a consistent bedtime and wake-up time – even on weekends! Apologies to the shift workers out there! Our bodies love routine, so keeping a consistent sleep schedule keeps our circadian clocks running smoothly and enhances sleep quality.

4. Create a sleep-promoting environment: close to complete darkness, silence or white noise and keep the room cool (16-24 o C) as our body"'core temperature drops to help initiate sleep 3 .

5. Habits before bed: Turn off screens well before bedtime, or if devices are necessary for study or work, use the blue blocking/ night mode on your device, avoid overhead fluorescent lights, read books, meditate, and practise rhythmic breathing to deepen our parasympathetic (relaxation) response of "rest and digest". Writing any worries/to-do list items in a journal can help calm our internal chatter 4 .

6. Avoid alcohol (which significantly decreases our quality of deep sleep and has its health risks) altogether or at least 3 hours before bedtime 4 .

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7. Regular exercise (preferably in the early morning) promotes our stress hormone cortisol to activate our alertness and increases serotonin (“happy hormone”) release 4 .

8. The Gut Microbiome: There is growing evidence to support promoting healthy gut microbiome diversity by satisfying our tastebuds and stomachs with minimally processed, colourful whole foods full of fibre and nutrients to enhance sleep 1 .

Let's campaign for the retirement of the adage "you snooze, you lose" and unleash you sleep well, you excel, with better health, a happier mood, and a sharper mind!

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Bibliography
1) Benedict C, Vogel H, Jonas W, et al. Gut microbiota and glucometabolic alterations in response to recurrent partial sleep deprivation in normal-weight young individuals. Molecular Metabolism. 2016;5(12):1175-1186. doi:10.1016/j.molmet.2016.10.003
2) Brown TM, Brainard GC, Cajochen C, et al. Recommendations for daytime, evening, and night time indoor light exposure to best support physiology, sleep, and wakefulness in healthy adults. PLOS Biology. 2022;20(3). doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3001571
3) Gillette MU, Tischkau SA. Suprachiasmatic nucleus: The Brain's Circadian Clock. Recent progress in hormone research. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10548871/. Published 1999.
4) Huberman A. Summary; transcript of Huberman Labs Podcast episode 2: Sleep. ikario. https://ikario.com/huberman-lab-summary-2/. Published March 2022.
5) te Kulve M, Schlangen LJ, van Marken Lichtenbelt WD. Early evening light mitigates sleep compromising physiological and alerting responses to subsequent late evening light. Scientific Reports. 2019;9(1). doi:10.1038/s41598-019-52352-w