Using Science To Get a Better Night’s Sleep

Faye Prior | 2014-05-08 04:33:28

Knowing the positive effects of sleep on health, and that most of us love it, some of us still find it hard to get a good night’s sleep. Most of us know that we should avoid electronics before bed, making sure that the room is dark and that it’s the right temperature, but there are a few extra things that research can teach us about improving our sleep.

Eating appropriately

Having a meal of carbohydrates, fats, and protein 3-4 hours before should help you to fall asleep faster. This is particularly due to the tryptophan content of carbohydrate and protein foods which is converted to serotonin, a sleep inducing agent (Afaghi et al., 2007). Deficiencies in micronutrients such as iron and magnesium are associated with sleep disorders (Chollet et al., 2001), and eating a whole and varied diet such as one containing meat, vegetables, and oats should help to combat any deficiencies which may affect your sleep.

Avoid stimulants

It should go without saying that consuming caffeinated drinks such as coffee before bed isn’t going to help you fall asleep (Roehrs & Roth, 2008), and using an app such as UP Coffee can help you to work out at what time you should have your last coffee whilst still getting to bed at a reasonable hour. But there are a few other sources which can increase your alertness before bed, a time at which you want to be anything but. Substances such as alcohol might make some people fall asleep faster, but the quality of sleep is sure to be much lower (Ebrahim et al., 2013), whilst smoking cigarettes can increase the time it takes you to fall asleep, and then increase the number of times you wake up during the night (Jaehne et al., 2012). This doesn’t sound like fun.

Exercise correctly

Exercising in the late evening is usually not a smart choice for most, yet helps others to sleep better. This individuality is why you may need to use trial and error when trying to find the right time to exercise which doesn’t affect sleep. Generally research shows that aerobic exercise done anytime between early morning and early evening reduces the time taken to fall asleep, and the number of time you wake up during the night, making for a better quality night’s sleep (Passos et al., 2011; Reid et al., 2010).

Fine tune your mind

This is especially important if you have any physical or mental health related conditions which might be affecting your sleep. In these cases, receiving cognitive behavioural therapy in person or by yourself (booklets, online course) is now a prominent strategy of treatment for insomnia symptoms (Jernelӧv et al., 2012).

Alternatively try practicing meditation for 5 minutes before bed time to relax your mind and body (Nagendra et al., 2012), apps such as Buddhify 2 can help guide you through thoughts and actions to achieve this.

Establish a schedule

Try to create a bed time routine, of sleeping and waking at the same time, to establish a steady sleep-wake cycle rhythm. Sleep and wake time irregularities are associated with shorter sleep durations and poor quality sleep, indicating that the opposite promotes optimal sleep. This won’t just benefit your sleep but your waist line too, as irregular sleep patterns are also associated with weight gain (Kang & Chen, 2009).

Yawning

Watch a video of somebody yawning, or even just think about it. It’s incredibly contagious, just writing about it is making me yawn right now. It’s linked to thermoregulatory processes and it might just help you to fall asleep that little bit faster (Kräuchi, 2007).

 

Faye Prior (Researcher)

Sources

Afaghi, A., O’Conner, H. & Chow, C. (2007). High-glycemic-index carbohydrate meals shorten sleep onset. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 85, 426-30.

Chollet, D., Franken, P., Raffin, Y., Henrotte, J., Widmer, J. et al. (2001). Magnesium involvement in sleep: Genetic and nutritional models. Behavior Genetics, 31, 413-25.

Ebrahim, I., Shapiro, C., Williams, A. & Fenwick. (2013). Alcohol and sleep I: Effects on normal sleep. Alcohol, Clinical & Experimental Research, 37, 539-49.

Jaehne, A., Unbehaun, T., Feige, B., Lutz, U., Batra, A. et al. (2012). How smoking affects sleep: A polysomnographical analysis. Sleep Medicine, 13, 1286-92.

Jernelӧv, S., Lekander, M., Blom, K., Rydh, S., Ljotsson, B. et al. (2012). Efficacy of a behavioural self-help treatment with or without therapist guidance for co-morbid and primary insomnia. BMC Psychiatry, doi: 10.1186/1471-244X-12-5.

Kang, J. & Chen, S. (2009). Effects of an irregular bedtime schedule on sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and fatigue among university students in Taiwan. BMC Public Health, doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-9-248.

Kräuchi, K. (2007). The human sleep-wake cycle reconsidered from a thermoregulatory point of view. Physiology & Behavior, 90, 236-45.

Nagendra, R., Maruthai, N. & Kutty, B. (2012). Meditation and its regulatory role on sleep. Frontiers in Neurology, doi: 10.3389/fneur.2012.00054.

Passos, G., Poyares, D., Santana, M., D’Aurea, C., Youngstedt, S. et al. (2011). Effects of moderate aerobic exercise training on chronic primary insomnia. Sleep Medicine, 12, 1018-27.

Reid, K., Glazer-Baron, K., Lu, B., Naylor, E., Wolfe, L. et al. (2010). Aerobic exercise improves self-reported sleep and quality of life in older adults with insomnia. Sleep Medicine, 11, 934-40.

Roehrs, T. & Roth, T. (2008). Caffeine: Sleep and daytime sleepiness. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 12, 153-62.