Sleep Better Live Longer:The Health Benefits of Sleep

John (not his real name) came to my office complaining of depression. John was a 55- year-old school teacher, married with two teen age children. His history revealed that he also suffered of high blood pressure and poor sleep. The latter symptom, is not surprising since three out of four people with depression suffer of insomnia.

Sleep, good, restorative sleep is a much under estimated factor contributing to health and disease. Almost half of all Americans say they feel sleepy during the day between three and seven days per week, an obvious sign that they are not getting sufficient sleep.

Adults between 18 and 64 need seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Adults over 65 have been shown to awaken approximately 1.5 hours earlier and sleep one hour earlier than younger adults. Kids need even more sleep than adults. With each passing year, this ideal amount of sleep for adults or children, is becoming more elusive.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 28.4% of working adults slept six or fewer hours per night in 2009 compared to 32.6% in 2017-2018. We do not have figures for 2021-2022, but I am certain that they are higher still.

Interestingly, note how everything is connected, 45.8% of Black people, 40.4% of American Indians/Alaska Natives, 37.5% of Asians, 34.5% of Hispanics, and 33.4% of whites reported getting less than seven hours of sleep. Women have a lifetime risk of insomnia up to 40% higher than that of men.

The Beneficial Effects of Sleep

If you sleep well, you wake up feeling rested. Being rested helps your energy levels shoot up. When your energy is up, you deal more easily with life’s challenges be they small or big. After a good night’s sleep people tend to be more patient and more tolerant of others’ annoying ways. You’re more likely to be happy more often.

40% of people with insomnia are affected by a mental health disorder. These include depression, anxiety and panic disorders.

Not getting enough sleep can lead to heart health problems like high blood pressure, heart attacks and diabetes. Insomnia initiates a stress response with the release cortisone and adrenaline that cause your heart to work harder.

The stress response also depresses your immune response. As a result, you are more likely to catch any bug looking for a new home to break in that’s poorly guarded. For the same reason, sleep can also make vaccines more effective, which is obviously a plus.

When you don’t get enough sleep, your body produces ghrelin, a hormone that boosts appetite. Your body also decreases the production of leptin, a hormone that tells you you’re full. Also, when you don’t sleep enough you don’t have the energy to fight off junk food cravings and you know well what happens in that case.

Sleep has been linked to improved concentration, better memory and higher cognitive function which can help you be successful at work or school. On the other hand, lack of sleep can be dangerous. Literally. You’re twice as likely to get in a car accident when you have had only six to seven hours of sleep compared to a full eight hours. Sleep less than five hours and your chances of a crash quadruple! That’s because your reaction time slows way down when your brain isn’t fully rested.

People with severe insomnia are seven times more likely to have work-related accidents

And nurses working 12.5-hour shifts report committing more than three times as many medical errors than those working 8.5-hour shifts.

Tips for Getting More and Better Sleep

• Create a comfortable sleep environment — for example, make sure your bedroom is dark and quiet.

• For the most comfortable sleep the best bedroom temperature for sleep is approximately 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18.3 degrees Celsius). This may vary by a few degrees from person to person. Adjust to suit your needs.

• Set a bedtime routine which means going to bed at the same time every night.

• Use your bedroom, if possible, only for sleeping and intimacy.

• During the day exercise. Walking, swimming, climbing stairs, weight training, etc. are imperative. No need to spend a fortune on joining the Y or a Health Club.

• Try meditating, yoga or taking a warm bath.

• Hot milk with sugar produces Tryptophan. Seems to have a calming effect.

• Grinding teeth during sleep may apply as much as 250lbs of pressure to your teeth. Obviously, you will wake up with severe pain in your jaw and temporo-mandibular joint. And your dental bills will skyrocket. Time to see a specialist.

• If you suffer of sleep apnea, snoring, nocturia (frequent night time visits to the washroom), night sweats, sleep paralysis, restless leg syndrome (RLS), or sleepwalking, I suggest you consult a physician.

• Melatonin is one of the most commonly used supplements among both adults and children. Studies have found that melatonin can improve sleep in certain cases, but it is not for everyone. People who want to use melatonin supplement should also be aware of issues related to dosage and the quality of supplements.

• Do not read the paper or watch TV news. All that disturbing information will still be there in the morning.

• Coffee or chocolate late in the day. In healthy adults, caffeine has a half-life of five hours which means that around half of the caffeine in your cup of joe or your favorite chocolate bar will still be in your body five to ten hours after you had it.

• Alcohol might make you sleepy at first, but drinking alcohol will wake you up soon afterward, sometimes repeatedly.

• Prescription drugs. Unfortunately, all drugs that induce sleep are highly addictive. Avoid them like the plague – which in a sense they are.

Key Takeaways

o Having trouble sleeping every now and then is normal.

o It's important to address the root cause of sleepless nights.

o Lack of sleep increases your risk for serious health problems, like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

o Sleep reduces stress and improves your mood.

o Don’t treat the symptom, treat the person.

References

Patel, A. K., Reddy, V., & Araujo, J. F. (2021). Physiology, sleep stages. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing.

Ehlen, J. C., Brager, A. J., …Takahashi, J. S (2017). Bmal1 function in skeletal muscle regulates sleep. eLife, 6.

Nugent, C. N., & Black, L. I. (2016). Sleep duration, quality of sleep, and use of sleep medication, by sex and family type, 2013-2014. US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics.

Mong, J. A., & Cusmano, D. M. (2016). Sex differences in sleep: impact of biological sex and sex steroids. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 371(1688), 20150110.

Kızılırmak, A., Timur, S., & Kartal, B. (2012). Insomnia in pregnancy and factors related to insomnia. TheScientificWorldJournal, 2012, 197093.

Nutt, D., Wilson, S., & Paterson, L. (2008). Sleep disorders as core symptoms of depression. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 10(3), 329–336.

More Information Sources

https://www.sleephealth.org

https://www.sleepfoundation.org

http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu