Feb 7th
Our Feb 7th meeting was an continuation of a
meeting from last year. It featured Kristin
Daley, Ph.D. of Southeast Psych. She started her career working in sleep
medicine, and has worked in sleep medicine while completing her masters and her
doctorate. She is one of approximately 200 psychologists who have completed
certification in behavioral sleep medicine, and is trained to work with sleep
disorders across the age spectrum.
Kristin took us through all the factors in
sleep. Everyone wants to know what is
their magic sleep number.
Each person has their own ‘metabolism’ for
sleep. Sleep medicine professionals believe the average adult needs 7
hours of sleep but the national sleep foundation believes average adults need
7-8 hours. Each person is different and there are some that only need 5
hours of sleep. How do you determine how much you need – track how long
you are sleeping over a 2 week period and determine the average. You
don’t have to get too detailed, you can just log what time you go to bed and
what time you get out. Age, gender,
activity level all have impact on sleep and the ability to sleep. You want to match the bed time to the sleep
time, so that you have very little time in bed when you are not asleep.
Our body works on a clock system – circadian
rhythms and the brain waves while you sleep are a big symphony. During
the slow waves your brain is actually cleaning itself, this happens the first
third of your sleep time. The brain is
flooded with spinal fluid which is critical to brain health. There is a belief that reduced slow wave time
has a direct correlation with dementia.
The middle third of the night your brain
waves look like when your eyes are open and you are awake. This is the
time you dream and process emotions.
This is where memories are made permanent, you expunge unnecessary
information and where you work through emotions, including trauma.
To ensure your body clock stays on schedule
you want to ensure your bedtime and wake up time stay consistent. Everyday you should be going to bed around
the same hour +/- 1 hour and same for waking up.
Kristen also shared details on what we can do
during the day to ensure a good night sleep:
- Dark room – light impacts sleep,
use a flashlight if you have to get up to go to the restroom, NOT night
lights.
- Cool room
- You need 30 mins every day of
unfiltered sunlight to produce serotonin as serotonin turns into
melatonin, so if you lack in serotonin you will lack in melatonin. She recommends being outside without
sunglasses before 11am or after 3pm, for a total of 30 minutes.
- Do not use anything with a
backlight 2 hours before bed – including your iphone, computer, tablets
and newer Kindles.
- Read a paper book or an old
fashion Kindle
- Short burst of cardio during the
day will aide in sleeping due to the release of dopamine and reduce cortisol
levels. You need about 4-5 total minutes of heart pumping cardio –
goes back to Caveman days when we encountered fight or flight every
day.
- If you are going to exercise at
night do it about 2 hours before bed
- If you take a nap do it for NO
longer than 30 mins, it draws away from your sleep at night
- Even teenagers need to go to bed
and wake up about the same time everyday – you can allow them short naps
but keeping them on schedule will only improve their ability to stay
focused throughout the day
- The temperature in your room needs
to be between 65-67 degrees, you can be bundled up from your neck to your
toes but the key is to keep your head cool.
Another key is food consumption. You need carbohydrates but not too close to
bedtime. You need about 30 total grams
of carbs during the day, but having carbs too close to bedtime will impact your
sleep, this includes beer and wine.
Another item to ensure a good night
sleep is ensuring you feel safe. Your
brain will not let you sleep unless you are feeling safe. Your brain defines safety by the following:
1.
Consistent sound
(this is a safe place) utilizing white noise is recommended.
2.
Feel of the bed, checking
sheets and blankets is your brain checking in
3.
Smell – smelling something
familiar, however a specific scent will not help you sleep, however your pillow
which smells like you will
Kristen recommended that you have to be
friends with everything in your head.
You need your brain to not be in fear and key up the rest of your body
to fight off ‘predators’ To help clear
your head she recommends a bullet diary, bullet points to drain out the ‘ambiguity’
bucket.
She reminded us to never look at a
clock, your bedroom needs to be a place where it is okay to be out of
control. Natural sleep is better than
sleep by medicine.
Women and men have different sleep
needs and you have to find your
rhythm.
These same guidelines should be used
for children, including babies. Set up
their rooms without night light. She
recommended the Cloud B sleep turtle or lady bug. You can also put a night light on a timer to
help with when it is okay for children to get out of bed.
Please also refer back to our notes from the
previous meeting on April 12, 2016.
