Many of us have trouble falling and staying asleep — and for some, it’s more than occasional. About one in three adults say they don’t get enough sleep each night. Some of what keeps us up is outside our control. But other things, like demolishing a plate of tacos, are manageable.
I want to do whatever I can to get a good night’s rest, so I asked experts for some advice on how to avoid activities that can mess up our sleep.
1 Checking your phone
Anita Shelgikar, a professor of neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School, said that many of her patients wake up at night and reach for their phones. But if you do that, Dr Shelgikar said, “you’re telling your brain: It’s time to go, let’s be awake and alert. And then it’s hard to get back to sleep”. (Checking your phone can cause your body to release stress hormones).
“There’s nothing good that’s going to come across your phone in the middle of the night, whether it’s an email from your boss or seeing a headline”, said Kelly Baron, a sleep psychologist at University of Utah Health. So if it’s possible, she added, put some physical distance between you and your phone.
“My phone is plugged in across the room for a reason”, she said. “I do not have self-control. I would check it if it was next to me”.
2 Morning coffee
Caffeine can stay in your system for up to 10 hours, but everyone metabolises it differently, said Indira Gurubhagavatula, a professor of sleep medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
For some people, caffeine can remain in their bloodstream for a few hours, but for others, it can linger, which can affect the quality of their sleep, she said.
When Dr Gurubhagavatula studies these people in her lab who still have caffeine in their system, she said, their brain wave activity reveals that “it’s not normal, healthy, deep sleep”. Your sleep quality can decline, she added, even if you only drink caffeine early in the morning.
Dr Gurubhagavatula tells her coffee-drinking patients who don’t feel rested to cut back gradually. Then, as hard as it is to do, stay off coffee for two weeks.
“And if you’re waking up feeling much more rested, you have your answer”, she said.
3 Drinking fluids too close to bedtime
It’s normal to wake up once or twice throughout the night — and to use the bathroom when we do so, said Alicia Roth, a sleep psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic. But you can curtail your toilet trips by limiting your beverages close to bedtime.
The American Urological Association recommends that we cut back on fluids between two and four hours before bed. This is especially important if you’re drinking beverages, which can disrupt sleep and worsen sleep apnea. Several of the experts recommended finishing that nightcap at least three hours before bedtime.
If you notice that you’re getting up more than usual to pee, see your doctor to rule out any medical issues that could be the cause, Dr Gurubhagavatula said. Frequent urination, she added, can be a symptom of conditions such as an enlarged prostate or diabetes.
4 Snoozing with pets
Sharing a bed with your pets can be comforting, but research suggests it can disrupt your sleep. So if your pets move around a lot, wake you up prematurely or snore, they might be messing with your rest, said Pablo Castillo, a professor of neurology and founding programme director of the sleep medicine fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Florida.
If this is the case, he said, have your furry friend sleep in a pet bed in your bedroom. Dr Castillo told me that Valentino, his Dalmatian, “sleeps in his own bed in the living room”.
5 Telling yourself you’re ‘just a bad sleeper’
Dr Shelgikar said that a lot of her patients would tell her, Oh, I’m just a poor sleeper. “I’ve treated people who have had 30 years of terrible sleep and had almost given up”, she said.
So if you have chronic sleep problems, consult a sleep doctor, she said. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has a website where you can plug in your ZIP code and find accredited sleep centres near you.
Dr Shelgikar has also worked with patients to tweak one habit, resulting in dramatically better sleep. It can be as simple, she said, as “not having that glass of beverages with dinner”.
Or refraining from late-night tacos. — The New York Times
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