 Balance Your Sleep Spreadsheet and Stay Out of Sleep Debt Happy Monday and welcome to another month of our sleep mini resolution! We hope it is a good morning for you and that you are sleeping better! Once again, here is our list of sleep tips: CCP's Curated Sleep Tips Sleep debt is the difference between hours of sleep needed and the hours actually slept. Everyone has different requirements for sleep. It is unique to the individual and genetically determined—it's the sweet spot of sleep where you awaken refreshed and have energy throughout the day. Your individual need for sleep is best determined in a time and place where you can fall asleep when tired and awaken without an alarm (much like camping under the stars as we recommended in Week 2). Let’s say for example, your requirement for sleep is 7 hours, but you get 6 hours of sleep. That means you are in sleep debt for one hour. Research has shown that it can take FOUR days to recover from one hour of sleep debt! Can you get out of sleep debt? Recent research says “sort of...” If you have had a night of lost sleep, your best strategy is to go to bed a little earlier each evening. In theory this should be doable because your sleep pressure should be high. However, it is not advisable to rely on “sleep bulimia” where your “binge and purge” on sleep (discussed last week) as your regular practice. The distinction is between a pattern of daily reliance use vs. occasional use. Can naps help us recover from sleep debt? Yes, a nap might help but it is the same rationale: occasional use vs. a detrimental habit. If you are in sleep debt and need an occasional nap, here are a few things to consider:
What habits increase your sleep debt exponentially? Wrong light, wrong times. Blue light after sunset will delay your ability to fall asleep (latency) keeping you tossing and turning under the covers because it keeps you alert and delays melatonin release. (From Week 2) Not exercising. As discussed last week, this adversely affects latency and efficiency by reducing sleep pressure. Alcohol consumption. While a nightcap may help you conk out faster, alcohol will likely prevent you from entering the deeper/later stages of sleep, waking you in the middle of the night, increasing sleep debt. Alcohol needs time to be metabolized at an approximate rate of 0.016% per hour. If you choose to imbibe before bed, try calculating the time it will take for your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to drop to negligible amounts. (Please note: we are not encouraging alcohol consumption.) Seeing is believing! Below is an image of Coach Michele’s sleep tracker on one night with consuming alcohol and the other night without. The stress response is measured by respiration, heart rate and heart rate variability.  PRO TIP: The best habits for minimizing sleep debt are increasing sleep pressure and honoring your circadian rhythm. 
GLOSSARY OF SLEEP-RELATED TERMS
Circadian Rhythm. The 24-hour life cycle of an organism. It is most affected by lightness and darkness and impacts physical, mental and behavioral changes within the organism. Sleep Pressure. The pressure to sleep. It is lowest in the morning upon rising and builds throughout the day to be highest at night. Adenosine. A neurotransmitter that promotes sleep pressure. High amounts of adenosine promote sleep pressure. Sleep Efficiency. The ratio between time spent sleeping vs. time spent in bed. Sleep efficiency of 85% or greater is considered ideal. Sleep Latency. The time it takes a person to fall asleep. Less than 20 minutes is ideal. Sleep Architecture. The basic pattern of normal sleep, divided into REM and non-REM sleep. Glymphatic System. The waste clearance system for the central nervous system. It is most active at night during sleep. Sleep Debt. The difference between the amount of sleep needed and the amount of sleep achieved. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS YOUR MINI RESOLUTION: SLEEP BETTER Log how many hours you've slept each day, and record which sleep tip you followed from the above link. Click or tap to view and download the log.
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 Increasing Sleep Pressure Happy Monday! We hope it is a good morning for you and you are waking feeling more rested. Remember, we're challenging you to try at least one tip each night during our sleep resolution: CCP's Curated Sleep Tips As we mentioned last week, there are two primary drivers impacting alertness and sleepiness at the right times of day. One is the Circadian Rhythm (addressed last week) and the other is sleep pressure. Sleep pressure is our need for sleep and is driven by the neurotransmitter, adenosine. After an evening of sleep, our sleep pressure is typically lowest in the morning and, after a busy day, highest at night. Adenosine is the neurotransmitter responsible for sleep drive. It accumulates in the cells during the day, inducing sleepiness at night and is metabolized during sleep, encouraging wakefulness. Essentially, the “pressure” for sleep rises as the day progresses and adenosine rises in our cells. What do many people do to destroy their sleep pressure? Nap! Naps can be an effective tool to refresh the brain and body on the occasion when you haven’t slept. However, naps become a problem when they replace and interfere with a good night’s sleep because naps reduce sleep pressure. Napping creates a vicious cycle of not sleeping, napping to recover and then not sleeping because you napped! Consistently relying on naps to make up for lost sleep is a sign of a deeper, underlying issue to be discussed with a healthcare professional. How do we increase sleep pressure so we can fall asleep at bedtime? Let's revisit those sleep tips from Week 1 which specifically apply to sleep pressure: Be consistent. Keep the same bed and wake times. It is not unusual for people in today’s busy world to binge and purge on sleep, a habit known as “sleep bulimia.” In other words, they skimp on sleep most days (purge) and catch up when they can (binge). This may be a quick fix to offset sleep debt (discussed next week!), but as a regular habit it can lead to social jetlag or a misaligned circadian rhythm (discussed last week and in our Special Edition on Daylight Saving Time). The body prefers consistency, which means going to bed and rising at mostly the same time. Your body will reward your consistent sleep schedule with high sleep pressure at your chosen sleep time to help you fall asleep faster. Exercise. Exercise is so powerful at reducing sleep latency improving sleep quality and it is considered a valuable non-pharmaceutical weapon against sleeplessness. Why is that? Exercise promotes the secretion of adenosine! The relationship between sleep and exercise is bi-directional. Meaning exercise helps you sleep better and sleeping better helps you have the energy to exercise. Conversely, not exercising will prevent sleep pressure from building, interfering with your sleep and not sleeping will leave you without the energy to perform. Be mindful of what you consume and when.
GLOSSARY OF SLEEP-RELATED TERMS Circadian Rhythm. The 24-hour life cycle of an organism. It is most affected by lightness and darkness and impacts physical, mental and behavioral changes within the organism. Sleep Pressure. The pressure to sleep. It is lowest in the morning upon rising and builds throughout the day to be highest at night. Adenosine. A neurotransmitter that promotes sleep pressure. High amounts of adenosine promote sleep pressure. Sleep Efficiency. The ratio between time spent sleeping vs. time spent in bed. Sleep efficiency of 85% or greater is considered ideal. Sleep Latency. The time it takes a person to fall asleep. Less than 20 minutes is ideal. Sleep Architecture. The basic pattern of normal sleep, divided into REM and non-REM sleep. Glymphatic System. The waste clearance system for the central nervous system. It is most active at night during sleep. Sleep Debt. The difference between the amount of sleep needed and the amount of sleep achieved. Use the calendar below to log your time in bed. If you have a sleep tracker, log actual hours slept. Note that the benefits of each resolution build upon the others, and the habits we develop are meant to stay with us well beyond the month the resolution is held. We will continue to log meals without sugar alongside our sleep progress. Feel free to email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected] with your individual questions. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS YOUR MINI RESOLUTION: SLEEP BETTER Log how many hours you've slept each day, and record which sleep tip you followed from the above link. Click or tap to view and download the log  The Circadian Rhythm: Our 24-Hour Cycle of Life Happy Monday! We hope you tried at least one tip last week and are feeling its positive effects! Need that list of sleep tips again? Here it is: CCP's Curated Sleep Tips There are two primary drivers impacting alertness and sleepiness at the right times of day. One is sleep pressure (to be addressed next week) and the other is the Circadian Rhythm. In 2017, the Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded to three scientists for their work on the circadian rhythm (CR). The circadian rhythm is the 24-hour cycle that drives the physiology of being alive. It is typically generated internally but can be modulated by external cues, such as sunlight and temperature. The hypothalamus in the brain is responsible for synchronizing the circadian rhythm. The Nobel Prize Committee’s announcement summarizes the importance of the circadian rhythm to our health and well-being: “With exquisite precision, our inner clock adapts our physiology to the dramatically different phases of the day. The clock regulates circadian rhythmical functions such as behavior, hormone levels, sleep, body temperature and metabolism. Our well-being is affected when there is a temporary mismatch between our external environment and this internal biological clock. For example, when we travel across several time zones and experience 'jet lag.' There are also indications that chronic misalignment between our lifestyle and the rhythm dictated by our inner timekeeper is associated with increased risk for various diseases.” For modern humans, this circadian rhythm misalignment between lifestyle and rhythm is driven by our exposure to the wrong amounts and types of light, at the wrong times of day. The circadian rhythm is one of the many human primitive physiological systems, the stress response being another, that has not adapted to modern living. Cavemen and women rose with the dawn and slept with the sunset. Their days were spent outside and any light exposure at night was fireside. It is specifically the exposure to the blue spectrum of bright daylight in the AM and midday which drives wakefulness through cortisol secretion, and it is falling darkness that stimulates the release of melatonin, the sleep hormone. Our bodies still require this type and timing of light exposure to function optimally. However, now we rise before the sun, spend most of our days indoors, and go to sleep long after the sun has set with long hours of exposure to blue light from our electronics throughout the day and well into the evening. How can we balance modern living with our primitive physiology? The best way to reset our circadian rhythm is a week of camping under the stars, but we realize this isn’t exactly practical for our purposes here. So, let’s revisit those “Right Light at the Right Time” tips from Week 1, which relate specifically to the circadian rhythm. RIGHT LIGHT AT THE RIGHT TIME Expose yourself to daylight at least twice a day. Start with first-day sun exposure. It is ideal to nab a 10–15-minute walk outside once the sun is up. If you don’t have the time or if the weather isn’t conducive to outdoor activities, then try standing in front of a window and looking outdoors for a few minutes for a meaningful impact on the hypothalamus. Be sure not to look directly into the sun! Light is measured in lux units. The approximate lux of the midday sun is 100,000 units and the lux of a typical office is 100-2,000 units—quite a difference! Walking outside for 10-15 minutes after lunch will not only trick the hypothalamus, but it will also have the added benefit of controlling post-prandial blood glucose and provide you with a mental health break. This bio-hack is so powerful we will repeat it often throughout the year! If getting outside during peak blue daylight hours is not possible, light therapy is an option. Try Googling "Light Therapy Options" to research an indoor light option that can simulate daylight. Curious to know the lux units in your office or home? Google “Lux Meter App Free” and see what is suitable for your device. Minimize your evening blue light exposure. All exposure to light after the sun sets affects the hypothalamus and melatonin production (the sleep hormone), and it is the blue light of our electronics that is especially harmful. Sunlight has strong blue light in its spectrum and is strongest from early AM to midday, primitively intended to produce the greatest amount of wakefulness in humans for productivity and safety. Unfortunately, for the purpose of energy conservation, in 1992 our electronics switched from a green light spectrum to a blue light spectrum. Thus, we are kept alert however long we spend on our phones/devices—and melatonin release is delayed and diminished. Eliminating our devices is not a practical solution, but there are options for minimizing the impact they have: Try Googling your specific device to see if you have factory settings installed that allow you to adjust the display spectrum from cool blues to warmer reds. If not, consider searching your app store “Blue Light Filters” for your specific device selections. Since blue light is in virtually every device as well as in our TVs and artificial lighting, it may be more effective to purchase a pair of blue light blocking glasses to wear after the sun sets. Your third option (and our favorite) is to simply shut it all down an hour before bedtime. Dim the lights, read instead of watching TV and recharge your devices in another room. Fun fact! Newborns do not have a circadian rhythm. It takes the first 2-3 months of life to entrain the circadian rhythm. We’ll see you next week for a deep dive into increasing sleep pressure.
GLOSSARY OF SLEEP-RELATED TERMS Circadian Rhythm. The 24-hour life cycle of an organism. It is most affected by lightness and darkness and impacts physical, mental and behavioral changes within the organism. Sleep Pressure. The pressure to sleep. It is lowest in the morning upon rising and builds throughout the day to be highest at night. Adenosine. A neurotransmitter that promotes sleep pressure. High amounts of adenosine promote sleep pressure. Sleep Efficiency. The ratio between time spent sleeping vs. time spent in bed. Sleep efficiency of 85% or greater is considered ideal. Sleep Latency. The time it takes a person to fall asleep. Less than 20 minutes is ideal. Sleep Architecture. The basic pattern of normal sleep, divided into REM and non-REM sleep. Glymphatic System. The waste clearance system for the central nervous system. It is most active at night during sleep. Sleep Debt. The difference between the amount of sleep needed and the amount of sleep achieved. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS YOUR MINI RESOLUTION: SLEEP BETTER Log how many hours you've slept each day, and record which sleep tip you followed from the above link. Click or tap to view and download the log.  Sweet Sleep Hello and Happy Monday! It has been said that sleep is of the brain, by the brain and for the brain. As such, for our next resolution, we will explore what is currently understood about sleep and the brain, and what you can implement and avoid in order to improve your sleep. We’ve curated tips to help improve your sleep, which we'll discuss in greater depth each week. For our 7-week sleep resolution, we encourage you to try one of our sleep tips each day, as well as track the hours spent in bed. You can view our tips and log at the bottom of our weekly emails. You can also view the tips by clicking here. It is also important to consider the quality of sleep within the hours spent in bed. Variables affecting sleep quality include time to fall asleep, hours asleep vs. hours in bed, number of nocturnal wakings, and rising feeling refreshed. These variables are best measured by a sleep tracker. If you have an interest in obtaining one, here are a few to consider. If you prefer something more high tech, here are a few new tools out of the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
GLOSSARY OF SLEEP-RELATED TERMS Circadian Rhythm. The 24-hour life cycle of an organism. It is most affected by lightness and darkness and impacts physical, mental and behavioral changes within the organism. We address the Circadian Rhythm on March 17th. Sleep Pressure. The pressure to sleep. It is lowest in the morning upon rising and builds throughout the day to be highest at night. We address sleep pressure on March 24th. Adenosine. A neurotransmitter that promotes sleep pressure. High amounts of adenosine promote sleep pressure. Sleep Efficiency. The ratio between time spent sleeping vs. time spent in bed. Sleep efficiency of 85% or greater is considered ideal. Sleep Latency. The time it takes a person to fall asleep. Less than 20 minutes is ideal. Sleep Architecture. The basic pattern of normal sleep, divided into REM and non-REM sleep. We address sleep architecture on April 7th. Glymphatic System. The waste clearance system for the central nervous system. It is most active at night during sleep. Sleep Debt. The difference between the amount of sleep needed and the amount of sleep achieved. We address sleep debt on March 31st. Sleep and Brain Health No one really knows why we sleep. Theories abound, but the exact reason is unknown. However, we do know chronic sleep disruption leads to a litany of health disorders and absolute sleep deprivation can lead to death. Likewise, while the exact mechanism by which sleep protects the brain is unclear, it is known that sleep disruption is a critical risk factor for neurodegeneration. Interestingly, some theorize the brain is a biological computer and sleep is the reset button for the operating system. 
Here are some highlights of what we currently understand about sleep and the brain:
A bi-directional relationship also exists between sleep and exercise, and it deserves some extra attention here:
With all this in mind, use the calendar below to log your time in bed. If you have a sleep tracker, log actual hours slept. Note that the benefits of each resolution build upon the others, and the habits we develop are meant to stay with us well beyond the month the resolution is held. We will continue to log meals without sugar alongside our sleep progress. Feel free to email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected] with your individual questions. See you next week! TRACK YOUR PROGRESS YOUR MINI RESOLUTION: SLEEP BETTER Log how many hours you've slept each day, and record which sleep tip you followed from the above link. Click or tap to view and download the log  Spring Forward Into Better Sleep We are about to embark on an extended resolution around the cognitive benefits of sleep throughout March and some of April. What better way to get started than to prepare for the change in our clocks next weekend? Each year, we spring forward into Daylight Saving Time (DST) the second Sunday in March and we fall back to Standard Time the first Sunday in November. The intention of the extra hour of daylight is to conserve energy, but it has a number of adverse health effects. Beyond a sleep deprived society losing yet another hour of sleep when we spring forward, what is the reason DST is so disruptive to our internal clocks? In essence, every cell in your body has an internal clock that controls your biology on a 24-hour schedule. This is known as the circadian rhythm (CR). The primary driver of the CR is our exposure to lightness and darkness. For optimal functioning, our CR requires exposure to bright light during the day, which keeps us alert and gives us energy during the day, and reduced amounts of light in the evening, which induces drowsiness to get a good night’s rest. However, the opposite happens after DST when it is darker in the morning and lighter in the evening. Your body’s natural CR becomes mismatched with the clock. A misaligned CR will leave you groggy in the morning hours and alert before bed, much like jet lag if you travel west to east. A misaligned CR will not only interfere with your sleep patterns, but also disrupt the appropriate timing of the release of hormones which impact hunger/satiety, mood, immunity, and metabolism. As a result, you might feel tired and grumpy. Furthermore, during this transitional period after DST starts, there are also associated health concerns, such as:
Many agree we should skip the bi-annual time change, and just change the clocks once per year. There are several national petitions circulating to stop “falling back” but most scientists agree eliminating “spring forward” would make more sense, because Standard Time is more closely aligned with our CR. As of now, no changes have been made so we will be switching to DST next weekend. How can we prepare for Daylight Savings?
With these tips and tools, you can adjust your circadian rhythm and conquer the fog and grog of Daylight Savings. We’ll see you next week as we begin our next resolution to Sleep Better! Feel free to email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected] with your individual questions. |
MICHELE MCCAMBRIDGE, MPH, MSMichele is the Senior VP of Membership Development at Concierge Choice Physicians. She is also a professional in the areas of nutrition, fitness and wellness. Archives
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