TODAY’S MINI RESOLUTION SLEEP BETTER • WEEK 1

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INTRODUCING YOUR NEW MINI RESOLUTION: SLEEP BETTER!
 
Over the next 7 weeks, we will explore sleep quality variables in detail, and provide tips, tools and strategies to help improve your sleep. For our 7-week sleep resolution, we encourage you to try one of our curated sleep tips each day, and track the hours spent in bed each night. If you have a sleep tracker, you can log actual hours slept.
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CCP helps you stay on track!
 
Use our log to to track your progress toward our mini resolution. This month, we encourage you to try one sleep tip per week. Log which tip you selected and the result(s) you experienced.
 
For questions or assistance, email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele McCambridge:
 
[email protected]

Sleep and the Brain

No one really knows why we sleep. Numerous theories exist, but the exact reason remains mysterious. It is, however, established that sleep is critical for brain health and life, as absolute sleep deprivation can lead to death.
 
The brain is the command center for the 30 trillion cells a human possesses. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it works tirelessly to execute every single biological and chemical function in every cell in the human body, mostly without conscious thought because the activity occurs in the autonomic nervous system. MRIs have established that sleep disturbances lead to structural changes in the brain similar to aging, and these changes are implicated in the development and worsening of a litany of health conditions, including neurodegeneration.

Sleep is so important to brain health it is considered an important preventive strategy and therapeutic intervention for AD.
 


Sleep disruptions are considered a predictive, preclinical symptom of neurodegenerative conditions, and up to 45% of those diagnosed with neurodegenerative conditions experience sleep disturbances. What remains unclear, however, is the temporal relationship. Specifically, does AD cause sleep dysregulation or does sleep dysregulation lead to AD? For now, it is considered a bi-directional relationship, a cycle of AD affecting sleep and lack of sleep affecting AD.
 
The Global Council on Brain Health recommends 7-8 hours of sleep a night to preserve brain health; but studies have also found sleeping 9 or more hours a night is equally detrimental, indicating an inverted U-shaped relationship for sleep and cognitive health.
 
While sleep goals are generally measured in hours, the quality of sleep is what is truly important—it is just harder to quantify in studies. The variables that define sleep quality include time to fall asleep, hours spent asleep vs. time in bed, frequency of nocturnal awakenings, achieving restorative sleep stages, and rising feeling refreshed. If you’re interested in diving deeper, those metrics can be gleaned by wearing a sleep tracker.

“Sleep is of the Brain, by the Brain and for the Brain.”
 
Here’s some of what we currently understand about sleep and the brain:

Sleep is so critical that it is considered an important preventive strategy and therapeutic intervention for Alzheimer’s Disease. Recommended interventions for improving sleep include cognitive behavioral therapy, exercise, socialization, melatonin and light therapy. Much of what we will cover here this month will include behavioral strategies.
 
Sleep is induced by neurons (brain cells).
 
Habitual napping by adults is linked to cognitive disorders.
 
Those who habitually use sleeping pills are at high risk for neurodegenerative conditions (one study places the risk of developing dementia for sleeping pill users at 80%). Sleeping pills are NOT considered the first line of defense in older adults with sleep disorders.
 
It is well established that we consolidate and strengthen our memories during sleep. The two cognitive domains most affected by sleep loss are attention and memory.
 
Sleep loss leads to activation of the fight or flight system, thereby increasing cortisol and blood pressure. Activation of the fight or flight system also weakens the immune system, which leads to an increase in oxidative stress and permeability of the blood brain barrier. Metabolic health is also impacted, leading to insulin resistance. One of the magical functions of sleep is to reduce metabolites from the brain. Essentially, sleep detoxifies the brain via the glymphatic system.
 
Inflammatory biomarkers indicative of systemic inflammation have been identified in those reporting sleep disturbances.

Sleep and Exercise
 
Interestingly, a bi-directional relationship exists between sleep and exercise:

Exercise resyncs the circadian rhythm.
 
Exercise promotes sleep by regulating the central nervous system, endocrine system, metabolism and body temperature.
 
As people age, they tend to spend less time in the critical later sleep stages, but people who exercise spend more time in these later stages of sleep than those who do not exercise.
 
People who exercise have an enhanced “rest and digest” system, which is the counter to the “fight or flight” system, improving both sleep and mood.
 
Exercise can reverse cognitive decline induced by lack of sleep.



There’s much to understand about sleep and how we measure sleep quality. Below is a quick glossary of related terms, many of which we’ll explore in later weeks of our Sleep Better mini resolution.

 
A Glossary of Sleep Terms
 
Circadian Rhythm: the 24-hour life cycle of an organism. The CR is most affected by lightness and darkness and impacts physical, mental and behavioral changes within the organism. We’ll talk more about the circadian rhythm in our 2/9 edition of our Sleep Better mini resolution.
 
Sleep Pressure: the pressure to sleep. It is lowest upon rising each morning, builds throughout the day and is highest at night. We’ll talk more about sleep pressure on 2/16!
 
Sleep Debt: the difference between the amount of sleep needed and the amount of sleep achieved. We’ll address sleep debt on 2/23.
 
Sleep Architecture: the basic pattern of normal sleep, divided into REM and non-REM sleep. We’ll talk about sleep architecture on 3/9.
 
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.
 
Glymphatic System: the waste clearance system for the central nervous system. It is most active at night during sleep. 

That’s all for now! Don’t forget to check out our sleep tips and log your sleep each day. See you next week!




The content provided is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Please also note this content is based on current research. However, new research could yield new or conflicting information.