YOUR 2024 BRAIN BRAWN MINI RESOLUTION SLEEP BETTER: WEEK 5

Originally published April 8, 2024

The Architecture of Sleep

Good morning! We hope our sleep tips are helping you wake up feeling primed and ready for the day.

CCP's Curated Sleep Tips

​So far, we’ve discussed sleep pressure (the increasing pressure to sleep during the day determined by rising levels of our neurotransmitter adenosine), circadian rhythm (the daily sleep/wake cycles impacting all human physiology influenced by light exposure) and sleep debt (the difference between how much sleep you need vs. how much you get).
 
Now we would like to discuss another sleep topic: sleep architecture.

Theories abound but no one really knows why we sleep. What we do know is what happens physiologically to the body during sleep and how this impacts health and vitality.
 
Human sleep is characterized by a succession of sleep cycles. Within each sleep cycle are 4 stages. Within each stage, different physiological changes happen to recharge, restore and repair the body. Completing each stage and cycle fully is the key to sleep quality.
 
FUN FACT: Newborns and those with narcolepsy are the exceptions to the sleep stages rule. Newborns have three stages specific to their age, and narcoleptics spend very little time in earlier sleep stages and almost go straight to REM.

 
Sleep Stages

For the rest of us, one full sleep cycle runs about 90 minutes, and we go through about 4-6 sleep cycles per night. One full cycle consists of these four stages which happen in succession and adequate time in each stage is required for the body to achieve benefits of sleep:

​STAGE 1
Lasts about 7 minutes

This is your “nodding off” stage, where you are easily awakened.

You know that sensation of falling and being awoken with a start? That is called a Hypnic jerk and happens in Stage 1. Fun Fact: These involuntary, rapid muscular movements fall into the same family as hiccups, called myoclonus.

Brain plasticity begins. Brain plasticity is the ability of the brain to re-wire itself (i.e., learn and modify behavior and as we already know this is critical for avoiding cognitive decline!)

​STAGE 2
 Lasts about 10-25 minutes

Still light sleep, but deeper than Stage 1.

Blood pressure and body temperature drops (recall how a hot bath causes a sudden drop in body temperature inducing sleepiness).

Muscles relax.

Memories are consolidated from short to long term, also critical for preventing cognitive decline!

STAGE 3
Lasts about 20-40 minutes
Termed "slow wave sleep" (SWS)

It is quite difficult to be awoken from Stage 3 sleep and if you are awoken, you will be very groggy and likely will suffer from sleep inertia.

Stage 3 is where much of the sleep “magic” happens. Three separate actions occur that prevent cognitive decline:

Stress hormones are reduced, which can otherwise create oxidative stress in the brain.

Toxins are washed from brain. (Fun Fact: your brain swells during the day and at night it shrinks to its normal size through this glymphatic system process). HGH and testosterone are secreted, encouraging tissue repair, muscle growth and development.
 
Immune cells are at peak levels improving immunity, protecting the blood/brain barrier.

​STAGE 4
Lasts up to 4 minutes
known as the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage where dreaming occurs
 
This is when you achieve paradoxical sleep where the brain is very active, but the body is paralyzed so you don’t act out your dreams and injure yourself or others.

Here, the brain further consolidates memories and processes information, integrates them into the person’s world view, high level abstractions are formed, creative discovery is enhanced and problem solving occurs (hence the expression “sleep on it”).

Importantly, mood regulation and emotional processing also occur here via the amygdala.



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The Effects of Inadequate Sleep Quality

 
What happens if you sleep with a snorer, or have a dog that barks when the wind blows or live on a busy street and as a result, your cycles are disrupted? In other words, what if you get through stages 1 and 2, but as you are entering Stage 3 something arouses you? Well, you go back to Stage 1 and miss out on the “magic” of Stages 3 and REM… uh oh!

Fragmented sleep, i.e., failing to complete the sleep cycles by awakening frequently, ravages the body impacting all areas of our health-no cell is left unaffected.
 
NOT-SO-FUN FACT: If you oversleep, these health risks are the same! Yikes!
 
We need to build sleep pressure to fall asleep with relative ease (latency) and stay asleep for most of the night (quality) to achieve efficiency (time in bed vs. time spent sleeping) and reap the magic that sleep brings us.


Here are some additional tips that can help you achieve these goals:

 Create a bedtime routine.
Having a routine will tell your body “Hey, it’s getting close to bedtime; it is time to feel sleepy.” What activities might that include?
 

• Take a hot bath. Soaking in a hot Epsom salt bath with a good book before bed can be very enjoyable and comforting. The hot water relaxes tight, aching muscles and joints, and the magnesium (AKA nature’s valium) in the Epsom salt is absorbed through the skin further facilitating relaxation. It may be an ideal way to spend that last hour before bed without access to electronics. A drop in body temperature signals the body’s readiness for sleep. Well, guess what happens when you get out of the bath? (Hint: the answer typically results in three Z's).
• Read a book in bed. A paper book! Make this final hour your time away from the blue light in your electronics to deepen the effect
• Have a cup of herbal tea. Try Googling “Sleep Teas” and find a formula that is enticing to you
• Aromatize your room. Either spritz your linens with an essential oil or try a diffuser on a timer. Try Googling “Sleep Inducing Essential Oils” for one that is right for you!
• Journal. As discussed in Week 1, journaling helps you empty your mind, preventing ruminating
• Meditate. We have a future resolution around mindfulness with plenty of options for everyone to try! People who engage in mindfulness activities have been shown to have improved sleep latency (fall asleep faster) and efficiency (spend more time sleeping in the hours they spend in a bed).
• Just breathe. Don’t have a mediation practice just yet? Applying a diaphragmatic breathing technique is probably the single best thing you can learn to do for yourself to reduce stress in general. Applying a cycle of 30 breaths as you retire to bed can be very effective for relaxation and restfulness. Check out this 4-minute YouTube video to learn the technique

 
Create a Sleep Sanctuary.
As with many things in life, the right environment facilitates the desired outcome and sleep is no different. Here are tips which will set the mood for sleeping in the bedroom!
 
No TV, eating, or working in bed. The bedroom isn’t a satellite office, dining room or den! Keep your work and meals where they belong and lose the TV. Instead, limit the activity in the bedroom to sleeping, reading and intimacy.
 
Block out light. It seems obvious and it’s true: limiting the amount of light in your bedroom at night can help you sleep better. This means covering up or turning away lights from your line of sight in bed, including all the lights illuminating from your electronics, like alarm clocks, cable boxes and modems, etc. You may also want to take the extra step to prevent ambient outdoor light from entering the room through the windows. For instance, you can use blackout curtains. If this isn’t possible, a sleep mask is an alternative option. Fun Fact: Even during sleep with your eyes closed, 5-10% of light in your room is still registered by your eye and messaged to your hippocampus.
 
Adjust the thermostat. We know that no two people will agree with this one, but the “ideal” temperature for sleep is 60-68 degrees. This is really one of those “Goldilocks” things in life—what may be just right for one person may be too warm or too cool for another. Play with your thermostat and see if your perfect temperature falls within the suggested range. One of the ways the body signals readiness to sleep is by dropping the body temperature. A room too warm will prevent this signal from happening; a room to cold will result in restlessness.
 
Invest in your comfort. How old is your mattress? When was the last time you bought new pillows? Linens? Experts recommend we replace our mattress every 10 years, whereas pillows and sheets should be replaced every two years, and comforters every 15 years. (Did you know your pillows should be washed every 6 months?) A third of our lives are spent in bed, so many will say investing in bedding is money well-spent. Considering how often we use our beds, the investment in bedding typically amounts to just pennies a day.
 
Today, all the fundamentals (mattress, linens and pillows) come in a wide array of options, from the basics we all grew up with, to some very high-tech options designed to measure, track and improve our sleep experience. Try Googling “Sleep Aid Technology” to explore some of these “smart” options.
 
Try soothing sounds. Do you sleep in an apartment with a noisy neighbor? Does your partner snore? Do barking dogs and car alarms wake you from a peaceful night of slumber? These may be out of our control, but we can try a few options to minimize their impact.
 
Some report running a fan in the bedroom at night does the trick. The market is also full of “sound machines,” which simply offer “white noise” or an array of nature sounds or music. If music interests you, try Googling “Music for Deep Sleep” and see if something pops up that you would like to try.
 
Add aromatherapy. Safety first: we do not recommend burning candles while you sleep! Instead, there are sprays and washes you can apply to your linens, as well as aromatherapy devices (that often come with timers) you can run while you catch those Z’s. Try Googling “Aromatherapy for Sleep” to explore an option that is right for you.
 
In clinical trials, essential oils have been shown to be effective at reducing anxiety and improving sleep. Lavender is perhaps the best-known scent for this purpose, but other essential oils thought to facilitate relaxation and sleep include ylang-ylang, clary sage, chamomile and rose. There are plenty more “sleep blends” out there for you to explore.

TRACK YOUR PROGRESS

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.

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 to view and download the log.

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