Sleep. It’s a love-hate relationship for many people. It’s the relationship that you’re committed to for your entire life, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. You will fight with it, love it, hate it and sometimes be jealous of other sleep relationships. It’s a simple fact: Our bodies cannot heal properly without quality sleep. As adults, we deal with it the best we can, frantically trying to catch up on the weekends or grabbing caffeine and chugging for dear life.
Yet, in our fast-paced society it becomes a guilty pleasure. No one wants to say, “Sorry I can’t go to that event, I’m going home to take a nap.” We feel a strange pressure to pack in as many activities as we can get into a day and then compare with one another on just how busy we are and how little sleep we achieved the previous night. Yikes! When did this become acceptable?
Let us examine all the activities that are negatively affected by a lack of sleep. According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, a staggering 21 percent of fatal motor vehicle crashes involve driver fatigue. One third of crashes resulting in injuries involve a drowsy driver.
It doesn’t stop there! Student performance also suffers from a lack of sleep. The Journal of Adolescent Health estimates that only 29 percent of students get the recommended eight hours of sleep each night. Can anyone else relate to this with their child? Between the juggle of school, homework, sports, part time jobs and social activities it’s a wonder they get any sleep at all! In fact, the website www.thegoodbody.com states that 97 percent of teenagers get less than the recommended amount of sleep.
The National Sleep Foundation reports, “Americans report sleeping an average of 7 hours and 36 minutes, sleeping an extra 40 minutes on weekends. Despite this average number they report sleep quality as poor or only fair. Twenty percent of Americans reported that they did not wake up feeling refreshed on any of the past seven days.” This is alarming and should stop us all in our tracks. Whether it is stress, environmental or health related (sleep apnea), Americans are not getting the sleep they need to flourish and thrive.
Driving, school, work performance, health – every aspect of our lives is affected by sleep, or lack thereof. So, this begs the question, how do we fix it? Experts recommend many, many strategies to help you drift off to sleep and stay asleep longer. I will touch on just a few here and hope that you feel encouraged to continue your quest.
• Upgrade your mattress for a custom comfort fit.
• Turn off electronics and utilize bedroom curtains or shades to block out light.
• Change your bed linens every week, two weeks at the most.
• Use a sound conditioner or white noise machine.
• Tidy up the room so visual distractions are minimal.
• Add a subtle fragrance such as lavender (unless you have cats).
• Focus your décor on nature.
• Keep to a schedule – yes, even on the weekends.
• Help yourself and your child by utilizing time management skills so you make the most of your day without sacrificing sleep. Yes, that means saying “no” to extra activities.
• Getting adequate exercise during the day.
• Limit caffeine consumption to one cup a day before 1:00 p.m.
Hopefully, after some trial and error and dedication you can say “I do!” when someone asks if you sleep well.
Curious as to the recommended hours of sleep for which you should aim? Check out this chart, brought to you by the National Sleep Institute. Happy dreams!
