How to Get Your Best Sleep to Stay Sharp & Healthy

PRACTICING SELF-CARE

Sleep: Your #1 Health Hack

Sleep Advice from Wellness Expert Dr. Jo^® Lichten, PhD, RDN

If you are thinking the warm weather and longer days ahead offer a fresh start for wellness, you are right. But it’s how well you slept the night before that determines how effective your daytime wellness practices will be.

“Sleep is the one thing that makes all your other wellness goals easier. It makes you feel more energized, so you feel like moving your body and getting more exercise,” according to Dr. Jo® Lichten, PhD, RDN, a wellness expert known for helping busy nurses find time in their day to care for themselves. “Sleep also functions like a major defrag for the brain – helping us to think clearly, react quickly, problem solve, and creatively brainstorm.”

The Right Sleep Matters

Sleep is Dr. Jo’s is #1 wellness hack for these obvious reasons, but with a caveat. You have to get enough high-quality sleep to feel it’s full effects. Unfortunately, most of us don’t achieve true sleep success. But Dr. Jo can help.

She offers these keys to self-diagnosing poor sleep and getting yourself on the right sleep routine.

Ask Yourself if You Are Getting Good Sleep

If you can answer YES to each one of these questions, Dr. Jo says you're likely getting adequate quality sleep:

• Do you wake up feeling refreshed…without an alarm?
• Can you stay alert in meetings…even when they're boring?
• Can you stay awake after work…all the way until bedtime?
• Do you sleep the same hours on workdays as you do on your days off?

If you can’t answer YES to all four questions, then you could be facing these sleep-deprivation health challenges:

Weight gain — Sleep deprivation messes with our hunger/satiety hormones. This prompts us to eat more than we would if we were well-rested.

Diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol — Short sleep increases risks for weight gain and insulin resistance. It also increases blood pressure and levels of bad blood cholesterol.

Sickness — About 1-2% of the body’s cells break down daily and need to be repaired or replaced. During sleep when the growth hormone levels are highest and stress hormones are lowest white blood cells can work more effectively.

Anxiety, irritability, and brain fog — Sleep-deprivation creates a state of heightened stress. This triggers cortisol. High levels of cortisol increase anxiety and difficulty dealing with daily challenges. While cortisol levels go down in a full night’s sleep, people who are sleep-deprived don’t get that relief.

Improve Your Sleep Routine

A full 7–8 hours of solid sleep should be the goal every night. Dr. Jo says to aim for this ideal sleep goal with these steps:

1. Prioritize sleep — Look for ways to build more sleep hours. Could you cut back on screen time? And what if you felt more rested, could you get going sooner after you awake?
2. Don’t hit the snooze button — Those added minutes of disrupted snoozing will do nothing to make you feel more rested. Instead, give yourself those additional 10-20 minutes of sleep before your alarm goes off.
3. Create a wind-down plan — Drop the screens and dim the lights an hour before bedtime. The blue light emitted from phones and other electronics interrupts the normal production of melatonin hormone we need to feel sleepy. Replace screen time with healthier wind-down habits such as stretching and reading a book. Or journal about your day or what you must remember for tomorrow.
4. Cut the lights — Melatonin is called the Dracula hormone because it only works in the dark. Put on a darkening eye mask and listen to a relaxation or meditation app. Also, consider using a dim night light if you wake in the night to protect your melatonin production.
5. Curb the caffeine — Are you having more than one cup a day? Caffeine has an average 4 to 6-hour half-life. Even if you just have one venti coffee at 6am (400mg caffeine), it will take roughly 24 hours to eliminate ALL the caffeine from your system.
6. Reduce nighttime interruptions — Any interruption (even if you don't fully awaken) can knock you out of critical deep sleep and into a lighter sleep. Try using a sound soother or air purifier to emit white noise if intermittent noise awakens you. If you have a snoring bed partner, get them help. And consider getting your pets and kids out of the bedroom.
7. Make good sleep-supportive choices during the day — To have more restful sleep, establish healthy daytime routines. Add exercise to your day, avoid large evening meals, and reduce your alcohol intake. It prevents long-lasting rejuvenating deep sleep. So does nicotine, and certain meds like decongestants.