Working from home can wreak havoc on our sleep patterns. In this video, we’ll look at 10 tips to improve sleep if you’re working from home.
Sleeping pills are commonly prescribed for insomnia, but are they safe? In this video, we’ll look at the 3 most common types of sleeping pills, important side effects to know about, and what to do instead of taking sleeping pills
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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBTi) is one of the best treatments available for insomnia. In this video, we’ll look at what CBTi is and how it works.
Sleep trackers might be causing a new sleep disorder called “orthosomnia”! In this video we’ll look at whether or not you should be tracking your sleep with a fitness device.
In the fall, the clocks go back an hour, ending daylight saving time (DST) and going back to standard time. Changing the clocks affects health, safety, and productivity in a number of different ways. In this video, we’ll look at how the time change affects health, what researchers recommend as for policy changes, and 3 simple things you can do to adjust to the time change
Do you tend to wake up in the middle of the night? In this video, we’ll look at whether or not it’s normal to wake up at night and what to do if you cant’ get back to sleep.
Melatonin is a hormone that helps with sleep and multiple other functions in the body. In this video, we’ll look at four food sources that can help boost your body’s production of melatonin and get a better night’s sleep.
Do you have trouble getting up in the morning? Do you keep hitting the snooze button until you finally have to drag yourself out of bed?
That was me all throughout university and medical training. It’s one of the reasons I became so interested in sleep science and became a sleep specialist.
The good news is that you don’t have to become a sleep specialist to make your mornings go more smoothly. Here are a few simple tricks can make it easier for you to get up and get going.
This might sound counterintuitive — isn’t the point to get up earlier? Setting your alarm for too early disrupts those precious moments of REM sleep we get in the hourly hours of the morning. This will make you even more foggy and tired in the morning. If you’re one of those people who sets your alarm for one or two hours ahead of your required wake time, try this: allow yourself to sleep a little longer and set your alarm for a more reasonable time, within 15 minutes of the time you actually need to get up.
As soon as your alarm goes off, reach over to open up the blinds or curtains, or switch on the lights to full brightness. Think of bright light as nature’s alarm clock. A good dose of bright light in the morning will put a stop on your brain’s secretion of melatonin and help to reset your body clock (circadian rhythm). If you really want to get your circadian rhythm on track, do this at the same time every morning.
Stretching first thing will help get the blood flowing and wake up your muscles. If your body feels really heavy, simply sit up with your spine straight. Next, add on a stretch or two. Start by raising your arms over your head, reaching toward the ceiling. Then, stretch forward in a child’s pose while you’re still in bed. The act of sitting up and moving is another way to signal to your brain that it’s time to wake up and will help reset the circadian rhythm.
Many of us tend to grab our phones first thing in the morning and start scrolling through the news or emails. Not only would this make a person not want to get out of bed, it also sets the tone for the day by affecting motivation, stress levels, and mood. Listening to upbeat music helps to reduce blood pressure and levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and will give you a little boost of motivation to get up.
Are you a member of the “don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee” tribe? Whether you tend to start your day with a cup of coffee or a green smoothie, I always recommend having a glass of water first. Approximately 60% of the body is composed of water and we need to stay hydrated to keep our organs functioning optimally. Overnight, we naturally become dehydrated, which contributes to feelings of fatigue and lethargy. Keep a bottle of water on your nightstand and enjoy a refreshing drink of water before you even get out of bed.
Want to learn more about sleep optimization? Click here to get my FREE sleep guide.
If you have trouble sleeping, going to bed can start to feel overwhelming and sometimes downright stressful. There’s so much information out there about supplements and pills for insomnia, cutting down on caffeine, finding the perfect mattress, not watching TV in bed, getting the right kind of noise cancelling ear plugs, and so on. Although some of these things can help, it won’t do any good unless you understand why you’re not sleeping in the first place.
Whenever I see someone in my practice for sleep issues, the first thing we try to figure out is what’s causing their difficulty sleeping. Until we understand that, focusing on sleep hygiene measures can feel like an endlessly frustrating game.
This is one of the most common causes of insomnia, it both precedes and perpetuates sleep problems. Stress leads to a state of “hyperarousal”. Think of this as your nervous system in overdrive. Physical symptoms of hyperarousal include shortness of breath, heart palpitations, or feeling “wired” or edgey. Hyperarousal is also associated with cognitive symptoms like excessive worrying, ruminating, or an inability to turn your mind off when you go to bed. When left untreated, stress then leads to anxiety about not sleeping, which then feeds into the sleep issues. The act of going to sleep then shifts from a passive to an active process. This is why trying to use sleep medications, substances, cocktails of sleep supplements for stress-related insomnia don’t work in the long run, because they only address the physical symptoms of insomnia without actually dealing with the root cause.
Our internal body clock, called the circadian rhythm, regulates our sleep-wake patterns. Going to bed and waking up at different times everyday confuses the body clock and contributes to insomnia and poor sleep quality. It creates a jet lag-like state called social jet lag. Shift workers are at particular risk of this. Irregular sleep times lead to issues with feeling heavy or foggy, getting sleepy at the wrong times, or feeling “wired but tired”. Realigning the body clock to ensure that it is on a regular schedule and aligned with our body’s “sleep drive” is a crucial step in restoring healthy sleep.
A “night owl” sleep pattern is a common sleep issue that is often misdiagnosed as insomnia. Around the time of puberty, melatonin secretion is delayed by 2 hours. DSPS causes an inability to fall asleep, but once asleep, people sleep well and tend to wake up too late. This explains why lots of teenagers and young adults have so much trouble getting to sleep on time and then getting up for class. Many people grow out of this as adults, but it may persist into adulthood. DSPS is often misdiagnosed as depression, ADHD, chronic fatigue syndrome, or fibromyalgia, and people may be prescribed medications unnecessarily.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). This is a condition that affects nearly 1 billion people worldwide. It’s estimated that in North America, up to 30% of males and up to 15% of females have OSA. It affects all genders, ages, and body types, from infants to the elderly. Signs and symptoms include snoring, waking up with dry mouth or a headache, restless sleep, teeth grinding, jaw clenching, mouth breathing, unrefreshing sleep, choking or gasping in sleep, and difficulty falling or staying asleep. Left untreated, OSA can cause long term sleep issues, difficulty losing weight, anxiety, depression, ADHD-like symptoms, and even cardiovascular issues like high blood pressure, heart disease, and increased risk of stroke.
At IntraBalance, we specialize in finding the root cause of your sleep problems and providing you with effective and personalized interventions to sleep better and wake up feeling refreshed.
If you want to learn more about how to optimize your sleep, get our FREE sleep guide.
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