Getting a good night sleep gets difficult as you get older, but having a bad sleep rhythm can affect your immune system. Sleep helps our tissues to heal, it helps us to reduce pain, and even depression and anxiety. It also helps to improve your heart health and your brain function. Research has shown that you’re more likely to develop certain types of chronic or systemic diseases if you don’t sleep well consistently.
The best way you can secure a good night sleep is by following the circadian rhythm, which is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats every 24 hours. These are body cycles that run in the background and they make sure that all of the important subconscious body functions happen regularly, at the right time and at the right place. One of the really important ones is called your sleep wake cycle. Our systems evolved so that we would be most alert and functional during the time in the day where there’s the most light. Miriam McLean, a registered physiotherapist at Physiohaus Health and Wellness, explains this.
“When the circadian rhythm is working properly, we tend to have the deepest part of our sleep at around 2am and we’re the most alert around 10am. So, right when you’re having that 10am coffee, that’s when you’re the most alert and ready to work, we have the best coordination and fastest reaction time in the afternoon. We start to have more melatonin, or the sleep hormone running through our systems at around 9pm.”
You can probably recognize, you feel pretty ready to go for work at 10am and then things start to wind down in the evening, and you’re just not quite as ready to sit at the computer and get things done.
“The schedule doesn’t apply to everyone, for example, individuals who work shift work, will have shifts in their sleep wake cycle, but it gives you the general idea. Basically, when this rhythm is off, our systems are just generally less efficient, and we don’t function at our best.”
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People often wonder if the position you sleep in, affects the quality of sleep you get, however, it doesn’t make a difference. There’s no certain way that will apply to everybody. What really matters is how long you sleep and how well you sleep.
“It really will vary from person to person, but when we’re talking on how well you sleep, that’s where sleep hygiene comes into play. So sleep hygiene is not about how clean you are. It’s actually a focus on your habits and your routines that can help to give you the best night’s sleep. Sleep research has shown us that people who have better sleep hygiene habits, have better quality sleep. They also tend to have less pain and fatigue.” Said McLean.
Some tips for improving your sleep hygiene are:
- Sticking to a consistent sleep schedule, which means going to bed roughly at the same time every night and waking up around the same time every morning.
- Have a relaxing night time ritual
- Avoid naps throughout your day
- Sleep in a comfortable room in bed (Right room temperature for you, no bright lights, etc.)
- Avoid alcohol/cigarettes’ right before bed
- Don’t let your phone be the last thing you do before going to bed
The most important pieces for you to have the best sleep is making sure you’re getting enough sleep because it’s more than you might think. Also, making sure you’ve got really good sleep habits that allow you to sleep well and long enough.
