Could Your Sleep Actually Be Hurting You?

Do you ever wake up feeling tired and sluggish for the rest of the day? When I do, I promise myself I will go to bed early but find myself too busy in the evening and staying up again. I end up sleeping less than I should resulting in the opposite of what I really need the next day: a good night’s rest so that I have lots of energy.

An April 9th Time magazine article highlighted the overwhelming evidence of the importance of sleep to every aspect of health. When tired, people are less likely to exercise and consume more caffeine and high-sugar/high-fat foods in an attempt to feel more energetic. Sleeplessness decreases one’s ability to concentrate, making work performance suffer.

New research shows that sleep loss increases hunger and negatively affects metabolism, immune system, and hormone balance. Chronic sleep loss is directly linked to weight gain, heart disease, arrhythmias, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. A recent study published in the medical journal SLEEP found a link between poor sleep quality and both ADHD and cognitive decline in all ages. Another study showed that sleep is essential in early childhood development, learning, and for the formation and retention of memories. Sleep is just as important to your well-being as a healthy diet and regular exercise.

Sleep Quantity and Quality Both Matter

The duration of sleep needed differs for each person. Some people require 8 hours each night, while others function well on 6 hours. The quality of sleep, defined as DEEP sleep, is also critical for optimal brain and body functioning. If a man goes to sleep when his body is overtired, he will miss out on critical deep sleep time.

All too often, sleep is sacrificed since the lack of it is not considered life threatening. Over time, though, chronic sleep loss can have serious consequences. The critical piece to improving one’s sleep quality is to recognize what the need is and how to make the effective change. In my life, I have found that by creating a relaxing ritual each evening, I ensure getting enough sleep. Not only do I feel better and more energetic, I feel younger. The next time you are cutting your sleep short, consider how your body may be hurting.

As you think about improving your sleep quality, try to determine realistic and effective changes. Here are some quick tips to improve your sleep:

  • Exercise every day, but not within 3 hours of bedtime. Intense activity at night may cause you to become too wired to fall asleep easily.

  • Try relaxing teas like Chamomile, Lemon Balm, and Valerian in the evening.

  • Avoid eating a big dinner a few hours before bedtime. While you may easily fall asleep, you may not sleep restfully. The same effect may also be true for using tobacco, alcohol, and caffeine just before bedtime.

The Most Common Causes of Sleep Problems Include:

  1. Pain, Trouble Breathing, Frequent Urination, and Other Chronic Medical Conditions

Acute — and more frequently, chronic and prolonged pain — is one of the primary physical reasons why many people lose sleep for extended periods of time. Medical conditions that cause physical discomfort in sleeping positions, the inability to breathe, or frequent nighttime urination wreak havoc on normal sleep patterns.

2. Medications

Medications containing caffeine (i.e., decongestants, weight loss products), painkillers, allergy medications, mood stabilizers, stimulants (i.e., ADHD meds), and medication for high blood pressure and other heart conditions can cause insomnia as a common but unpleasant side effect.

3. Caffeine, Nicotine, and Alcohol

Caffeine and nicotine are stimulants which remain in the bloodstream for a minimum of 14 hours to over 21 + hours.  Great quality sleep is often difficult to acquire for those regularly consuming caffeinated products (i.e., coffee, decaf, green tea, chai, soda, energy drinks, chocolate, hot chocolate) and/or nicotine.

Alcohol is initially a sedative.  It subsequently interrupts deep sleep and causes restlessness and frequent awakenings, especially during the second half of the night.

4. Depression

A deep emotional trauma, the loss of a partner, economic and financial problems, health worries, or other serious life crises are well-known to cause prolonged sleep disturbances and inability to sufficiently rest. Various mood disorders, such as bipolar depression, also present themselves cyclically, with recurring periods of overstimulation and wakefulness.

5. Anxiety

Chronic stress is affecting the vast majority of our modern society and manifests either as constant, ongoing anxiety or the inability to wind down at night. This is often a result of an overstimulated and overextended lifestyle, the lack of pre-planned time for mental relaxation during the daytime, or improper daily planning.  It leads to an increasing feeling of anxiety which often presents at the first quiet time of the day (a.k.a, at bedtime).  Learning how to reduce stress is one way to help with anxiety, and your primary care physician can help by assessing what is causing stress in your life.

6. Poor Bedtime Habits

An irregular bedtime schedule, prolonged naps during the day, and electronic exposure (i.e., TV, computer, smartphone, Kindle, IPad) at night is incredibly disruptive for creating regular cycles of wakefulness and sleep.  Our brain begins to misinterpret nighttime for daytime. 

7. An Uncomfortable Bed or Unsafe Sleeping Arrangements

8. Frequent Changes in Sleep Schedule

Shift work is notorious for causing disruptive patterns, hormonal imbalances, and other unfavorable chemical changes within the body. Never being able to adapt completely to these frequent modifications of one's natural bodily cycles, homeostasis is completely interrupted, and the body and brain are confused. This leads to the inability to keep a healthy sleep schedule and get the required hours of sleep needed for optimal health.

9. Dietary Habits

Whether it's too much, too little, or too spicy, food is another significant cause that leads to many waking hours at night. Dietary choices can cause uncomfortable physical sensations, wakefulness, or the inability to rest comfortably for long periods of time.

10. Aging

As a result of various hormonal and other biochemical changes, insomnia generally tends to get worse with aging, especially over the age of 60. Urinary frequency or other bothersome physical symptoms are also likely to increase at this age, leading to many interruptions of the normal sleep pattern every night.

11. Genetics

Sleep problems can be aggravated by hereditary factors such as those who predisposed to experience an increased level of stress reactivity, frequent wakefulness and insomnia. Circadian genes — responsible for setting our internal biological processes, including sleep cycle — can also vary for each individual, causing great differences between people's unique sleep patterns.

Treatment Options for the Most Common Causes of Sleep Problems

Regardless of the origin of your sleeplessness, the implementation of all treatment plans offered by integrative medicine always begins with a thorough evaluation of your overall health and medical history.

All common causes of sleep problems can be effectively managed by developing a comprehensive, holistic, and custom-made strategy that addresses lifestyle factors and existing chronic health problems. An integrative health approach finds alternative prescription medications, reinforces mental and emotional well-being with the help of various mind-body medicine methods, and focuses on making conscious choices to restore the optimal working of your body, regardless of stressful life circumstances and other, diverse causes of insomnia.

Contact Dr. Payal Bhandari, M.D. to help answer your questions about poor sleep, chronic fatigue, and/or adrenal disorders. Chronic fatigue can be improved through aggressive lifestyle counseling focused on nutrition, physical activity, sleep and stress management. Dr. Bhandari is an integrative functional medicine physician who specializes in chronic illness. She can help you define a personalized treatment which will quickly drive positive results, improving your daily and long-term wellness.

AUTHOR

Dr. Payal Bhandari M.D. is one of U.S.'s top leading integrative functional medical physicians and the founder of SF Advanced Health. She combines the best in Eastern and Western Medicine to understand the root causes of diseases and provide patients with personalized treatment plans that quickly deliver effective results. Dr. Bhandari specializes in cell function to understand how the whole body works. Dr. Bhandari received her Bachelor of Arts degree in biology in 1997 and Doctor of Medicine degree in 2001 from West Virginia University. She the completed her Family Medicine residency in 2004 from the University of Massachusetts and joined a family medicine practice in 2005 which was eventually nationally recognized as San Francisco’s 1st patient-centered medical home. To learn more, go to www.sfadvancedhealth.com.