Sleep Tight

Few things are more important to our physical and emotional well-being than getting a good night’s sleep. For some of you, it’s as simple as turning off the lights, closing your eyes and – voila! – off you go to that mystical place of slumber. But for others, getting a good night’s sleep becomes an impossible dream as it turns into a frustrating and dreaded nightly challenge.

I started thinking about this nightly human experience when I watched a TV interview with Dr. Carol Ash, director of sleep medicine at Meridian Health. According to Dr. Ash, the lack of a good night’s sleep leads to all sorts of mood and performance issues during the day.

This begs the question: How many hours of sleep do we need to physically and mentally function properly? Even though this varies from person to person, the Mayo Clinic offers the following guidelines for the average recommended amount of sleep by age group:

• Infants: 9-10 hours at night plus 3 or more hours of naps
• Toddlers: 9-10 hours at night plus 2-3 hours of naps
• School-age children: 9-11 hours
• Adults: 7-8 hours

So today I thought I‘d give you all a simple quiz about sleep:

1. What is the ideal sleep position for optimal sleep?
Even though we move about quite a bit at night, research shows that sleeping on your back provides the most benefit, including preventing neck and back pain, reducing acid reflux, minimizing wrinkles and even avoiding saggy breasts.

2. What is the ideal room temperature range for optimal sleep?
We rest most comfortably in a room set to between 60 and 69 degrees. According to the National Sleep Foundation, anything above 75 or below 54 will cause disrupted sleep. The reality is that you tend to feel sleepier as your body temperature drops.

3. Does exercising before bed help you to get a good night’s sleep?
Generally speaking, exercise is great for sleep. However, it’s not good to do it right before bed. Exercise stimulates your heart, brain and muscles, and raises your body temperature, making it more difficult to fall asleep. The rule of thumb is to not exercise vigorously within three hours of going to bed.

4. Does getting too little or disrupted sleep have any effect on your overall physical health?
As Dr. Ash puts it: Poor sleep can cause cardiovascular disease such as hypertension, coronary artery disease and heart attacks. It can also cause you to have difficulty with obesity, can cause insulin resistance in diabetes and can accelerate the aging process.

5. Does everyone dream?
Even though many people have no recollection, we all dream every night. Dreaming plays a key role in being able to function well – emotionally and physically – during our waking hours. After falling asleep, we have a dream about every 90 minutes. This is called REM sleep, and these episodes last between 5-45 minutes each. In a typical 8 hours of sleep, we spend about an hour and a half dreaming.

The message here is simple: A good night’s sleep is critical for your physical health and emotional well-being.

Sleep tight everyone and pleasant dreams!

Wishing You Great Health,
Dr. John H. Sklare