Are you sleeping well...and enough? (Rule #5)

Many years of research have gone into understanding why we sleep and how much is enough - the verdict?  We still don't know.  But, most experts agree that sleeping between 7 and 9 hours each night is imperative to keep your body functioning at optimum levels and ward off chronic disease. And the purpose, outside of providing the body time to regenerate and recover from the day?  In a recent National Geograpic article, Giulio Tononi from the University of Wisconsin noted that "the sleeping brain seems to weed out redundant or unnecessary synapses or connections. So the purpose of sleep may be to help us remember what's important, by letting us forget what's not."

If you feel that your stuggle to get a good nights sleep is an issue that few deal with, think again.  National Geographic also reports that fifty to 75 million Americans, roughly a fifth of the population, complain about problems sleeping. Fifty-six million prescriptions for sleeping pills were written in 2008, up 54 percent over the previous four years. and the article also places the direct medical cost of our collective sleep debt at tens of billions of dollars. The loss in terms of work productivity are even higher.

So what are the ramifications of not getting enough sleep?

Research presented in the Washington Post states that failing to get enough sleep or sleeping at odd hours heightens the risk for a variety of major illnesses, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity...The analysis of a nationally representative sample of nearly 10,000 adults found that those between the ages of 32 and 49 who sleep less than seven hours a night are significantly more likely to be obese.  A study done at the Harvard University over a ten year period on 70,000 women concluded that sleeping six hours a night was associated with a 18 per cent greater risk of heart attack, and sleeping five hours a night was associated with a risk of almost 40 per cent.
The Gallup Organization also rates sleep as one of the neccessities to keep a clear head and be productive throughout the day, it is like your daily reset button!  "Lack of sleep disrupts every physiologic function in the body," said Eve Van Cauter of the University of Chicago. "We have nothing in our biology that allows us to adapt to this behavior." 

So, what can you do to improve your sleep habits?

1. Make sleep a priority, focus on going to bed and getting up at the same time each day.
2. Exercise, but not within 4 hours of bedtime. I find that even 20 to 30 minutes of vigorous exercise early in the day improves sleep.
3. Sleep in a dark room and expose yourself to sun light or full spectrum indoor light during the day , click here to learn more about melatonin .
4. Reduce stress and anxiety before you go to bed in order to slow brainwaves: Write down pressing thoughts, resolve issues, take a warm bath then stretch, foam roll or meditate.
5. Have a snack before bed, experts suggest that dairy products (which contain tryptophan) and whole grains are a great option.  I like a bowl of Rice Crunch-ems cereal an hour before bedtime. 
6. You spend a third of your life in bed, find a bed you love.  I sleep on a Tempurpedic Classic, and have literally never slept better and wake feeling more refreshed than I have with any other bed.