from some of the bad or stressful things we’ve done to ourselves.
Electroencephalogram (EEG) studies have shown that brain activity during sleep is either present as normal brain waves or is being disrupted throughout the night. A normal eight-hour sleep pattern consists of five main stages of sleep, each characterized by different brain waves. Periods of rapid eye movement known as REM sleep are interspersed with quieter periods called non-REM sleep stages. About 25 percent of the night is spent in REM, and someone who spends eight hours sleeping will typically go through all five stages four or five times. The stages are:
Stage I: Fleeting thoughts enter one’s mind but the brain waves become smaller. This is sometimes called “dozing,” in which breathing is slower and more regular, the mind wanders, and pulse rate decreases. Stage I only lasts for a few minutes.
Stage II: Brain waves become larger and slower during this period, which lasts about fifteen to twenty minutes. There are sudden bursts of electrical activity. Eyes do not move and are not responsive. There is very little muscular activity.
Stage III: Brain waves slow significantly but are larger than in stage II. This stage is sometimes known as “Slow Wave Sleep.” Sleep here is deep and restful and lasts about 30 minutes. The body is very relaxed, breathing slows, and heart rate decreases.
Stage IV: As one reaches this final stage of non-REM sleep, there is deep relaxation. In fact, muscles are so relaxed that the body is essentially paralyzed. However, pulse and breathing rate quickens and blood flow increases.
REM: Brain waves speed up to the same pattern seen when the person is awake. It is during this period that one experiences the greatest amount of dreaming. Lasting anywhere from a few minutes to almost an hour, the total muscle relaxation during REM normally prevents one from acting out the dream.
The latest research suggests that for adults seven hours is the minimum amount of sleep needed to keep the mind-body connection working at its best. Studies have found that people who sleep an average of eight hours a night live longer than people who don’t sleep as well; and those suffering from sleep disorders like insomnia, or who have disrupted sleep patterns, are at greater risk for chronic illness. Shift workers, for example, sleep less on average than non-shift workers and, because their sleep patterns are fragmented, are never able to recover from the day’s work.
Although we don’t sleep as much at fifty as we did at twenty, it’s not true that we require less sleep as we get older. Sleep patterns need to be consistent for us to maintain good health. But it’s not always easy to maintain good sleep habits as we age because our minds and our bodies change. Older individuals don’t make brain chemicals in the same amounts as do younger individuals, and the brain doesn’t respond to those chemicals as effectively. As we age, we also have more things on our minds, we get stressed out by more complex issues, we become depressed more often and, as a result, the quality of our sleep suffers.
Inability to sleep may be a symptom of a more serious physical or emotional problem. So if the suggestions in this section don’t work for you, you probably need to consult a physician to determine if there’s a more serious underlying issue. Disrupted sleep patterns are often caused by physical ailments, chemical imbalances, or mental health problems such as depression. The three main categories of sleep disorders are:
Parasomnia: These are abnormal behaviors during sleep like talking, walking, grinding teeth, etc. In these cases, the skeletal muscles are not fully relaxed. The problem is usually physical, but there may be some underlying psychological problem involved as well.
Insomnia: This is inability to fall asleep or having shortened sleep periods. As many as 30 percent of adults have this common sleep disorder, which is caused by a variety of factors such as stress, depression, drug use, lifestyle, or poor nighttime habits.
Hypersomnia: The opposite of insomnia, hypersomnia is excessive sleep. An individual may sleep for more than twelve hours and also take naps. The cause may be either physiological or psychological. Depression, for example, may cause a person to want to escape from reality or to avoid situations by sleeping as much as possible.
Maintaining good health doesn’t only include nutrition and exercise. Normal sleep patterns are critical for both physical and mental health. The worst thing you can do is sleep a full eight hours one night and then six another, or go to bed at ten o’clock on Monday night and after midnight on Tuesday. All you’re doing is continually resetting your biological clock and falling into a pattern of insomnia. The best way to get back on track is not by taking sleeping pills but by changing your sleep-related habits and behaviors. Here are some of the suggestions that have helped people break their disruptive nighttime habits and get back into a healthy sleep pattern. Within weeks, you’ll not only feel more energized but you’ll be reversing the wear and tear your body has gone through because of poor sleep.
• Maintain a regular sleep schedule.
We all have a finely tuned biological clock that helps us sleep and wake up. Whenever we disrupt that clock by continually changing it, we set ourselves up for sleepless nights and chronic fatigue. It then takes a while for our brain to readjust and reset. To avoid creeping insomnia, develop a routine so that your body knows when it’s time to transition from being awake to sleep.
• Don’t try to catch up too much on weekends.
Many of us do it: stay up late on Friday and Saturday and sleep in too late on Saturday and Sunday morning. The problem with that is that our internal clock readjusts itself by Sunday evening and we’re back to tossing and turning when we go to bed. So even if you stay up late on weekends, force yourself to get up not more than an hour later than you normally do.
• Avoid caffeine at night, especially before bed.
Coffee and energy drinks are big culprits, but be aware of other products that contain caffeine as well. Soft drinks, chocolate, and certain medications may contain just enough to keep you awake, especially if you consume too much of them. A good rule of thumb is to avoid caffeine at least four hours before bed.
• Don’t get over stimulated before bedtime.
Using your mind and thinking too much right before bed will often stimulate rather than tire you out. The brain needs to know when it’s time for sleep, and clearing the mind of distractions helps maintain that sensitive internal biological clock. If you find that watching TV or reading a thriller before bed keeps you up, change your habits by relaxing and reading something less exciting.
• Drink warm milk before bed.
Milk contains tryptophan, an amino acid that’s converted to serotonin, which induces sleep. If you’re hungry, you might want to add some protein powder to the milk. Avoid simple carbohydrates, as these spike your insulin levels and disrupt normal sleep patterns.
• Avoid alcohol at night.
Because alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, a few drinks can make you sleepy. However, while alcohol initially causes you to become tired, sleep will not last more than a few hours because alcohol disrupts normal sleep cycles. Furthermore, people who depend on a drink every evening condition themselves to become dependent on alcohol in order to fall asleep.
• Don’t exercise late in the evening.
Exercise not only increases heart rate, blood pressure, and blood flow to the brain, it also triggers a surge of other
