Smarter Sleeping 101

Archive for April, 2008

With Obama and Clinton campaigning at a blistering pace, seemingly nonstop state to state, one must wonder where they fit in their shut-eye. Turns out, sometimes they don’t…and sometimes they use that as an excuse for their slips of the lip.

“Research shows that being sleep-deprived can knock down your inhibitions — and take down your good judgment — as effectively as if you were drunk.

So, as Democratic senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continue their protracted battle for the U.S. presidential nomination, they’re also fighting fatigue and their own wayward tongues.

Do voters benefit when carefully rehearsed, ambitious leaders are simply too tired to successfully hide their true feelings?”

Check out the rest of the story from the Ottawa Citizen here: Sleepless On The Campaign Trail.

What do you think? Are you sympathetic of their exhausting schedules or is that no excuse for speaking incorrectly or falsely?

I just stumbled upon this item from The Times Online profiling three successful individuals who get 5 hours of sleep or less a night.  How do they do it?  Read below.  Then pick up some tips on sleeping like a pro here.  How much sleep do you get each night?  If it’s less than 8, are you able to function normally?

HOWARD BENTHAM, 42, is the presenter of BBC Hereford and Worcester’s breakfast radio show. He lives in the Cotswolds with his wife and three children aged 7, 14 and 18. He gets 4 hours’ sleep a night.

I have been presenting breakfast shows for seven years. I was a primary school teacher before doing radio and never got out of the student thing of going to bed at midnight or 1am and getting up at the last possible minute before work.

That had to change virtually overnight. My daughter, Molly, now 7, was born the week I started my first breakfast job. Thankfully, she proved not to be a baby that woke up a lot and my wife, Gail, took care of that side of things.

Now my day runs like clockwork. I’m up at 3.15am. Often I anticipate the alarm and only occasionally am I shocked awake from a deep sleep by it ringing. I have a 30-minute drive to work and am in the studios researching the items to be featured on the programme by 4.30am. My show is on air 6-9am and I often have meetings after that.

I once played sport to a high level, but now find I have little time for exercise other than the odd round of golf and cricket in the summer. Despite the way I live my life, the astounding thing is that I no longer feel as if I’m getting tired.

I still teach three afternoons a week and on those days I have an energy dip between 4.30 and 5.30pm so I frequently have a power nap. Even then, I never shut my eyes for more than 20 minutes and have mastered the art of micro-sleeping where I am unconscious for just 2-3 minutes but wake up feeling completely refreshed.”

Professor Horne says: Successful people who enjoy life and are on top of their jobs tend to sleep less.However, the 4-hour sleep that Howard gets is just about the tolerable limit long term.

MARK PERRY, 39, runs a deli and coffee shop, Delizioso, in Cookham, Berkshire. He lives in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, and has three children aged 14, 12 and 2. He gets between 4 and 4 3/4 hours’ sleep a night.

I worked on the London Underground for eight years, four of those as a driver on a Tube train, and my shifts changed my sleeping patterns for good. Before I did that job I had pretty regular seven to eight-hour nights. Now I often sleep for just four hours and the most I get is five.

At weekends, when I have the chance to lie in a little longer, my body clock won’t allow it. I’m still awake at 5am, no matter what time I go to bed. Whenever I sleep an extra hour or two, which is rare, I feel awful all day. It’s like I have a hangover that I can’t shake off. When I first opened the deli in 2005 I was working extremely long hours - we were open until 9pm - and that did start to affect me. My wife and I also had a baby the following year and he contributed to my tiredness with his night-time waking routine. I tried going to bed earlier, but even then I would wake up, staring at the ceiling, at 2 or 3am, which seemed pointless. Now I work fewer hours and the sleep I get seems to suit me.

The shop now closes at 4.30pm and after that I have to rush around getting the vegetables and other fresh stock for the next day as well as doing the banking and accounts. In the evenings I relax by playing my guitar - I’m in a band and often play with them until midnight before making my way home and crashing into bed. I am also sure yoga helps me to relax - I attend a class twice a week and always come out feeling as if any tensions have lifted.

If I get a tired patch during the day it is usually between 10 and 11am. I drink coffee to keep me going, although I don’t get through anywhere near as much as when I was driving trains, which could be as much as 15 cups a day. I never take naps during the week, but will do occasionally at weekends. They are never longer than 5-10 minutes.

Even if I don’t get round to it because I am rushing around with the kids, it doesn’t make any difference. I set my alarm but am always awake before it is due to go off at 5am.

Professor Horne says: A driven man, Mark should cut back on the coffee he relies on for a perk as it is no substitute for sleep. And he should try to get at least one short nap every day - napping is as good as yoga for revitalising the body and mind, if not better.

KYLE CATHIE, 59, is managing director of the book publishing company Kyle Cathie. She has three grown-up children and lives in London. Kyle gets four hours’ sleep a night.

I am sure I inherited my sleep patterns from my mother. I recall hearing her up at 2 to 3am when I was young and, although my three siblings and three children sleep regularly, I am similar to my mother. I go to bed at midnight and usually wake up at 4am, feeling fine and itching to get going with the day.

I drink lots of coffee, then do the washing or other household chores and check my e-mails. Just before 7am I’ll have a bath, which is my relaxation, and then I head for work at 7.45am.

I eat extremely healthily and get exercise from walking. I have two of my children popping in regularly for meals and a chat. My life is busy. At 2pm every day I hit a tired patch. It just happens and, wham, my energy goes down.

I never sleep at work, but on Fridays and weekends when I’m not in the office I succumb to this tiredness and shut my eyes for 15 minutes. That is usually sufficient. My daughter sometimes sleeps until 1pm because she needs it. I don’t. I have no problem nodding off. I don’t need sleep aids. I sometimes read in the bathroom before going to sleep because it relaxes me a bit. But then I hit the pillow and I am off.”

Professor Horne says: Older people can generally get by with less sleep. Kyle is probably a naturally short sleeper but still needs a nap and I recommend that she does that regularly. But she shouldn’t overdo the caffeine in the morning.

This week’s Insomnia Story comes from The Observer.  The subject is a young girl named Elsa with major sleeping problems.  At only 13 she suffers from chronic insomnia.  Read the excerpt below and find the rest here:

“It’s 7.20am. I’m under the duvet, my eyes in some sort of trance between open and closed. I’m sort of suffocating, actually; there are only so many times you can recycle air while you have a duvet over your head. I know that the minute I pull it back I have given in. It will be my way of saying: ‘Fine. You win. I’ll get up. I’ll accept that I have had a maximum of… no sleep.’ I pull back the duvet. I use all my remaining will to push myself up on my feet. Where I’m going to find some more strength to get me through the day is a mystery.”

 Found this list over at the Sleep Aid Center.  You’ll have to visit them to read the rest.  Most of the foods below are listed for their tryptophan content, which is a key ingredient in the SleepSmart complex.  Do these foods work for you?

1. Warm milk. It is not a myth. Milk has some tryptophan - an amino acid that has a sedative-like effect - and calcium, which helps the brain use tryptophan. In addition, there is the psychological throwback to infancy, when a warm bottle meant, “relax, everything’s fine.”

2. Turkey. Turkey contains tryptophan. To get the most from the tryptophan in turkey, eat a slice of white turkey meat on a slice of whole-wheat bread in the middle of the evening.

3. Honey. Drizzle a little in your warm milk or herb tea. Lots of sugar is stimulating, but a little glucose tells your brain to turn off orexin, a recently discovered neurotransmitter that’s linked to alertness.

4. Oatmeal. Oats are a rich source of sleep - inviting melatonin, and a small bowl of warm cereal with a splash of maple syrup is cozy - and if you have the munchies, it is filling too.

5. Potatoes. Eating a little baked potato or a small serving of mashed or roasted potatoes will clear your body of acids that can block the effects of tryptophan.

6. Almonds. A handful of these heart-healthy nuts can be snooze inducing, as they contain both tryptophan and a nice dose of muscle-relaxing magnesium.

7. Whole-wheat bread. A piece of toast with your tea and honey will release insulin, which helps tryptophan get to your brain, where it’s converted to serotonin and quietly murmurs “time to sleep.”

This week’s Insomnia Story comes from Jenny Lim of islandpacket.com.  Jenny took the Great American Sleep Challenge and discovered that she was in need of serious sleep help.  Check out the excerpt and read the rest here:

“My lack of sleep is frequently the result of my own choices, most of which revolve around my love of to-do lists, or more specifically, my love of checking stuff off my to-do list. I’ll stay up late for the bizarre joy of knowing I’ve finished all the laundry. I’ll get up early for the freakish satisfaction of thinking I didn’t waste over-ripe bananas because I was able to bake them into a loaf of freshly made banana bread. (Sometimes, I’ll write down tasks I’ve finished, just so I can check them off. Yes, I’m that girl.)”