Clicks BroNation: How to Create Healthy Sleep Habits

You know you function better after a good night’s sleep, but socialising until late in the festive season can bring it home with a vengeance, as you battle fatigue, lack of concentration and headaches. Keep it up, and lack of sleep can weaken your immune system, lower your sex drive and lead to weight gain.

“Many vital body processes take place while you sleep,” explains Durban clinical neuropsychologist Michelle Baker, chairperson of the Allied Group for the South African Society for Sleep Health (SASSH), and vice-chairperson of the South African Society of Sleep Health.

Sleep is when your body releases hormones such as testosterone and human growth hormone, which maintains bone and muscle, and renews organs like the skin, she says. It is also when your body clears potentially harmful metabolic or protein waste products from your brain, such as amyloid beta – which forms the plaques in Alzheimer’s disease. “Sleep refreshes your body and mind and helps you to function optimally.”

If that were not reason enough to get quality sleep, this year a study in the Quarterly Journal of Medicine, that followed 170,000 people for four years, found those with better sleep habits were more likely to live longer – women by on average 2.5 years, and men by nearly twice that, a whopping 4.7 years.

How can you create healthy sleep habits?

- Plan your day to get seven or eight hours of sleep, says Baker. “While that’s the ideal, some people are short sleepers who need just five or six hours, and others are long sleepers who require nine hours or more. The big thing is that you should wake feeling rested, restored, and alert.”

- Follow a routine. Go to bed and wake around the same time, even on weekends, she advises. Wind down each night with the likes of a warm shower and soothing music – it helps you relax and primes your body and mind for sleep. If work or an office party pushes back your bedtime, resume your routine as soon as possible.

- Eat for sleep. Avoid sugary foods or drinks before bed, which raise your blood sugar levels and can keep you awake, then drop them when you nod off, which may wake you. Avoid caffeine, a stimulant, from early afternoon, and limit alcohol to one glass a few nights a week. "It may relax you, but it’s been linked to poor quality sleep,” Baker says.

- Get regular exercise – a recent systematic review in the journal Cureus found it improves quality of sleep by increasing your production of melatonin, reducing stress, and helping to regulate your body temperature. However, exercise at least two hours before bed, or you may be too energised to sleep.

- Go dark. Your pineal gland, a tiny endocrine gland in the middle of your brain, helps regulate your body’s circadian rhythm by secreting the hormone melatonin when it’s dark. It senses light through special receptors in the backs of your eyes that don’t provide vision but dictate our circadian rhythms (even blind people have these). So, for quality sleep, dim your bedroom lights and electronic devices, which emit blue light, urges Baker. If light gets in from outside, wear an eye mask or get blackout curtains.

- Keep your cool. The ideal bedroom temperature for sleep is around 16-18ºC, she says. If you don’t have air conditioning, use a fan. Wear loose sleepwear and have light blankets handy.

- Keep your bedroom quiet. Use earplugs if necessary. Or try a sleep sounds app like BetterSleep or ShutEye (which also allows you to track your sleep cycle), or the free app Medito. It includes a sleep section with sounds, stories and meditations to help you drift off peacefully.

If you still struggle to sleep, speak to your health provider or a sleep specialist, says Baker. Visit the SASSH website, sassh.org.za, or email [email protected]

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