Have you ever had the experience of sleeping for over eight hours and feeling tired and lethargic the next day? In fact it's just as bad as not having enough sleep isn't it? So what happened? You've had too much sleep. More exactly most of that sleep was probably light sleep. Yes you were asleep for a long time but the quality of your sleep was lacking. The deep sleep stage 4 which restores and revitalizes your body was absent. The body tries to achieve the rest it needs. If it can't find it in eight hours sleep, it will try for longer (if it's allowed to) If your sleep system is damaged, you will cycle between REM and the lighter stages of sleep, missing out on the deeper stages. This is one of the least understood aspects of insomnia. Most people think of insomnia as not being able to fall asleep, or not being able to stay asleep and that's quite true. But the inability to have quality sleep is just as debilitating. More so because it goes unrecognised. So how can we make sure the sleep we do get is quality sleep? We have to "reset" our body clock (circadian rhythm) If this is out of sync, we will continue to struggle through the day. Stress releases various hormones which can negatively impact on our sleep. Practice relaxation and your sleep quality will improve. Another important way to reset the circadian rhythm is to ensure we go to bed at the same time each night. This can be nearly impossible for shift workers and this is why many shift workers have such poor quality sleep. Bright Light Therapy (also called phototherapy). This can also help shift workers. It's very important for our eyes to absorb enough light when we wake up. Bright light therapy can replace natural sunlight for those doing shift work, or for those that live in countries with extremely short days in the winter. Bright light boxes can emit very bright light which causes the melatonin in the body to fall, thus making us feel wide awake and full of energy. It may be worth investing in one of these if you have to start your "day" in the middle of the night or even on dark overcast mornings. Having enough light in the mornings also elevates our core body temperature and even our moods. If you're lucky enough to live in a sunny climate, make sure you take advantage of this. Too much sleep as well as being potentially unhealthy is a big time waster. Improve the quality of your sleep to sleep better and have more time to yourself during the day. |
