Over the last few weeks, my sleep patterns have grown sloppier. My sleep quality is still high; however, I have not slept an adequate number of hours. In the last two weeks, I had two days in which I slept less than 7 hours. One day, I could not sleep because I was too excited to sleep.
Sleep is an essential function of our body. Lack of sleep causes both short-term and long-term consequences. According to Harvard Medical school (n.d.), lack of sleep affects our judgment, mood, ability to learn or retain information, resulting in an accident. In the long term, inadequate sleep can cause weight problems and many other health risks such as high blood pressure, impaired control of blood glucose, and inflammation (para. 2 – 4). Researchers are discovering that REM sleep has a critical role in the body and cognitive functions. Insufficient REM sleep also increased the risk of death. The study found that for every 5% reduction of REM sleep, there is a corresponding 13% to 17% increase in death rates among middle-aged men (NHLBI, n.d.). Short REM sleeps also impacts our memory because it has a critical role in memory and homeostasis (Watson & Busaki, 2015, p. 68). So, sleep has a vital function in our lives in many ways.
If I maintain my sleep habit, I will continue to have weight problems and increased health risks. As I recognize the importance of having adequate sleep duration and quality, I decided to implement changes to improve my sleeping to have 8 hours of high-quality sleep.
Causes of Problem
The cause of my sleeping problem is that I go to bed at an inconsistent time. I am too excited to sleep most days because I read books, play the piano, learn, or write near bedtime. I don’t feel like sleeping. So, I end up going to bed later than I should. An irregular sleep schedule decreases the quality and duration of sleep. According to Kang and Chen (2009), irregular sleep can affect sleep duration and sleep quality. In the study, there were 160 students divided into three groups by frequency of irregular bedtime and had their sleep time, and quality of sleep monitored. The group with higher inconsistent bedtime schedule frequency had a shorter average sleep duration with lower sleep quality compared to the low-frequency group. Homeostasis and circadian rhythm affect the quality of our sleep. Circadian rhythm is like our biological clock. An irregular schedule confuses our bodies. So, even a day of altered sleep schedule results in a significant decrease in sleep quality. Two hours of alteration of sleep schedule decreases cognitive and psychological function even with the same sleep duration (p.2). My sleep schedule has been irregular, so my circadian rhythm is messed up. My sleep duration has been shorter than when I followed a strict sleep schedule, and I have days with poor sleep quality. So, I must set a regular sleep schedule to improve my sleep quality.
Solutions
From my research, I learned to set a body clock to tackle my sleep problems. The primary correction I need to make is to have a rigid sleeping schedule. As I identified earlier, I am more likely to engage in too much mental or physical activities too close to my bedtime. I may need to stop doing all such activities for 60 minutes before going to bed. I may need to shift my workout time or learn in the morning.
Mental stress can disrupt our sleeping schedule. Mental stress can be caused by high fatigue, disturbed mood, and reduced quality of life, which could be ameliorated with mindful activities such as meditation (Black, O’Reilly, Olmstead, Breen, & Irwin, 2015). I do a 2- minute breathing exercise; however, it may be time to extend to 5 minutes – eventually 20 minutes per session.
I also need to use glasses that block blue light while I am using a computer. I engage in activities that use a computer for over 10 hours, which is most likely one of the causes of mental fatigue. Fortunately, I already have a pair of glasses I purchased a few years ago, so I need to start using them again.
Finally, I am considering wearing a black eye mask. My husband sometimes goes to bed later than I would like to. I wake with the light. My eye mask should block out any light that makes me wake.
Preparation
I put to sleep an absolute priority than anything else. First, I need to tweak my schedule. I want to maintain a healthy lifestyle, so I prioritize exercising and eating highly. I blocked off these activities from my schedule completely. I will be home by 5:30, so I have only 90 minutes before 8 pm. If I schedule blogging and practicing piano, I will use up the remaining 90 minutes. I could utilize my morning for learning and reading or my continuing education curriculum, which allows me to stop reading or writing by 8:00. The new schedule will allow me to have a strict sleeping time. My weekend will be busy, but I would rather be healthy and productive than sick or tired.
Focuses
- Stop any high energetic activities by 8 pm.
- Stop drinking or eating by 7:30 pm.
- Sleep duration: 9:00 pm. to 5:30 am.
In addition, I am considering the following changes to improve my sleep quality. For example, I increase pre-bedtime meditation time to 5 minutes which I will save on my Kindle Fire. I also prepared a black eye mask for sleeping, which should help me with light problems. I also purchased a good-quality pillow. Better mattresses and pillows impact sleep quality significantly (Jacobson, Boolani, Dunklee, Shepardson & Achara, 20210). Finally, I will keep the pair of eyeglasses to block blue light in my office.
Monitoring
I use my Fitbit to monitor my sleep duration and quality because it logs when I went to bed and got out of bed. I can set the alarm. This time, I decided to introduce consequences for not following my new sleeping schedule to be painful for me. I will give three audible credits to my husband from my book allowance every three times I did not go to bed on time. I love reading books, so this will be a significant punishment for me. Every week, I will check my progress and make corrections so it works better for me.
Discussion
I am desperate to correct my sleep situation because it will impact my cognitive skills and my health. Unfortunately, it will take some time to fix. I should accept that it was my fault for not working on it fast enough, and I will never repeat the same mistake.
References
Black, D. S., O’Reilly, G. A., Olmstead, R., Breen, E. C., & Irwin, M. R. (2015). Mindfulness Meditation and Improvement in Sleep Quality and Daytime Impairment Among Older Adults With Sleep Disturbances: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Internal Medicine, 175(4), 494. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.8081
Harvard Medical School (n.d.). Consequences of Insufficient Sleep.https://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/consequences
Jacobson, B. H., Boolani, A., Dunklee, G., Shepardson, A., & Acharya, H. (2010). Effect of prescribed sleep surfaces on back pain and sleep quality in patients diagnosed with low back and shoulder pain. Applied Ergonomics, 42(1), 91–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2010.05.004
Kang, J.-H., & Chen, S.-C. (2009). Effects of an irregular bedtime schedule on sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and fatigue among university students in Taiwan. BMC Public Health, 9, 248. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-9-248
Study links poor dream-stage REM sleep to a higher risk of death | NHLBI, NIH. (n.d.). Retrieved July 13, 2021, from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/news/2020/study-links-poor-dream-stage-rem-sleep-higher-risk-death
Watson, B. O., &Buzsáki, G. (2015). Sleep, Memory & Brain Rhythms. Daedalus, 144(1), 67–82.