Healthy sleep is essential for overall wellness, but may be difficult for many of us to achieve. Insomnia is one of the most common sleep complaints, chronically affecting between 5-10% of Americans.

However, adequate sleep is essential for emotional and physical well being, while insomnia can adversely affect physical and mental health.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Working Group on Insomnia defines insomnia as an experience of inadequate or poor-quality sleep characterized by one or more of the following:

• Difficulty falling asleep
• Difficulty maintaining sleep
• Waking up too early in the morning
• Achieving poor quality sleep

The symptoms of insomnia also include daytime consequences such as tiredness, lack of energy, difficulty concentrating, or irritability.1

Many elements influence the quality of your nightly rest, including physical and mental factors, your lifestyle and your environment.

Whatever your situation, understanding the dynamics of sleep—and how your choices may impact your sleep quality—is the first step in consistently promoting your own healthy, restful sleep.

Why is getting sufficient sleep so important?

Proper sleep offers tremendous physical and mental advantages, and getting enough enables you to go through the necessary natural sleep cycles.

The average person spends between six and nine hours of sleep each night. A restful night includes four or five distinct sleep cycles-each of which last approximately 90 minutes. Each of these sleep cycles in turn has five stages, which include drowsiness, light sleep, two stages of deep sleep, and REM sleep.

The sleep pattern of a healthy adult includes about 25% deep sleep, 50% light sleep, and 25% REM. REM sleep—which stands for rapid eye movement—is the essential sleep cycle when dreaming occurs.

A healthy young adult has about two hours of REM sleep per night, which occurs mainly during the second half of the sleep period. The REM sleep cycle—which occurs between light and deep sleep—is essential for your well-being. Insufficient REM may leave you feeling irritable, vague and easily fatigued.

You may have experienced functioning less effectively when you are running on less sleep than you need. Deep sleep is fundamental to repairing daily wear and tear on the body and mind, and dreaming restores the efficiency of the brain.

What role does your environment play in your ability to achieve healthy sleep?

Your sleep environment can either discourage or promote restorative slumber. Some elements to consider include:

• Temperature and air quality — Avoid being either too warm or cold, and allow a little fresh air in to avoid a stuffy environment. Overly dry bedroom air can irritate the bronchial passages, causing you to wake up coughing.
• Light — Seek complete darkness for optimal rest.
• Sound — Though you may learn to drown out noise, silence is ideal for proper sleep.

• Comfort of mattress, bed and pillows — Avoid scratchy sheets, lumpy mattresses or other uncomfortable bedding

What are "Sleep Thieves?"

Sleep thieves-including caffeine, nicotine and alcohol-should be minimized to promote optimal rest.

• Caffeine — Caffeine belongs to a group of drugs called "methylxanthines," which affect the body in numerous ways. Caffeine operates as a stimulant by targeting the central nervous system and triggering the release of stress hormones.
  
  It remains in your body for hours after consumption and, if ingested over the course of the day, can have a cumulative affect, making it difficult to fall asleep and remain asleep. To ensure that caffeine does not disturb your sleep, it is best to avoid this stimulant for 10 hours before bedtime.

• Nicotine — This chemical, contained in tobacco products like cigarettes, also triggers the body's stress response, blocking your ability to get your required amount of deep sleep.
  
  Recent research from Penn State University has shown that smokers may take twice as long to fall asleep as non-smokers. However, within two nights after giving up nicotine, it took ex-smokers significantly less time to fall asleep-from an average of 52 minutes down to 18 minutes.

• Alcohol — While a single glass of wine may have a calming affect, a larger amount of alcohol can interfere with the quality of your sleep by reducing the amount of deep sleep and REM sleep you obtain.
  
  After consuming alcohol at night, you may wake up periodically feeling disoriented and restless. Scaling back on alcohol by switching to water or juice before the end of the evening will not only protect you against a "hung over" feeling, but will also promote better quality sleep.

How does food and water intake affect sleep?

Eating increases your metabolic rate and causes your body temperature to rise, which tends to energize you.

The ideal time for you to go to sleep is when your body temperature is dropping, a process that usually begins about an hour before your normal bedtime. Therefore, eating anything other than a light snack before bedtime can interfere with your sleep because the process of digestion takes considerable energy.

Ideally you would avoid heavy meals as much as possible—especially in the evening—focusing instead on eating smaller meals more often. This helps keep your metabolism on a more even keel.

If you eat a heavy meal or your nutrition is poor, you can suffer from heartburn, indigestion or other food-related discomforts that can adversely affect your sleep. Beware of food additives such as MSG, which may cause digestive upsets, headaches and other sleep-blocking discomforts.

Drinking enough water throughout the day is also essential, as dehydration can be a common cause of sleeplessness.

Many of us know the feeling of awaking lethargic and thirsty. Consuming enough water enables your body to function at optimal levels. This improves your overall health and well-being, which can have beneficial affects on your ability to sleep.

How does regular exercise promote restful sleep?

Exercise is particularly effective at helping to release tension, which promotes sound sleep. If you spend long periods in one position, tension builds up in your muscles. This leads to accumulated stress, which can leave you feeling restless and uneasy and can make it difficult to relax.

Regular aerobic exercise offers numerous benefits, not the least of which is more restful sleep.

However, exercise doesn't have to be vigorous to be beneficial. Walking three times per week for a minimum of twenty minutes can benefit health and improve sleep.

You may want to avoid vigorous exercise later in the evening as this can be stimulating and boost your body temperature.

Also, taking time for simple evening stretches—particularly targeting your neck and back where tension is often stored—can be very effective in promoting sound sleep.

How do sleep routines and rituals help?

Sleep is partly a learned behavior, so the conditions you associate with going to sleep can help you to drift off. Routines, such as brushing your teeth, washing your face, or doing some light reading can help build sleep associations and help you prepare for sleep.

If you still have difficulty relaxing and winding down for a good nights rest, you may wish to incorporate some additional pre-sleep rituals. Pre-sleep rituals—activities that help to empty your mind and soothe your spirit—can help prepare you for deep sleep.

You may find that a soothing bubble bath is a helpful nighttime ritual, or enjoying a relaxing cup of herbal tea. Experiment with other rituals to see what most soothes and relaxes you, and prepares you for restful and restorative slumber.

As you can see, healthy, rejuvenating sleep is a result of numerous factors, which include mental, physical and emotional components, as well as diet and lifestyle habits.

If you're getting short-changed in the sleep department and want to improve the situation, there are many effective steps you can take.

Try them one at a time to see which of these tools works best for you. Over time, as you incorporate more of the elements of restful sleep, you will find you feel more alert, healthy, energized and positive on a daily basis.

References

1 Roth, T. Diagnosis and management of insomnia. Clin Cornerstone 2000;2(5):28-38.