Sleep.How

This site is supported by our readers. We earn a commission through some of our links. Learn more.

Exercise and Sleep: How to Get the Best Rest

Posted on Leave a Comment

Happy friends exercising by running together outdoors living active healthy lifestyle

It is no secret that rest and regular exercise are both critical to overall health and wellness. But can you have one without the other? The simple answer is, not for long.

You’re probably familiar with the benefits of physical activity. And you’ve probably experienced the interdependence of sleep and exercise. Maybe you’ve had to skip your scheduled workout class because you were jetlagged or had a late night out with friends. Or you might’ve had trouble falling asleep one night when you spent the day lounging on the couch.

Sleep and exercise have been found to be deeply related, and that relationship is reciprocal. Read on to learn about how these two activities affect each other, and for tips on how to get adequate rest to help you maintain a healthy, active lifestyle.

Exercise can improve your rest

Scientists don’t know the exact physiology behind how exercise can improve sleep, but there is no shortage of evidence that it does. In fact, Johns Hopkins Medicine advises that just 30 minutes of moderate exercise per day can lead to better quality zzzs. Whether you’re running, briskly walking, riding a bicycle, or doing resistance weight training, researchers have discovered that regular exercise can help address several nighttime difficulties.

  • Insomnia: Regular physical activity regimens have been shown to improve sleep quality in older adults who suffered from chronic insomnia according to a study published in the journal Sleep Medicine. Insomnia may be acute or chronic difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or waking up too early. To learn more about insomnia, read our article here.
  • Slow-Wave Sleep: Regular, moderate exercise can increase the duration of slow-wave, or Non-REM sleep. According to Johns Hopkins, this is the period that allows your body to recover from the day. Your sleep cycle can be broken into two major phases, random eye movement (REM) and slow-wave or Non-REM sleep. After you fall asleep you begin slow-wave, during which your body and mind recover from the day. Next, you enter REM, when the brain becomes more active and most dreams occur. To learn more about this cycle, read our article here.
  • Depression: Exercise has been shown to reduce depressive symptoms in several studies, including a 2013 study published in the Cochrane Systematic Review. The Sleep Medicine article also found exercise to improve depressive symptoms in subjects. Nocturnal disorders are major symptoms of depression, which is one of the most commonly diagnosed mental health conditions in the U.S.
  • Sleep Disordered Breathing/Apnea: Moderate exercise has been shown to improve sleep-disordered breathing or respiratory issues that interfere with slumber. One of the most common examples is obstructive sleep apnea, which occurs when an individual airway is blocked causing them to temporarily stop breathing and wake up as a result. Exercise may improve the conditions of sleep-disordered breathing and apnea in two ways. For one, excess body weight has been linked to sleep-disordered breathing. In fact, as many as 40% of individuals who experience sleep-disordered breathing can attribute it to excess weight, according to a study in the Journal of Applied Physiology. And according to an article in Harvard Health, exercise is an important part of losing weight and improving sleep quality. Additionally, a study published in the journal Sleep found that regular, moderate exercise improved sleep quality for subjects with obstructive sleep apnea independent of weight loss. Subjects experienced fewer apneas per hour and better REM and Non-REM sleep.

A word of warning about exercising before bedtime: some people may have a hard time falling asleep after working out right before bed. For these individuals, Web MD suggests that a higher core body temperature and heart rate from the workout might be to blame. The good news is that it shouldn’t harm the quality of your sleep, and doesn’t affect everyone the same way. So while it is not ideal for people with a strict bedtime, if you prefer late-night exercise and it doesn’t keep you up at night: carry on!

Getting your 8 hours can improve your ability to exercise

Side portrait of a man sleeping outside

A more recent, though intuitive, finding in the world of sleep and exercise is that there are bidirectional effects. That is, the relationship works both ways.

  • Poor sleep can make it difficult to exercise: A successful exercise routine can improve the quality of sleep, but the contrapositive is also true: sleep deprivation can make it more difficult to perform your exercise routine. In a 1980 study published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, researchers found that just one night of sleep deprivation had a negative impact on psychological responses to moderate and heavy exercise. After a full night of proper rest, all of the subject’s responses returned to normal. During the test, physiological measurements remained the same. Subjects felt that they were working much harder during exercise after missing a night of sleep, even though their hearts and lungs were not.
  • Quality rest may, or may not, encourage exercise: The inverse relationship, unfortunately, is not so clear. Scientific studies have different conclusions as to whether getting a good night’s sleep will make you more likely to exercise. Findings from one study in 2013, published in the Journal of Sleep Medicine, suggest that when subjects got more or better quality sleep they were more likely to exercise the following day. These results were more pronounced with individuals who got less rest to begin with. But a study the following year published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine found that improved slumber did not result in increased physical activity among subjects.

Bottom line

Regular exercise can help improve the quality of your rest, and getting quality rest can improve your ability to exercise. Rather than worry about whether the regular exercise or quality slumber came first, anyone looking to build, or build upon a healthy lifestyle, should work to incorporate both. And if you’re starting your nighttime ritual, read our eight sleep tips.

 

Caffeine Effects and Sleep Problems

Posted on Leave a Comment

For many of us, coffee is an extremely important part of our daily ritual. It helps to wake us up, get us in gear, and provide the energy we need to get through our days. Caffeine is relied upon by people all over the world for the same reasons.

But coffee, or any other caffeinated drinks or substance, can also have serious negative effects on our ability to sleep well. There’s nothing worse than laying in bed, unable to sleep because of your late afternoon pick-me-up espresso.

With all things in life, there is a need for balance. Understanding how caffeine affects our sleep patterns can help you regulate your intake and ensure that you remain adequately pepped up during the day, but still able to sleep soundly when the time comes.

How does caffeine affect the body?

caffeine iced coffee in glassBefore you understand the facts of caffeine as it relates to your ability to sleep, it’s worth taking a second to consider how it affects the entire body generally.

As awful as it might sound when you take a step back to think about it, caffeine is actually an addictive drug, used and abused by people around the world at higher rates than any other substance, according to the World Health Organization.

The plant-based chemical, also called trimethylxanthine, is a stimulant that affects the body and brain in similar ways as more notorious drugs like amphetamines or cocaine do. When it enters the body, usually via ingestion by way of beverages like coffee, tea, energy drinks or otherwise, it begins working almost immediately. According to the University of Michigan, some of the most common effects that occur with the use of caffeine are:

  • Increased heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, and blood flow to extremities
  • Higher levels of acid secretion in the stomach
  • Increased production of urine, and more frequent need to urinate

Additionally, a litany of physical side effects is common when higher levels of caffeine are ingested, including dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, difficulty breathing, muscle tremors, blurred vision, cold sweats, even heart attacks.

However, most people ingest caffeine to accrue its stimulating effects on the brain. Caffeine works on the brain in a number of ways. For one, it blocks receptors of adenosine, a metabolic chemical that plays a role in drowsiness. The chemical structure of caffeine fits nicely into receptors designed for adenosine; when caffeine takes up their space, adenosine molecules cannot function properly to induce sleepiness, giving users the feeling of pep they crave.

Additionally, through a very complex process, caffeine can induce the famed “fight or flight” response in the body, which increases alertness by increasing blood flow and oxygen to the brain.

Finally, caffeine also boosts the production of dopamine, a neurochemical that plays a key role in the brain’s reward system. Dopamine is the same chemical that is released during sexual intercourse as well as the use of drugs like heroin and cocaine. It’s no wonder that morning coffee cup on consuming energy drinks makes you feel so good!

How does caffeine interfere with sleep?

Gamer playing video games late and drinking an energy drink with caffeineGiven all of the effects of caffeine on the body, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist (or a brain scientist!) to imagine how the simulant qualities of the drug could cause sleep problems.

One of the most sleep-disrupting functions of caffeine is the blocking up of adenosine receptors in the brain. Adenosine binds to cells in the brain, effectively slowing down their function, and indicating that the time for sleep is near. The result is that we feel sleepy and soon after seek to rest. But, when caffeine binds to these receptor points, blocking adenosine in the process, cells actually speed up their functioning.

The increase of adrenaline, heart rate, dopamine, and blood pressure you get from consuming caffeine will surely reduce your drowsiness. The end result of these changes to the body is that heavy users of caffeine find themselves in states of such high stimulation in the evening that they are not able to fall asleep in a timely manner. This, eventually affects sleep and leads to a shorter sleep cycle, and sleep deprivation.

Missing out on a few hours of sleep one night might not be that big of a deal; after all, you can just have a few extra cups of coffee the next day to balance yourself out. The problem comes when you are regularly missing sleep, and becomes even worse when you rely on extra caffeine to fix the problem. Before you know it, you can be caught in a cycle of needing caffeine to keep you alert because you are so sleep deprived of your caffeine habit.

How to drink responsibly, and still get to bed on time

cup of caffeine in bedWhen used in moderate doses, caffeine can give users the desired stimulating effects without interfering with sleep. The problem is that the perfect amount is different for everyone, and it is often difficult to ascertain. Here are a few tips for making sure you are taking in the right amount of caffeine for you:

  • Limit your overall intake levels: According to the Mayo Clinic, 400 milligrams of caffeine per day (about four cups of brewed coffee) is a safe limit for adults. Avoid drinking more than this, and keep in mind that you might personally do better drinking far less; everyone is different.
  • Keep an eye on caffeine intake close to bedtime: The effects of caffeine can last up to 12 hours. Obviously, you want to avoid drinking coffee right before bed, but you might even consider cutting out your afternoon cup if you find it difficult to fall asleep at night.
  • Switch to decaf, or from coffee to tea: If you find it difficult to sleep at night, try slowly cutting back on your caffeine intake by switching to lower-dose beverages, especially in the afternoons. You’ll be surprised at how much we rely on the ritual and aroma of drinking coffee as we do the actual caffeine.
  • Maintain healthy sleep hygiene: In addition to monitoring your caffeine intake, make sure you are getting enough exercise, eating well, and limit your alcohol and nicotine levels close to bedtime. All of these factors can make it easier to sleep better, and help you to have an overall healthy lifestyle.

 

The Stages of Sleep and Sleep Cycles

Posted on

You’ve probably heard the term “sleep cycles” or “Stages of Sleep” before. Maybe you’re familiar with the terms “REM” and “deep-sleep.” You’re probably also aware that a good night’s sleep revolves around a healthy sleep cycle.

But what exactly is it?

Stages of Sleep and the Sleep Cycle

As it turns out, when you turn off the lights, get in bed and conk out, your body and brain move through several different kinds of sleep. These different types of sleep, called stages, are each slightly different in their length and their characteristics.

The sleep cycle is the way your body moves through these different stages of sleep throughout the night. It is normal for healthy adults to move through the entire sleep cycle anywhere from three to five times during the course of an 8-hour sleep.

To understand sleep cycles or even your circadian rhythm, you need to first understand the different stages of sleep.

Scientists divide sleep into two basic categories: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep. As you drift off, your body prepares to enter the sleep cycle in the first stage.

woman-waking-up-tied-stretching

Non-REM Sleep

These first stages of sleep are categorized as non-REM sleep. This period of the sleep cycle is divided into three separate stages.

  • Stage 1: This first stage happens right after you fall asleep. During stage 1 non-REM, your sleep is very light, and you can be awakened easily. At this point, the brain produces high amplitude bursts of activity known as theta waves. You might experience some abrupt muscle spasms during this time, and even the infamous sensation of falling. This stage is the shortest of all the sleep stages, typically lasting about 10 minutes or less.
  • Stage 2: After stage 1 non-REM, your body will fall into a deeper state of sleep marked by the muscles relaxing, decrease in heart rate, and a slight drop in body temperature. Your brain wave activity during this time will be characterized by bursts of very intense yet brief moments of activity. These bursts are known as “sleep spindles,” a reference to the way they look when measured on an EEG. This stage lasts anywhere from half an hour to an hour.
  • Stage 3 / 4: The final stage of non-REM sleep, also called “deep sleep,” is when your body does much of the physical repairs for which sleep is so important. During this time, your body is busy regenerating tissue, building up bone and muscle, and improving the effectiveness of your immune system. Meanwhile, your brain is producing “slow-wave sleep,” or delta waves. These activities ensure that it is difficult to awaken someone from this sleep stage, which would result in disorientation lasting a few minutes. Typically stage 4 non-REM is simply a deeper version of stage 3 non-REM. The length of these stages differ dramatically based on age and other factors. Adults typically experience between 30 minutes to 2 hours of stage 3 and 4 non-REM sleep each night.

After moving through all of the non-REM sleep stages, you will move into REM sleep.

REM Sleep Stage

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is named for the characteristic eye movements which occur when one enters this stage. In addition to the eyes, twitching of the muscles may occur, while paralysis of voluntary function also sets in. It is during this time that intense dreaming occurs due to an increase in brain activity. While it is possible to dream in stages 3 and 4 of non-REM sleep, dreams occurring in REM sleep are usually much more vivid and intense. Read more in our guide to dreaming

REM sleep typically begins about 90 minutes after falling asleep, and lasts about 10 minutes during the first sleep cycle. Each subsequent REM period will be longer throughout the night, culminating in a final REM period of 1 hour in adult sleepers.

adult-asleep-bed

Changes in the Sleep Cycle

As we grow from infants to children, to teens, to adults, our bodies require different amounts of sleep. During the course of our lifetimes, this means that our sleep cycles will vary depending on our age, among other factors.

In general, it seems that the amount of REM sleep we get each night decreases as we get older. According to WebMD, babies can spend up to half of their sleeping time in the REM stage, while adults spend only up to 20% of their time there. Adults tend to spend less time in deep sleep stages as well, which is theorized to be related to many of the physical declines that accompany aging.

Abnormal Sleep Cycles

While we tend to cycle through the sleep stages in a predictable pattern, it is possible to move between non-consecutive stages depending on extenuating factors.

In addition to the natural shifts in our sleep cycles occurring with age, there are a number of other factors that can change the patterns of our sleep cycles.

  • Sleep History: The amount and quality of recent sleeping can have a dramatic effect on how we move through our sleep cycles. For example, missing a night of sleep may mean that an individual spends more time in deep sleep and REM sleep the next time they go to bed.
  • Alcohol Use: Falling asleep with alcohol in the bloodstream can make it difficult to enter REM sleep early on in the night, and cause awakenings during this time. The more you metabolize throughout the evening, the easier it becomes for the body to enter the REM stage, and spends more time there. Read our article on The Effects of Alcohol on Sleep
  • Napping: Napping in the afternoon, which is common in many countries around the world, may make it more difficult to fall asleep at night. Additionally, if naps last longer than one hour, sleepers risk falling into deep sleep or REM sleep. If this happens it may become difficult for them to re-enter those states when they sleep again later in the evening. Scientists seem to agree, however, that napping is a good way for those who have trouble getting an adequate quantity and quality of sleep at night to make up for it during the day.

Am I Getting Enough Sleep at Night?

Posted on

Take this simple quiz to measure your sleep health.

  1. Do you wake up every day wishing you could go back to sleep?
  2. Do you find yourself zoning out, or nodding off during meetings?
  3. Do you need multiple cups of coffee to make it through the day?
  4. As you read this article, do you notice yourself reading and rereading a particular sentence or paragraph over and over?

The answers to these questions point to the quantity and quality of sleep you are getting each night.

While many movers and shakers in today’s world will contend that they need only 4-5 hours of sleep per night to be highly functional, more and more research shows that an 8-9 hour window is necessary to reap the benefits of a good night’s rest. Showing 6 hours is not enough. Anything less and you’re putting your health at risk and could even be missing out on perks like the boost in creativity and problem-solving you may accrue while dreaming.

Despite the benefits, we know that sleep provides, and the glorious feeling we all have after getting a full night of it. Though, many of us still do not dedicate adequate time to it. So, if you simply don’t want to, or for whatever reason can’t get the recommended 8+ hours of rest, how do you know if you’re routinely getting a healthy amount? Be sure to read our article, 8 Tips for a Better Night’s Sleep.

lying-awake-at-night

Defining Sleep Health

A group of researchers led by Daniel J. Buysse, MD from the Sleep Medicine Institute and Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, has developed a tool to help the general public better understand and talk about their sleep health.

What exactly is sleep health? Here is the group’s proposed definition:

A multidimensional pattern of sleep-wakefulness, adapted to individual, social, and environmental demands, that promotes physical and mental well-being. Good sleep health is characterized by subjective satisfaction, appropriate timing, adequate duration, high efficiency, and sustained alertness during waking hours.

Of course, by this definition, it is difficult to quantify–especially given that it is “adapted to individual, social, and environmental demands,” and so will vary depending on the individual and their circumstances.

Enter SATED

SATED, a self-report scale that Buysse and crew believe can help us measure sleep health. Answering SATED’s series of questions–around your Satisfaction, Alertness while awake, Timing of sleep, sleep Efficiency, and Duration –can help you determine your level of fulfillment each night. Simply total your rating in each category to get your overall sleep health score.

sleep-sated-info-graphic
Photograph: Daniel J Buysse/University of Pittsburgh

One of the goals these researchers had in developing SATED was to shift medicine’s focus from simply looking for ways to treat common problems like insomnia, apnea and the like, to a more holistic focus on promoting positive habits.

Creating a scale like SATED gives us a means of studying this type of specific health better. Simply introducing and defining sleep health could help people recognize any deficiencies they might have and empower them to make changes in their lives and improve their overall health in the process.

How Marijuana Affects Your Sleep

Posted on

We’re all familiar with the stereotypical “stoner,” that heavy user of marijuana who is more often than not hungry, spaced-out, and…sleepy? But does marijuana affect your sleep?

There is no doubt that smoking marijuana has intense psychological and physical effects on its users. But how exactly does using marijuana affect our sleep quality and what are the effects on sleep?

With the easing of laws surrounding the illegality of medical marijuana and even recreational marijuana use across the country, there is a renewed interest in the substance as a possibly important piece in the wellness puzzle. Claims that marijuana, and especially CBD (a specific psychoactive ingredient found in the marijuana plant) can aid in maintaining healthy sleep patterns have popped up across the web, as well as in marketing materials for the numerous companies making products which supposedly offer a myriad of health benefits.

Considering that over 1 in 3 Americans reportedly use traditional over-the-counter (OTC) sleep aids and that a whopping sixty-percent of them reported having serious side-effects the next day, a natural alternative like cannabis could be a game-changer if it is as safe and effective as some claim.

Before you rush out to become a cannabis user to help you catch some Zs, it’s important to understand how exactly this substance is related to sleep.

marijuana thc pills medicine

How Does Cannabis Affect the Brain?

Before digging into the relationships between cannabis and sleep, it’s helpful to know a little background on the general affects the drug can have on users.

Marijuana is a plant that can be smoked, inhaled, or ingested to activate its active ingredients. The plant itself can also be processed into a number of products that isolate certain chemicals of its composition. There are hundreds of chemicals in cannabis, referred to as cannabinoids, but the two most well-researched chemicals are tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly known as THC, and cannabidiol, commonly known as CBD. While it is important to note that cannabis seems to affect every person slightly differently, researchers have noted the following qualities of each compound.

  • THC: This ingredient is the one most responsible for the classic “high” feeling people often refer to. It works by stimulating the release of dopamine, generally resulting in euphoria and feelings of deep relaxation.
  • CBD: CBD is the second most prevalent psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. It does not seem to induce the same “high” feeling as THC, but has been linked to a number of therapeutic uses including chronic pain management, seizure prevention, and more.

Cannabis comes in a variety of strains, or slightly different varieties, each containing differing amounts of each psychoactive ingredient. Some strains have been anecdotally reported to be better for sleeping than others. The Growth Op, a cannabis news and trends website, suggests asking your “budtender” (an operator of a legal cannabis dispensary) for help in choosing a strain that will be right for you.

does marijuana extract affect your sleep

THC and Sleep

The research on THC and sleep is decidedly mixed. A review of the scientific literature, conducted in 2017, concluded that the current body of research indicated THC has a “short term sleep benefit.” Studies showed that THC might help to treat sleep apnea, prevent nightmares in patients with PTSD, and shorten the amount of time it takes to fall asleep.

However, that same paper found that over the long term, the use of THC to sleep could interfere with circadian rhythm, and create “delayed sleep onset latency,” or lengthen the amount of time it took to fall asleep. The paper generally concluded that THC was most effective as a general sleep aid when used at a relatively low dose, for a short period of time.

Interestingly, preliminary research shows that synthetic THC, or versions of the chemical made in a lab as opposed to being derived from the cannabis plant, shows promise as a sleep aid. Further research on that subject will certainly have important results.

CBD and Sleep

CBD on the other hand, seems to have a much stronger reputation as a sleep aid.

In the 2017 review, CBD appeared to offer different results based on the dose it was administered in. At very low doses, CBD was shown to be simulating, while at medium and high doses the drug was sedating. These higher doses were associated with increased sleep time (longer sleep) and improve sleep. CBD was also found to reduce insomnia and sleep-related symptoms of PTSD when administered in higher doses.

Another scientific review of cannabis and sleep found CBD could “hold promise” for treatment of REM sleep behavior disorder, a strange occurrence where sleepers act out their dreams.

CBD has also been found to aid in pain relief and as a treatment for anxiety, two conditions that may make it difficult to sleep.

All of this research, combined with a litany of claims about other uses for CBD, has led to an explosion of CBD products in the last few years, some of them marketing specifically as sleep aids.

cannabidiol CBD Extract Sleep

Should I Try Marijuana for Sleep?

The bottom line on how marijuana affects your sleep is this: while some forms of the drug have proven helpful in helping people at bedtime, marijuana affects everybody differently, and it is certainly no silver bullet. In fact, some users may find that taking cannabis or cannabis products makes sleeping well more difficult and choose to continue natural sleep.

If you are interested in trying cannabis or edibles for use as a sleep aid, you might want to consider taking the following actions.

  • Talk to your doctor: before trying any new medication, speak with your physician about risks and potential benefits.
  • Make sure to obey all laws and regulations: Cannabis and its component chemical compounds have varying legal statuses across the United States. Make sure to purchase your products from licensed vendors.
  • Speak with dispensary operators about a product for you: employees and operators of cannabis dispensaries can help you navigate the sometimes overwhelming selection of products to ensure you are receiving the best one for your needs.
  • Use cannabis in conjunction with other healthy sleep routines: getting a proper amount of exercise, maintaining a healthy diet, and avoiding excessive alcohol and nicotine will increase the chance that you get a good night’s sleep, with or without the help of cannabis.
  • Additional Tips: Read our article on 8 Tips for a Better Night’s Sleep

Has marijuana affected your sleep? let us know!