The Necessity of Sleep
I have long been a proponent of rest- as much of it as possible and as frequently as your schedule will allow. I grew up with parents who liked to nap on the weekend and from an early age, we followed suit. I remember being 10 years old and falling asleep on the couch with a book in my hands in the conservatory of my father’s house in Ireland. He would have been next to me in his recliner, snoozing away with his book resting on his tummy. Many summer afternoons were spent this way- reading, sleeping, reading again.
Don’t get me wrong- we loved to be outside and walking in the forests, down by the water, going crab fishing by the sea, and chasing sheep in the fields. Mornings were often spent with my aunts who taught my siblings and I how to make jam so we would be tasked with picking gooseberries or black currents for our latest batch. In the evening, they taught us to play Canasta, a rather complex card game for young kids, but one we loved to partake in with our loving, affectionate aunties. There were always treats too- Mars bar rice Krispie treats were our favorite and they were made with love just for the three of us children. We thrived off this wide range of activities, but the afternoons- those were reserved for rest.
Last month I read “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker. It is a brilliantly researched and yet highly readable tome, which expounds on the extreme advantages of sufficient sleep in our lives. He extols on the social, emotional, immunological, neurological, and physical benefits of rest which are so profound that it is suggested we should be asking ourselves “Why are we awake?”
Anyone who has spent time with a baby or toddler has been well schooled on the advantages of sleep for a growing brain. Countless studies have shown children thrive with 10-12 hours of sleep per night and most well-meaning parents are sure to provide that for their children. But how many adults do you know who say they can subsist on 4-6 hours of sleep per night? How many parents of those young children are only getting 6 hours of sleep per night? More than we would like to say and the interesting fact we learn from Walker’s research is how dangerous that sleep deficit really is. In fact, there is an enormous difference between 6 hours per night of sleep and 7.5. People who get 6 or less hours of sleep for even as little as one or two nights in a row, perform as poorly on cognitive tests as people who are intoxicated. Furthermore, with less than 7 hours of sleep, our immune system starts to fail dramatically, we crave sugar and high fat foods which lead us to consume more calories, and we are unable to remain emotionally stable. In short, we are grouchy, we over-eat and we get sick. You probably have noticed all of these effects yourself, but now we see the studies to back it up!
We cannot always control the challenges we face in life- emotional, physical, immunological, but we can control how much sleep we get. If we want to be at our best to fight illness, be patient with our loved ones, and be productive, compassionate members of society, we must prioritize sleep, and at least 7.5 hours of it. I think of my post-partum patients who are so over-tired and then they feel such shame around losing their temper with their small babies and children. Of course you are going to lose your temper! You haven’t been able to recover through sleep in a way that will help you to manage those emotions. Just as almost all children with a diagnoses of ADHD will also have a concurrent sleep disorder, adults too, are prone to the same lack of emotional regulation without adequate sleep.
Sleep is even more important, not surprisingly, for elderly patients, over age 75, for whom cognitive function naturally begins to decline. Many people over age 75 also have trouble sleeping which then adds to their memory problems and can even lead to dementia. The good news is that if you have a loved one with mild cognitive impairment, a considerable part of their recovery should be aimed at improving sleep and you will often see the subsequent enhancement in their mental abilities.
In Chinese Medicine, “How do you sleep?” is one of the three most important questions that I ask my patients (to find out the other two, you have to wait for next month’s newsletter!). Sleep provides the qi that we will use all day to drive our naturally occurring functions like digestion, cognition, physical activity, emotional regulation, and so much more. I often joke with my patients that we all know if we are hungry, we need to eat. If we are thirsty, we need to drink. But we feel tired and we say, “What’s wrong with me?!” It is our hyper-productive society that shames us for sleeping and says, “You can sleep when you die.” If we want to live with balance and wellness we have to fight against this ethic. Particularly in winter, which is the most yin time of the year, we need to embrace the Danish hygge concept of rest and relaxation. How else will we build up enough yin to transform into yang for those long summer days spent playing at the beach until 10pm?
Whatever amount of sleep you are giving yourself right now, try increasing it slightly or by an hour and see the difference. If you don’t feel more content, patient, relaxed, energized, healthier, productive and smarter, then you can go back to your old habits. As Matthew Walker says in the book, there is not a single illness in existence, for which sleep will not be a partial remedy. What do you have to lose?