Sleep is a critical aspect of overall brain health. Today there are countless individuals that have trouble with attaining sleep, maintaining sleep, and sometimes a combination of both. As a result, millions are turning to sleep aids.
Many sleep issues, in some form or another, are related to anxiety.
It’s easy to understand. A lot of people lay down, intending to go to bed, and they have the wheels turning in their mind as they’re engaged in thinking about their to-do lists, relationships, finances, or their career.
Some of the more common, albeit older, sleep aids come from a class of medications called benzodiazepines. These medications were originally designed to treat anxiety and panic disorders. Lorazepam (Ativan®), one of the most common, many are now taking for sleep issues.
These drugs essentially ramp down the mind a little bit, which then allows you to obtain sleep and remain asleep. There are also the more common sleep aid medications that were designed for sleep problems, like Ambien® or Lunesta®.
Most are aware of these prescription medications due to clever ad campaigns that are meant to create associations in your memory.
While there is absolutely a time and place for sleep medications, by and large, they are incredibly over-utilized in most cases as they are designed to be short-term solutions and most often become long-term traps that have consequences on brain function.
One of the most overlooked factors is sleep hygiene.
Factors like weight, sleeping environment, computer time, eating before bed, stress management and so many others have a profound impact on our sleep.
The bottom line is that we need to change our mindset. When we see that we can, in fact, get to sleep on our own after implementing sound sleep hygiene methods, this is an incredibly powerful first step to be able to move into sleep on your own and to take the dependence off of pills or supplements.
When it comes to sleep issues related to stress management, there are a wide variety of tools available at your disposal. If anxiety or poor stress management is an issue that is related to obtaining quality sleep, a good first step is to try journaling. The simple act of putting words on paper can help get the stressors out of your mind and onto paper. This can eventually help prepare you to take the next step toward more advanced techniques.
Contributor: Dr. Michael Trayford is a Board-Certified Chiropractic Neurologist and Founder of APEX Brain Centers in Asheville, NC. For more information, please visit www.ApexBrainCenters.com/memory.
The opinions expressed by contributing authors are not necessarily the opinions of the Dementia Society, Inc. We do not endorse or guarantee products, comments, suggestions, links, or other forms of the content contained within blog posts that have been provided to us with permission, or otherwise. Dementia Society does not provide medical advice. Please consult your doctor. www.DementiaSociety.org
When it comes to sleep, establishing a routine is critical. Sleep-wake cycles are for the brain what your transmission is for your car. Further, sleep issues are often associated with dementia and may very well be a catalyst for dementia onset and severity.
In this day and age a lot of people are simply going to bed whenever they crash or whenever their kids or life demands allow them to crash. When they wake up, it’s rarely of their own accord. Instead they tend to wake up to loud alarm clocks blaring at them, somebody else waking them up or something else like the dog jumping on the bed.
Sleep routines are critically important for brain function and it can be as simple as setting a time to go to bed and a time to wake up, then sticking with it to make it a part of your regular routine. Establishing a routine helps your body find homeostasis with hormone production, regulating blood pressure, as well as other things like the glymphatic system which removes toxins from the brain while you sleep.
This is often easier said than done. Family life, career demands, pets and a lot of other distractions can make it challenging to establish a set sleep routine.
There’s no magic number for the number of hours you need to get each night, although 7-9 hours is a good rule of thumb. The brain needs a good solid two to three deep sleep cycles per night and you can’t do that if you’re only getting three or four hours of sleep per night.
The key is to listen to your body. Ideally you want to establish a sleep routine where you’re falling asleep easily at a set time and when you wake up in the morning you feel energized, alert and ready to face the day.
Some people might only need six hours of sleep while other people might need eight or even ten hours! There are some people that meditate quite regularly and the deep state training involved in the process means they may only require five or so hours of sleep each night.
Sleep science is constantly changing as research reveals more and more of the positive benefits of sleep and how to incorporate a positive sleep routine in your daily life. What it boils down to is the routine that is best for you, your body and what makes you feel the most rested.
Contributor Author: Dr. Michael
Trayford is a Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist and Founder of APEX
Brain Centers in Asheville, NC. For more information, please visit www.ApexBrainCenters.com/memory.
The opinions expressed by
contributing authors are not necessarily the opinions of the Dementia Society,
Inc. We do not endorse nor guarantee products, comments, suggestions, links, or
other forms of content contained within blog posts- that have been provided to
us with permission, or otherwise. Dementia Society does not provide medical
advice, please consult your doctor. www.DementiaSociety.org
Eliminating technology from the bedroom is a very important topic we can talk at great length about. Suffice it to say, all of our gadgets and technology addictions are posing a significant threat to our brain and body health. The biggest reason we know of relates to the effects of artificial lights on our brains. This is particularly true for laptops, tablets and handheld devices. Research has found that LED lighting is suggestive to the brain. The blue light emitted by these types of devices simulates the light outdoors.
This means you could be on your tablet, in bed, at ten o’clock at night and the blue light is telling your brain that it’s light outside. The human sleep-wake cycle is based on our relationship to the natural light in our environment.
When we are artificially inducing daylight through use of these devices, particularly at night, the brain gets very confused. Hormones such as cortisol are produced and start to circulate through the blood stream causing a more alert state. This also causes the body to lack certain hormones (i.e. melatonin) that are naturally supposed to be present before sleeping.
Of course, this isn’t just about smart phones and tablets. This also extends to other electronic devices like televisions and stimulation from radios. All devices should be taken into consideration as it’s not just that blue light tricking the brain into thinking it’s light outside. Other types of stimulation disrupt sleep/wake cycles. Simple things like anticipating a text message, email, or phone call create a sense of anticipation that stimulates the brain, making it hard to fall asleep or stay asleep.
At the same time, there is also a concern that EMF, or electromagnetic field, waves can have a negative impact on the brain.
All of these electronic devices need to be turned off and left in places outside of the bedroom; in the kitchen or wherever they will be used first thing the next morning. This is critically important training for children as all they know is technology and boundaries are becoming less clearly defined as time progresses.
The bottom line is that it’s just not good sleep hygiene to have these electronic devices in your bedroom.
Contributor Author: Dr. Michael Trayford is a Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist and Founder of APEX Brain Centers in Asheville, NC. For more information, please visit www.ApexBrainCenters.com/memory.
The opinions expressed by contributing authors are not necessarily the opinions of the Dementia Society, Inc. We do not endorse nor guarantee products, comments, suggestions or other forms of content contained within blog posts- that have been provided to us with permission, or otherwise. Dementia Society does not provide medical advice, please consult your doctor. www.DementiaSociety.org
