Month: November 2016

Many of us use our smartphones, laptops, or other electronic devices all day long. Technology can help us get our homework done, connect with friends, or entertain ourselves. This can result in spending a great deal of time using screens all the way up until bedtime. In fact, the National Sleep Foundation conducted a poll that showed that 95% of American’s use a device within an hour of going to sleep.

Most of us have heard that screen time, or anything you do on your phone, computer, eReader, or other electronic device, may impact our sleep. Recent research has confirmed that screen time before bed does impact your sleep quality and ability to fall asleep in two ways:

1. Screens emit blue light, which is in the same frequency band that is present during the day-time hours. This means your body may perceive the blue light from your screen as daylight, which suppresses the production of certain hormones, like melatonin, that help you feel sleepy.
2. The light from your screen may also impact your circadian rhythm. Looking at your screen before bed can have an activating effect, making your body feel tense, increase your body’s production of cortisol (a stress hormone), and make you feel alert and awake. This is the exact opposite of what you want your body to do before bedtime because it can make it difficult for your body to relax in order to fall asleep.

Luckily, the simplest way that we can counteract the effect of screens before bed is to stop using screens and other technology 15-30 minutes before bedtime. This will give you a chance to unwind and relax, and will help your body transition to sleep mode. You may even consider establishing a bedtime routine, which can include things like reading a book, taking a bath, or practicing relaxation, like meditation or mindfulness.

Thanksgiving is a time when we spend time with family and friends and can give thanks for everything we are grateful for. For some of us, spending time with family on Thanksgiving can mean navigating complicated family tensions or differing political opinions. Thanksgiving also comes at a time that is close to the end of the quarter, leaving many of us feeling stressed about end of quarter deadlines, preparing to head home for winter break, or financial stress as we enter the holiday season.

It can be easy for us to get swept up in the excitement and not truly appreciate the day or feel overwhelmed by all of the stress that accompanies Thanksgiving. Mindfulness can help us get the most out of our Thanksgiving and stay present in the moment. Research also shows that mindfulness can help us slow down and reduce stress. Here are some easy things we can do to stay mindful this Thanksgiving:

• Express gratitude – take a moment to reflect on what you’re grateful for, consider writing down a few things that have been particularly meaningful to you. This can help you focus on the positive aspects of your life, family, or situation.
• Send kind thoughts or prayers to others – practice opening your heart by including kind thoughts and prayers for others near and far into your day, even to those who may be causing you stress.
• Eat mindfully
• Give back to the community – consider donating extra food or volunteering at a soup kitchen.
• Take quiet time for yourself – take a break from the festivities to check in with yourself to foster awareness of your experience. This can also help us notice when we are starting to get overwhelmed by stress or family tension.
• Listen to others mindfully – truly hear what others are saying to learn something new from a story you’ve heard hundreds of times or are hearing for the very first time. Let go of judgments of what others are saying or assumumptions about others intentions.
• Use all of your senses to experience the day – enhance your awareness by noticing what you are seeing, smelling, tasting, hearing, and feeling

Try out one or two of these tips on your Thanksgiving. Whether you are someone who gets caught up in the celebration or overwhelmed by the stress of the day, these tips can help you stay centered. The Wellness Initiative wishes you a mindful Thanksgiving!

Sleep researchers agree that exercise helps you sleep. However, popular knowledge has suggested that exercising too close to bedtime is bad for sleep, keeping you awake longer. Here’s the argument for why exercising too close to bedtime can disturb your sleep:

• At night, your body temperature lowers slightly signaling to your body that it is time for sleep.
• Exercise, especially vigorous exercise, raises your body’s temperature by a couple degrees and it stays elevated for up to 5 hours after you exercise. This may interrupt the natural signal of your body lowering its temperature before bed.
• Exercise also promotes the release of adrenaline in your brain, keeping your mind and body activated, and making it harder to sleep.
• Vigorous exercise can make it difficult to relax and wind-down before bed.

Does the science support this argument? Unfortunately, the evidence is not clear. One 2011 study suggested that vigorous exercise before bed had no impact on sleep. Additionally, in a large national poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, moderate to vigorous exercisers reported no difference in sleep even when they exercised close to bedtime. On the other hand, a 2013 study found that exercise before bed disrupted the onset of sleep.

While the evidence is mixed on whether exercise before bedtime is bad for you, it is very clear that exercise at any time of the day will help you sleep. Many sleep experts still recommend that you try not to exercise too close to bedtime, but you know your body best. If you know that exercising before bed doesn’t affect your sleep – keep doing that. However, if you are having trouble sleeping and you exercise within a couple hours of bedtime, experiment with exercising earlier in your day!

We know that most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep per night.  As students, many of us have difficulty getting that much sleep during the week, and may be getting only 5-6 hours.  Consistently getting 6 hours of sleep or less during the week can put us in a state of sleep debt.  How do we repay this debt?  Many of us “repay” this debt is by sleeping in on the weekends.

Science suggests that sleeping in on weekends in order to catch-up on the sleep you missed during the week can actually throw off you schedule even more.

According to researchers at Harvard Medical School, there are two main mechanisms that regulate your sleep patterns:

1. Homeostatic Sleep Drive: your body builds up adenosine (a molecule in your body created by energy consumption) throughout the day.  At night, your levels of adenosine are highest, causing you to feel sleepy.
2. Circadian Rhythms: your body has a circadian alerting system that keeps us alert and awake during the day.  Our circadian “clock” is thought to run on a 24-hour cycle that generally keeps us awake for about 16 hours.

The balance and interplay between these two mechanisms regulate our sleep pattern.  Sleeping in on weekends means that your body will need to readjust come Monday morning to your regular weekday schedule.  Small changes to your sleep schedule – changes of less than 1 hour – aren’t likely to affect your sleep pattern during the week.  However, large variations in your sleep schedule between weekdays and the weekend sends mixed messages to your body.

Most sleep research suggests that coming up with a regular sleep schedule AND sticking to it even on the weekends is the best option to avoid acquiring a sleep debt.  Tips for establishing a regular sleep schedule can be found here.  Alternatively, we can repay our sleep debt by adding an hour of sleep to our schedule on weekend nights or during the week.  Going to bed even 30 minutes earlier can help us start to catch up.