You can’t fall asleep. You lie there tossing and turning. You look at the clock and you think, “Uggh … I have to be up in a few hours. I’m going to be so tired tomorrow.”
Sound familiar? You are not alone. Surveys indicate as many as half of us struggle with insomnia. Surveys, such as those by the University of Guelph, also show that farmers in particular are under a tremendous amount of stress and pressure, which can interfere with sleep.
We know sleep is essential to good health, affecting myriad processes in the body. It’s critical for our physical and mental functioning, our immune system and our ability to ward off chronic disease.
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A lack of sleep will also affect our mood, our concentration and our ability to make decisions and perform tasks safely.
What can we do to improve our sleep?
While we can’t force ourselves to sleep, there are many things we can do to increase the probability of getting a good night’s rest, says Kathy Somers, director of the University of Guelph stress management clinic.
“Sleep is a behaviour,” says Somers. By changing your behaviour you can promote better sleep.
But be forewarned. It’s important to keep your expectations realistic. We’re talking about habits — getting rid of old habits and creating new ones — and it can take three to four weeks for changes to stick.
Similarly, it can take a few weeks for the body and mind to settle back into a good sleep pattern after you’ve gone through a time of high stress. It doesn’t happen instantly.
Follow good ‘sleep hygiene’ practices
Although it can be tricky to follow these practices during busy seasons, research has shown that these sleep-friendly behaviours help most individuals:
Be active during the day.
Avoid caffeine after lunch and limit alcohol to two servings or less per day.
Eat your biggest meal at breakfast or lunch, limit gas-causing foods to before noon, and avoid spicy foods before bed.
Have a snack that is low-protein but carbohydrate-rich (e.g. banana, apple, toast and jam) one to two hours before bed but avoid snacking during mid-night awakenings.
Ensure your intake of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and B vitamins meets recommended levels.
Limit naps to 30 minutes or less during the day.
Go to bed when you have geared down enough that you are ready to fall asleep.
Follow the same pre-bedtime routines. These are what Somers calls “sleep strengthening behaviours.” Go to bed and get up at the same time every day. Unwind before bed for at least 30 minutes by doing some gentle stretching, listening to a guided meditation, or using relaxation breathing techniques.
Avoid screens before bed.
Make sure your bedroom is cool, dark, quiet and comfortable.
Try to use your bed only for sleep (and sexual activity) so you associate your bed with rest and sleep. Don’t discuss the day’s problems, call people, worry or plan while in bed. Find other locations and times to do these things.
Don’t look at the clock. Somers says the “big mistake” many people make is to fret if they don’t fall asleep right away. It’s better to take the pressure off by changing the self-talk to “it’s so nice to be able to rest in my cozy bed right now.” Instead of trying to fall asleep, your goal can be to “rest your body, your mind and your emotions.”
Set realistic goals
Some of us have unachievable sleep expectations, says Somers. It’s unlikely that you will get a great sleep every night. There will be times when your worry or excitement will interfere with sleeping. This is to be expected, so it’s more realistic to aim for a good sleep five out of seven nights.
If your partner falls asleep as soon as their head hits the pillow, you may be frustrated that you take longer to fall asleep but Somers says it’s common to take between 10 and 30 minutes to fall asleep. If you still haven’t fallen asleep after 30 minutes, she recommends getting out of bed and doing something non-stimulating such as reading, listening to music, doing tai chi or colouring before returning to bed. After 30 minutes, return to bed and try again. Repeat as needed. This is what Somers calls the 30-30 rule.
Contrary to popular belief, it is normal to wake in the night, continues Somers. Most of us wake several times and only recognize that we are awake if more than eight minutes has passed.
Getting a good night’s sleep is about more than the number of hours we sleep. The number of hours of sleep we get shows an incomplete picture, says Somers. While, the average adult needs a little more than eight hours of sleep daily, this number varies between individuals; research shows some people need as little as six hours.
There is also a question of quantity versus quality, says Somers. There are four stages of sleep and research has shown that we go through each of these stages many times during the night. During the first part of the night, we spend more time in what sleep researchers call Slow Wave Sleep (SWS) while later in the night we spend more time in lighter sleep stages including the dreaming or REM sleep stage. The hours we spend in the SWS stage are more restorative than the lighter sleep cycles.
Try relaxation techniques
Somers demonstrates several sleep-promoting practices in her Better Sleep courses and workshops. One of these is called BMW, a mnemonic for Breath, Muscles and Warmth. There are many relaxation exercises that focus on the breath such as slowing your breathing by taking five seconds to inhale and five seconds to exhale. Somers explains this is a powerful way to turn on the calming influence of your parasympathetic nervous system.
M stands for Muscle which is about letting go of tension in the muscles. The body scan is one technique for relaxing the muscles. Focus on releasing tension in different parts of the body. In particular, Somers says focusing on relaxing the muscles around the eyes and jaw can be very effective.
Finally, W stands for Warmth. “Thinking about being warm and cozy can make it easier to fall asleep,” says Somers. “Tell yourself ‘My neck and shoulders are comfortably warm. My arms are comfortably warm. My legs are comfortably warm’. And so on.”
Somers grew up on a farm and she knows farmers can have a lot of concerns. If it’s worry that’s keeping you awake, she says it can help to schedule a time to worry earlier in the day (but not right before bed). Write down your worries and a general plan for how you will cope if any of these worries were to come true. (Somers calls this the Worry-WRITE technique.) Then tell yourself “You WILL handle it.” When you’ve finished, park your worries for the night by putting that paper away in a desk drawer.
If, after trying these strategies and techniques you are still having difficulty with sleep, the next step is to consult your physician, says Somers. “They can help determine if there are other factors at play (anxiety, depression, pain, illness or medications can impact sleep) or if an appointment with a sleep specialist or other avenues are recommended.”
Resources
- Kathy Somers offers workshops and courses on strategies for better sleep through the Stress Management and High Performance Clinic. Visit selfregulationskills.ca to learn more.
- Sink Into Sleep (2020), a book by Judith R. Davidson about using cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia
- No More Sleepless Nights. This 1996 book by P. Hauri and S. Linde is a classic. Written by a sleep research pioneer, it outlines the Mayo Clinic Sleep Program.
- Say Goodnight to Insomnia (1998) is a book by Gregg D. Jacobs which outlines effective techniques from the Harvard Medical Sleep Program.
