Easy Ways to Get a Better Night’s Sleep

When I don’t get enough sleep, I’m not completely myself the next day. It’s a subtle thing, and hopefully no one else notices, but I can tell I’m a half step slower and just a little crankier. Fortunately, all in all I’m a good sleeper, and these off days are rare for me. That’s not the case with everyone, however, and I often receive letters from readers who have trouble getting a good night’s sleep.

TOSSIN’ AND TURNIN’ ALL NIGHT

Research is increasingly showing that people need on average of seven to eight hours of Zs every night for optimal health. Yet for many, something gets in the way. Although ads on television are quick to tell people that a little pill can solve their problems, that’s not necessarily the best solution for assorted reasons. According to Michael Twery, PhD, acting director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research, the best way to overcome sleep challenges is to practice good sleep hygiene, such as instituting a calming nightly routine and steering clear of caffeine and alcohol during the hours before you retire. If sleep problems continue, he recommends that you consult a physician.

WHEN COUNTING SHEEP IS NOT ENOUGH

When sleep eludes you, Dr. Twery recommends the following strategies…

• Feel the rhythm. You have a preprogrammed biological clock that is designed to make you sleepy at night. Don’t fight this natural process, advises Dr. Twery. Listen to your body and go to bed and wake up when your body tells you to, generally at the same hour each day, even on weekends.
• Create a routine and stick to it. To encourage your body’s natural sleep rhythms, do the same thing before you go to bed every night, such as listening to soft music (no rock), reading a novel (no papers from the office) or eating a light snack (such as natural peanut butter on whole-wheat crackers or other combinations of slow-burning, or low-glycemic index carbs combined with a healthful fat). This stabilizes both serum glucose and cortisol and provides a calming effect on the body. Over time, you’ll come to identify these routines with sleep, and performing them will make you feel sleepy.
• Gentle exercise can help but aggressive exercise won’t. Some people choose the soothing, rhythmic movements of yoga or tai chi to wind down as bedtime approaches. These quiet the body, explains Dr. Twery. But no intense workouts, he warns. These will have the opposite effect.
• Take a hot bath. A bath will calm you down from the day’s rigors, and the drop in body temperature when you get out of the tub may help you feel sleepy, says Dr. Twery. Follow this with sleep in a comfortably cool bedroom.
• Create a welcoming sleep environment. Make sure your bedroom is quiet, dark and not too warm or too cool. Eliminate possible disturbances such as computers, TVs, bright or blinking lights, noise and an uncomfortable bed or bedding. When ambient sounds are annoying and uncontrollable, some people find it beneficial to mask them with the white noise generated by an air conditioner, fan or white noise machine.
• Watch what you eat and drink in the evening. Avoid caffeinated products (coffee, tea, soft drinks, chocolate), alcohol, sugary snacks and heavy meals for three to five hours before bedtime. Like caffeine, nicotine is a stimulant, so you also should refrain from smoking.
• Take the Scarlett O’Hara approach to your worries. Think about them tomorrow. Stress is not a good bedtime companion, and obsessing over your troubles won’t make them go away — it will just keep you awake all night. In addition to the calming techniques mentioned above (hot baths, relaxing music, yoga, etc.), meditating a few minutes before bedtime can help you set your worries aside and put you in a calmer and sleepier frame of mind. If you have something that is stuck in your head, jot it down on a piece of paper kept in your night stand. Once you have “put the thought” somewhere safe, your mind will be free to let it go until morning.
• Catnapping is cool. Conventional wisdom has it that napping during the day will disturb your sleep later that night. However, there is little concrete research to back this theory, and Dr. Twery points out that your biological clock actually makes you sleepy twice a day — once at night and once between 1 pm and 3 pm. Unless they interfere with nighttime sleep, short catnaps of 20 to 30 minutes before 3 pm are fine. (Note: If daytime sleepiness is a chronic problem, see your physician. It may be a sign of an underlying sleep disorder.)
• Let the sunshine in. Try to get outside in the sunlight for 15 to 30 minutes a day. This helps control your biological clock and the pineal gland’s production of melatonin, the so-called “hormone of darkness” that regulates your sleep cycles. When all is well, melatonin levels rise during the night and decline at dawn, explains Dr. Twery. Failing to get enough sunshine during the day can throw this process off kilter and result in irregular sleep patterns.
• Consider sleep aids. For example, face masks and nasal pillows (devices used for continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP), earplugs and humidifiers can be helpful. While Dr. Twery himself is not a fan of supplements, Daily Health News contributing editor Andrew L. Rubman, ND, feels otherwise. Some of his favorites include teas made from a combination of the following according to individual needs — hops, wild lettuce root, skullcap, Jamaican dogwood, valerian, with a pinch of Thorn apple leaf for flavor. It is best to work with a naturopathic physician to determine which is best for you.
• Use sleeping pills only on a temporary basis and when absolutely needed. In quest of elusive sleep, many people are quick to turn to over-the-counter sleeping pills or heavily hyped prescription drugs such as zolpidem tartrate (Ambien) or eszopicione (Lunesta). While your doctor may recommend these to cope with a self-limiting situation such as jet lag, shift work or short-term stress, they are not a long-term solution. The more dependent you become on drugs, the less able you will be to sleep soundly and evenly on your own. Moreover, sleeping pills have unwanted side effects such as daytime sleepiness and fuzzy thinking and, as we’ve all heard lately — sleep eating, when someone takes a sleeping pill, gets up in the middle of the night, binges on food and remembers nothing the next day.
• See a physician. Chronic sleep difficulties often occur as women near menopause, though it also can be a sign of more serious underlying problems such as sleep apnea or depression. Be sure to see your doctor for proper diagnosis and treatment, for solutions exist and there’s nothing better for your health and wellness than getting a good night’s sleep.

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Stick It to Him

There’s good news in the world of infertility. It seems that acupuncture could be an even bigger help to infertile men than was previously thought. According to a study published last July in the journal Fertility and Sterility, five weeks of acupuncture treatment improved the quality (meaning there were fewer anatomical defects) of sperm in 28 out of 40 (70%) infertile men. This adds yet another feather to the cap of acupuncture as an infertility treatment, which, previous to the study, was thought simply to boost overall sperm count and motility (the ability of the sperm to swim forward).

LATEST RESEARCH

Acupuncture has long been used to help increase sperm count and motility by increasing blood flow. It also prompts the release of endorphins that trigger relaxation and improve the delivery and survival of viable sperm. The latest study, fielded at Christian-Lauritzen Institut in Ulm, Germany, looked beyond the quantity, to the quality of the sperm. After five weeks of treatment (two treatments per week) researchers found that the physical structure of the sperm had significantly improved for the vast majority of study participants. Note: Acupuncture for infertility places needles both on or around the male genitalia as well as in other locations corresponding to nodes in the energetic meridians of the individual. Specific placement is tailored to the individual’s energy needs.

Lead author of the study, Jian Pei, PhD, does not know why acupuncture improved the quality of the sperm. That will be the subject of studies that Dr. Pei and his associates plan to field in the near future.

OVERCOMING THE HURDLE FOR HELP

This study offers scientific evidence of the improvement that acupuncture can provide for men. But acupuncture faces a bigger hurdle than science — men need to start seeking treatment.

“There’s this whole machismo thing attached to [infertility], lack of manhood and all this nonsense,” says Mike Berkley, LAc, founder and director of The Berkley Center for Reproductive Wellness & Women’s Health in New York City. “My patients are mostly women, and I’ll ask, ‘Has your husband’s sperm been analyzed?’ and it’s not uncommon for the woman to say no, her husband refuses to get his sperm checked.”

So let’s step back from the research and state the obvious: The first step for any infertile (meaning they’ve been trying, unsuccessfully, to get pregnant for one year) couple is to undergo testing — both the woman and the man — to find the underlying issue. For the man, this includes sperm analysis as well as testing for varicoceles (varicose veins in the scrotum) which may be associated with aberrant testicular temperature or function and other physical problems. Only after those initial examinations is it possible to know if acupuncture will help.

“If no specific physiological problem is found, then a man is a good candidate for acupuncture,” says Dr. Berkley. Acupuncture is easy, noninvasive and virtually painless — and, now, even more effective at helping male infertility than previously thought.