How To Improve Sleep Austin. Sleep has always been a challenge for me, just as it is for many Americans. We often have busy minds that struggle to relax. We tend to analyze the past, overlook the present, and feel anxious about the future, whether it pertains to family, work, or, most importantly, our health. While we know it is crucial, we may not fully understand how sleep impacts our lives. Let’s explore how sleep affects us and discover simple, proactive steps we can take to improve it.
All the Ways That Sleep Affects Us
How To Improve Sleep Austin. Most of us have heard of circadian rhythm, our 24-hour inner clock. What we may not know is that it controls a wide range of bodily functions such as how long we are asleep and awake, our body temperature, our heart and respiratory rates, blood pressure, our hormonal balance, the function of our kidneys (which regulates our muscles and nerves to work properly), the function of our liver, and digestion. Pretty much the function of our entire bodily system running smoothly is directly correlated to how well we sleep. It’s the time that allows our body to repair and heal.
How To Improve Sleep in Austin. A military study from Smith 2018 showed that healthy subjects who were administered small skin wounds and attained 7-9 hours of sleep for three nights had faster healing of their wounds compared to two groups, one that was sleep deprived at 2 hours for three nights and the other, the same 2 hours duration but receiving a protein multi-nutrient supplement before and after sleep. The health subjects who got 7-9 hours of sleep had nearly 20% more improvement in tissue healing from getting adequate sleep, regardless of better nutrition, which lets us know how much our body depends on adequate rest to be at our best.
How To Improve Sleep Austin. From a cognitive performance view, Smithies’ 2021 literature review displayed that repetitive work tasks that require sustained attention (ie., spotting defective manufactured goods on a conveyor belt, or, like in the movie Minari, when the father character is checking for the sex of each baby chick) are affected most negatively by sleep loss. Interestingly, sleep loss has little to no effect on individuals engaged in complex cognitive tasks, especially when their decisions carry significant consequences for incorrect actions (e.g., a CEO’s decision about a company’s survival or an emergency room doctor’s decision about people’s well-being).
How To Improve Sleep Austin. As long as the goal of the job objective did not change or an individual’s attention was divided to another task, people could function reasonably well while sleep-deprived. For some, whose occupational tasks require more varied decision-making, this can be a negative, as they can still function at a high level without adequate sleep, making them less likely to change their sleeping habits. For those with more consistent, repetitive tasks, successful job quality performance depends heavily on getting sufficient sleep.
While you may cognitively function well at your job despite sleep deprivation, especially if you have a strong interest in the work, there is a competitive component, or there are external incentives (money, time off, perks), it is not long-term sustainable for the longevity of your body and mind.
How To Improve Sleep Austin. From a physical performance view, a systematic review and meta-analysis by Gong in 2024, revealed the effect of sleep deprivation on athletes affected them in these ways from greatest to least impact from high-intensity intermittent exercise (engaging in 80% of max HR with short rest period), skill control (being able to manipulate an object or movement with precision), speed (rate of movement), aerobic endurance (50-70% of max HR), and explosive power (how fast you can move a given weight).
How To Improve Sleep Austin. This was broken down to be even more specific following post-sleep-deprivation by time of day, with aerobic endurance showing a significant decrease in the AM, while explosive power and speed exhibit notable reductions in the PM. Skill control demonstrated a significant decrease in both the AM and PM. If there is a deviation in skill control incorporating the movement of your body, not only is your performance at risk, but it makes sense to say your ability to remain uninjured during competition is compromised as well.
The moral of the story is that sleep loss will affect your physical performance, and if that is your way of earning income, building self-esteem, and/or finding joy, it needs to be a priority just as much as your training regimen and your diet. So, what can be done?
How Do I Improve My Sleep Proactively
How To Improve Sleep Austin. People tend to like lists, so I will list the recommendations of sleep expert Dr. Cheri Mah, whose clientele extends from the NBA to the NFL. She provided a good synopsis of actions to improve our sleep and enhance cognitive and physical performance.
- Make your sleep environment, dark (eye masks, seal off the lighting of any kind in your room), quiet (use ear plugs, and or maybe white noise such as playing rain sounds to mask environmental sounds such as traffic), and cold (room temperature should be lower at bedtime between 60-70 degrees, this may require some sleuthing so start with a couple of degrees decrease and find out what works best).
- If you shower before going to bed, do so an hour and a half before so that your core temperature has time to get reacclimated. Our core temperature drops when we sleep. Notice that when we get too warm, we either can’t fall asleep or wake up. FYI: In a pinch on the timing, maybe you get home late and close to bedtime, I have done a 30-60 second ending cold water blast to bring my temperature down, and it has worked very well to promote falling asleep.
- Stop TV time an hour before bed. The lighting can throw off your circadian rhythm, and the content you are watching may be overstimulating, preventing you from relaxing.
- If you must eat before going to bed (I am a former late-night eating addict), stay away from fatty or fried foods that are hard to digest, alcohol (prevents deep sleep), caffeine (keeps you awake), and tomato-based products as that may trigger acid reflux. A snack with 50% complex carbohydrates and 50% lean protein works well, as the protein slows the absorption of carbohydrates, keeping your blood sugar levels steady through the night. Some pairing options are: whole-grain cereal with low-sugar milk, cottage cheese or yogurt with fruit, whole-grain crackers, and any low-sugar nut butter.
- If you have a busy mind, like me, damping down your nervous system right before going to bed by taking 10 minutes to reflect on your thoughts through deep breathing, stretching, journaling, or reading can allow your parasympathetic nervous system (which controls the opposite of your fight-or-flight response) to start to take over and allow you to relax. If coming to a complete stop in your car at the crosswalk signifies the moment you get to sleep, then you want to gradually pump down on the brake. Following this sleep routine is simply pumping the brakes for an easy stop at the moment you want.
- For travel, the process for optimized sleep starts by packing the day before your flight so that your nervous system isn’t in overdrive and you can get restful sleep the night before. Get your usual 7+ hours of sleep before your flight, as jet lag is exacerbated by sleep deprivation. Before your flight day, go to bed 30 minutes earlier and wake up 30 minutes earlier on consecutive days beforehand, then get sunlight first thing in the morning to re-establish your inner clock, which can ease the transition to the new location. On the flight, make sure to stay hydrated with water and avoid sugar and alcohol, as they can throw off your internal clock, making it harder to fall asleep at the time you want in your new time zone.
- Sleep apnea affects 26% of people aged 30-70, causing them to not wake up refreshed, feel tired during the day, and rely on caffeine or power naps to maintain alertness. During sleep, if you have a pause in breathing, gasping for breath, or choking, any of these suggests you have sleep apnea. This should tip you off to visit your primary care physician as soon as possible.
How To Improve Sleep in Austin. We prioritize what matters to us and what allows us to be at our best. Sleep should be at the top of the list for the majority of us. Unfortunately, it is often a neglected aspect of wellness that affects everything we do in life. The great thing is that you can start turning that around with the tools that you have learned and can implement today. Let’s go be our best and ready to tackle life no matter what is thrown our way!
Reference List
Bartlett, S. (2024) ‘Quicker decision making and faster reaction times, here’s how you sleep like an Olympian’, The Diary Of A CEO, 5 December. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fybq6V74qRk
Gethin, G., Probst, S., Touriany, E., van Netten, J.J., Sobotka, L., 2022. The impact of patient health and lifestyle factors on wound healing, Part 1:
Gong, M., Sun, M., Sun, Y., Jin, L., Li, S., 2024. Effects of Acute Sleep Deprivation on Sporting Performance in Athletes: A Comprehensive Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. NSS Volume 16, 935–948.
Mah, C.D., Sparks, A.J., Samaan, M.A., Souza, R.B., Luke, A., 2019. Sleep restriction impairs maximal jump performance and joint coordination in elite athletes. Journal of Sports Sciences 37, 1981–1988.
Smithies, T.D., Toth, A.J., Dunican, I.C., Caldwell, J.A., Kowal, M., Campbell, M.J., 2021. The effect of sleep restriction on cognitive performance in elite cognitive performers: a systematic review. SLEEP 44, zsab008.
