The Benefits of a Good Snooze: Why You Should Have Healthy Sleeping Habits

Sleep is essential in nurturing our overall health and wellbeing. In fact, good sleep helps improve mental health, learning, immunity, memory, cardiovascular health, hormone balance, and reproductive health.1 However, many people sleep less than the recommended hours or suffer from sleeping problems that affect the amount and quality of rest they get from sleeping. More than 1/3 of people living in the United States sleep less than the recommended time, with 50-70 million adults diagnosed with sleep problems.1 This is a pressing concern because sleeping problems due to lifestyle and work habits, environmental conditions, or health issues can cause disease or exacerbate your already present disease conditions. Improving your sleep hygiene through behavior and lifestyle changes throughout the day helps improve the quality and duration of your sleep, protecting and nurturing your long-term health.
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The Different Stages of Sleep

The stages of the sleep cycle have vital roles in nurturing cognition and healing after a whole day of work! It is important to note that you do not necessarily have to experience all sleep stages every time you lie in bed. However, the amount of sleep stages and sleep cycles determine the quality of your sleep, precisely why you may feel well-rested after a good night’s sleep, while feeling groggy when someone randomly wakes you up! The four stages of sleep are classified into non-rapid eye movement (NREM) or rapid eye movement (REM): 

• Stage 1 NREM sleep (light sleep) begins from the moment you close your eyes until you fall asleep. Stage 1 is the entry to sleep and typically covers 5% of a full night's rest!
• Stage 2 NREM sleep (slightly deeper sleep) occurs when there is lack of eye movement, slowed heart rate, and decrease in body temperature. Stage 2 covers 50% of a full night’s rest! 
• Stage 3 NREM sleep (deep sleep) occurs during the early half of the night and covers 20-25% of your night’s rest. During stage 3, your body works wonders in conducting repairs and strengthening your immune function for another day of activities. The number of deep sleeps you experience actually lessens as you grow older. 
• Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep follows deep sleep and consists of rapid eye movements with an absent tone of your skeletal muscle, preventing you from moving too much while you sleep. This is the stage of sleep where you experience dreams and memory consolidation! During this stage, you will have a faster heart rate and irregular breathing. REM sleep covers 20% of a good night’s rest.

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What is a Healthy Sleep?

A good night’s rest is achieved through repeated and rhythmic cycles between the four stages of sleep. Typically, your sleep is considered good when you experience 4-5 cycles of sleep stages. Each sleep cycle typically lasts for 90 minutes, with an episode of REM sleep in between light and deep sleep.1

What is the recommended duration of my sleep?

The amount of sleep you should get everyday depends on your age and underlying health problems. Sleeping for 8-10 hours is recommended for healthy teenagers, while healthy adults should rest for 7-9 hours each day. Healthy older adults, on the other hand, should sleep for 7-8 hours per day. ​
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THE Benefits of a Healthy Sleep Hygiene

• Heart Health: While sleeping, your body experiences a relaxed state where your blood pressure lowers, heart rate slows, and your systems focus on rest and recovery. This much needed rest improves your heart health, while added stress from not getting a good night’s sleep increases your risks of developing heart disease.​
• Brain Activity: Long hours of work and activities during the day produce waste products in the brain, causing us to feel tired and out of focus when we lack rest. To remove such waste and feelings of tiredness, the glymphatic system works wonders during sleep.1 Hence, lack of sleep and disruptions while resting minimizes the ability of the glymphatic system to remove waste products, making you feel extra tired the day after! 
• Immune Function: Health sleep is vital to maintain the integrity of your immune system, nurturing your immune defenses against pathogens or inflammation.2 Depriving yourself of a good night’s rest could lead to the dysregulation of your immune response and inflammatory control, increasing your chances of having infection or worsening your current condition. 
• Memory: Your memories become filtered and stabilized for long-term use while you sleep. During stage 3 of NREM sleep, your memories are gradually transformed and integrated into multiple areas of your brain, ensuring this information is kept and linked with the way you think, talk, move, and perceive, while your brain's activity during REM sleep assists in nurturing these events. 
• Mental Health: A good night’s rest improves mood and concentration, while poor sleep can lead you to feel easily irritated and fatigued. In reality, sleep and mental health has a complicated two-way relationship. Mental health disorders and some medications can cause insomnia and disruptions between the stages of sleep, while insomnia and sleep problems may also trigger mental health disorders, such as depression. Additionally, poor sleep hygiene is associated with anxiety, addiction, and poor mental well-being. To learn more on how to achieve a good night’s rest, sign up for our Free Homeopathy for Insomnia Mini-Course.

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Common Sleep Disorders

Sleep disorders are significant predisposing factors that increase your risks of disease, along with poor work performance, problems in managing daily activities, unfortunate road accidents, and increased sensitivity to pain.1 Common sleep problems include: 

• Insomnia: associated with difficulties falling asleep, remaining asleep, or both. Insomnia severely affects daytime activities and typically results from stress, noise, temperature, heavy light, travel, and work schedule. Symptoms of insomnia include daytime sleepiness, exhaustion, irritability, and problems with recall or concentration.
• Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA): associated with blockage or compression of your airway with each breathing episode while you sleep, disrupting your sleep cycle and causing you to persistently get woken up in the middle of the night. The narrowing of your airway due to this condition may decrease your body's oxygen levels and could contribute to increased blood pressure, strokes, and heart attacks in the long run. 
• Circadian rhythm disorders: occurs when your internal clock is not effectively synced with the light-dark pattern of your environment, which are typically experienced by people who work during night shifts. You may have difficulties trying to get quality sleep after working all night or feel like you have not rested at all! Symptoms of circadian rhythm disorders include insomnia, excessive sleep, emotional problems, and digestive issues. 

 
Intake of certain over-the-counter medications and psychiatric drugs, as well as existing medical conditions can also lead to poor sleep quality. Talking with your naturopathic medicine advisors in exploring natural options to achieve good quality sleep is an empowered step you can take to nurture your long-term health.
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Improving Your Sleep

Medication and alcohol intake have been an all too common practice to induce sleep and finally get a good night’s rest. Although effective temporarily, these impose long-term health risks as chronic use causes emotional and physical dependence, daytime sleepiness, increased risk for falls, and higher deaths.1 Nutrition and lifestyle changes that focus on following healthy sleep-promoting practices should be the leading options to consider to achieve quality sleep. You should:

• Aim to sleep at least 7-9 hours every night. Sleeping less than 7 hours each night can severely impact your health, impair immune function, cause problems in your daily activities, increase the tendency to commit errors in work and school, and increase your risks of getting into accidents. In a similar way, sleeping more than 9 hours can impose several health risks in healthy individuals. 
• Set a consistent time within the night for sleep. Sleeping and waking up during the same time each day, even during the weekends or when you are going on trips, is a good start to improve your sleep hygiene! Following a regular sleep schedule helps regulate your body's biological clock, improves daytime energy, and makes it less difficult for you to fall asleep at night and wake up in the morning. Additionally, synchronizing your body' internal circadian rhythm with the environment improves your mental health and bodily functions. 
• Limit alcohol intake. Despite being a sedative which can help make you fall asleep faster; alcohol actually disrupts the quality of your sleep and can cause you to wake up in the middle of the night. Alcohol affects your overall sleep quality and duration by causing longer stage 3 NREM sleep, while delaying and decreasing REM sleep.1 
• Avoid eating bulky meals and unhealthy foods close to your bedtime. If possible, you should avoid intake of food 2 hours before sleeping at night! Eating late eventually leads to sleeping late, shortened sleep, and weight gain. Additionally, eating shortly before falling asleep may cause acid reflux, since gravity becomes less effective in keeping your stomach acid in place while you lie down, increasing the possibility of backflow of this acid into the esophagus. 
• Avoid naps during the late afternoon or evening hours. Naps help you relax, improve your mood, and help you become more alert. However, these naps should only be taken for 20-30 minutes during the early afternoon. Longer naps can cause you to become disoriented or groggy after waking up, especially when you enter deep sleep. If you experience insomnia, it may be best to avoid nap time as these may make it more difficult for you to sleep during your desired bedtime!
• Engage in regular physical activity and exercise. Exercising moderately not only improves your physical and emotional well-being, but also helps you relax and sleep at night. The National Sleep Foundation recommends doing exercise anytime each day as long as it does not compromise your sleep schedule!
• Avoid exposure to light or screens before bedtime. Unfortunately, it is best not to use your phone before sleeping! Melatonin levels typically rise during evening hours to prepare your body for sleep. However, exposure to heavy light reduces melatonin secretion, signaling your brain to stay awake. When you lack sleep, your alertness the next day becomes impaired. During evening hours, reducing your exposure to heavy light, and avoiding using your electronic devices as much as possible helps you sleep early and improves the quality of your sleep. Other practices to help minimize light exposure during the late hours include sleeping in a cool, dark room, wearing blue-light blocking glasses, or using your favorite sleeping mask to cover your eyes.
• Avoid drinking coffee or beverages that contain caffeine in the afternoon or evening. Oh no! Caffeine from your favorite drinks actually delays sleep, reduces the span of hours you stay asleep, and impairs the overall quality of your sleep. Caffeine does this by blocking the adenosine receptors in your brain, which are meant to produce sedative effects and make you fall asleep. As the half-life of caffeine is 6-7 hours, minimizing its intake during the late afternoon or evening can help you get a good night’s rest. 
• Practice mindfulness techniques. Mindfulness, healthy breathing patterns, and meditation activate the parasympathetic nervous system, helping your body with sleep initiation, rest, and digestion.1 Mindfulness techniques also help minimize your anxious and stressful thoughts, helping you get restful sleep!
• Create an optimal bedroom environment for sleep. Making your room dark, cool, and quiet during bedtime and using ear plugs or tools that block out noise promotes deep sleep. Refraining from studying, working, or watching television on your bed can also prevent yourself from getting distracted before sleeping. Mattresses, beddings, pillows, and comfortable sleeping positions help promote quality sleep. However, you may have to avoid several sleeping positions when you are diagnosed with sleeping disorders or musculoskeletal problems.  ​

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The Naturopathic Approach to Healthy Sleep

Achieving a good night’s rest is important in helping the body recharge for its daily activities. Optimizing your lifestyle and environment, exploring botanical options, and following healthy sleep patterns are essential practices to consider to finally achieve and maintain quality sleep. Discover more about the naturopathic approach to achieving healthy sleep.

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Author

Kate Nemenzo studied in nursing school as an academic scholar. Her passion for holistic health has led her to become a registered nurse who promotes optimal care throughout her patient’s therapeutic journey. When not writing, she spends her time crocheting, watching Korean dramas, and playing the guitar!

This article is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your licensed naturopathic physician or other licensed healthcare provider before making changes to your medications or supplements. Disclosures & Policies: This and other blog posts may contain affiliate links. Please view our disclosures page for more information. 
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REFERENCES:

1.  Baranwal N, Yu PK, Siegel NS. Sleep physiology, pathophysiology, and sleep hygiene. Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 2023;77:59-69. doi:10.1016/j.pcad.2023.02.005
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​2. Garbarino S, Lanteri P, Bragazzi NL, Magnavita N, Scoditti E. Role of sleep deprivation in immune-related disease risk and outcomes. Commun Biol. 2021;4(1):1304. Published 2021 Nov 18. doi:10.1038/s42003-021-02825-4