Sleep: A Tender Mercy

In my family I’m known as the “nap master” because I love to nap. My wife and kids tell me that my voice has such a comforting, soporific effect that it puts them to sleep quickly – a dubious distinction.

There are few pleasures in life as satisfying as a good night’s sleep. Yet it is estimated that more than 100 million Americans sleep poorly on a regular basis., Restful sleep, for many, is a hit-or-miss event, and they have come to accept as normal the burning eyes and aching heaviness that follows a fretful night.

But the truth is it’s more than just a bad night’s sleep. A recent large Japanese study of over 100,000 people concluded that those who sleep 7 hours per night have the lowest mortality rate. Why you might wonder is one’s sleep habit such an important predictor of health and longevity?

At first glance the math is simple. If you loose one hour of sleep a night, at the end of a week you have effectively pulled an all-nighter. Miss two hours of sleep and you have pulled two all-nighters, and this sleep deficit continues to add up month after month. It is no wonder that insomniacs, nursing mothers, and others with poor sleep find themselves dragging through their days.

Sleep is a reflection of the overall balance in your life. Like Yin and Yang the alternation of night and day follow upon each other in tune with the great solar clock. Our internal biological clock is set in accord with this cosmic turning. The blast of bright morning sunlight synchronizes and triggers the rhythmic release of myriad internal hormones, which is why setting a consistent time to rise each morning is the single most important habit to establish. When this rhythm is disrupted it has potentially serious health effects as evidenced by female night- shift workers who experience higher levels of breast cancer.

What can you do?

The first step to towards getting better sleep is to make it an important priority. Realize that your disturbed sleep is an indication something is seriously out of balance in your life. Begin by eliminating all forms of caffeine, from coffee to soda pop. I had a patient who stopped drinking his morning latte and his insomnia promptly resolved. Develop a pre-sleep ritual that begins with winding down after dinner and becoming increasingly quiet an hour before retiring. Use dimmers for overhead lighting to control light intensity in your home and use table lamps for softer ambient lighting. And naturally include daily exercise to the point of sweating to work off the nervous energy so that your body will be ready for rest in the evening.

Acupuncture is an effective non-drug approach that can quickly restore balance and the blessing of sound sleep. It can also serve as a way of weaning you from a reliance on sleeping pills and other sleep preparations. There is a place to use medications on occasion, but if used for more than a few days, these same drugs may worsen insomnia and are never a lasting solution.

Ultimately the goal is to restore balance and harmony to your life and when you are sleeping soundly 7 hours a night, rest assured that you are treading the path to a long and healthy life.