In celebration of World Sleep Day, we put together a panel of experts to answer your most commonly searched questions about sleep.
Sleep can be an elusive thing. A study by the Sleep Health Foundation shows that at least 39.8 per cent of Aussies suffer from significant insomnia, and it can be hard to know the solution when you’re feeling the effects of disrupted downtime. So what do we do when we don’t know the answer to something? We google it. We decided not to lose a second (or any more sleep) before gathering a panel of experts to supply us with some in-depth answers for your most googled queries on the top
Sleep specialist Dr David Cunnington, and sleep psychologists Hailey Meaklim and Professor Dorothy Bruck join us to answer the internet’s burning questions.
The internet asked Google:
How do I get to sleep quickly?
HM: “Try to listen to the body’s signs that it’s ready for sleep. There’s a difference between feeling tired and feeling sleepy. People might say, ‘When I’m tired I’m low in energy and I just want to sit on the couch and not do much’, but they’re not necessarily ready for sleep. Their eyes may not be droopy yet, the brain’s still active. Tune in and ask, ‘Am I just physically tired, and can stay up for a bit? Or am I actually sleepy, am I yawning? Is it really hard to stay focused on something?’ That’s a sign that the body’s ready for sleep, and sleep will often come a lot quicker if you’re tuning into those cues.”
DB: “It’s important that you don’t allow what I like to call ‘emotionally-hot thoughts’ to intrude. These are things like planning a confrontational encounter or trying to decipher a friend’s hurtful behaviour. There are a number of mental distraction techniques to avoid this. You can think pleasant thoughts, perhaps about your last holiday. Some people plug in a calming app with some music or talking, or practice meditation techniques such as body scanning, in order to take the attention away from their thoughts.”
DC: “Sleep is not something we can will to happen. Sleep's a natural biological process that will occur when we're in the right frame of mind and our body’s ready for sleep. Like anything that's outside of our control, if we wish it were different and try to manipulate it, we start to get frustrated. A different approach is really recognising that sleep should be a health priority, and if we allow the appropriate space for sleep, where we're in the right frame of mind and our body is appropriately prepared for sleep, then our body will take the sleep it needs.”
The internet asked Google:
How much sleep is normal?
HM: “It’s more about working out what fits for you. A good time to do that is when you’re on holiday, and don’t have to get up at a certain time. Pay attention to how much sleep you need to feel good the next day. That might be eight hours, it might be seven. Holidays are good for judging you as an individual, with no restrictions on your time, to work out how much sleep is adequate.”
DC: “There’s a lot of the public health messaging around sleeping for eight hours. In actual fact, the data suggests that health risks from short sleep is really only coming in at six hours sleep or below. There's this whole societal narrative around how we're sleeping less. In actual fact, we're not sleeping less, we just put higher expectations on ourselves because we're busier and we have to be awesome every day.”
The internet asked Google:
What is sleep paralysis and what causes it?
DB: “When we have a normal dream, our whole skeletal muscle system paralyses so that we don’t act out our dream. That paralysis, in sleep paralysis, remains while your mind is coming out of sleep. It’s a disconnect with the dreaming part of sleep. The most important thing here is for people to understand what’s happening so they don’t feel fearful, or think they won’t come out of that state. It can be comforting to know that three percent of the population experience it at some point. The thing to do is to try and relax and tell yourself you will come out of it – sometimes someone touching you will help you come out of it too. Sleep paralysis is more likely to happen if you’re sleep deprived, so getting consolidated, quality sleep can help.”
The internet asked Google:
What is sleep apnea and what are its symptoms?
DC: “When we sleep we experience muscle relaxation including relaxation of the muscles in the upper airway, in particular the tongue and some of the structures in the back of the throat. This can cause the back of the airway to become narrow. If it narrows a little bit, it can cause a vibration and a snoring noise. If it narrows even more, it can block the airway and limit air flow. To correct that, the brain will pull people up to a lighter sleep, get them to take a bigger breath, and that whole process sends an adrenaline surge through the body. What that might look like to a bed partner is a snore or a gasp, or a shift in breathing, and a bit of restlessness. That can happen 50 times an hour, every hour, through the night. Over time, repeated surges in heart rate and blood pressure can put a strain on the heart and increase cardiovascular risks. It’s a good idea to go and see your GP if you suspect this is happening.”
The internet asked Google:
How do I get back to sleep?
HM: “Our sleep cycles go through light sleep, deep sleep and then we come back up to the surface, so it’s very normal to wake up. The advice I give to people is to not look at the clock when they wake up because this can produce some worries about consequences the next day. If people do start to think and to worry, and the body is not in a state of sleepiness, then it’s best to put into place what we call ‘stimulus control’. This is where we don’t want the bed to be associated with being awake and frustrated and so in this case, it’s actually best to get up and go to another room. By making a hot drink or reading, something to take their mind off it, most people will notice that sleepiness comes back when it’s ready.”
Dr David Cunnington is a specialist sleep physician and co-founder of SleepHub, Professor Dorothy Bruck is Chair of the Sleep Health Foundation and Hailey Meaklim is a psychologist specialising in sleep at Melbourne Sleep Disorders Centre.
