Category: SleepWell® Program

Even with your best efforts to discuss what you are doing and why, conflicts may arise. You will need to manage conflicts to keep your sleep plan on track.

Saboteurs. Do not expect everyone to be happy that you are following a different schedule and making changes to your sleep environment. What you are doing may seem confusing to someone else. Use assertive communication to address issues.

Getting enough sleep helps you maintain good health and function your best during the day. Click on the image below to download your sleep enhancement questionnaire.

In Week 4, you will learn strategies for managing stress and for relaxing before bedtime. This section presents many techniques that you can use to relax. Some techniques may be better suited for you than others. Like any new behavior, learning to relax in a healthy manner takes practice.

It is not enough to only read about relaxation techniques. You must practice them. Commit to using relaxation tools throughout your day.

SleepWell® Program

QUICK LINKS: WEEK 4

This is a natural process the body follows over a 24-hour cycle. Our 24-hour cycle is adapted to the 24-hour light-dark cycle of the earth. This creates our internal clock that many body systems follow. These include heart, kidney and immune system functions, and release of certain hormones. Due to this rhythm, we are more likely to feel sleepy and to fall asleep when it is dark outside.

Sleep Drive

The longer you stay awake, the more likely you are to fall asleep and stay asleep. This natural force is known as your sleep drive. Sleep drive helps keep your body functioning. It can overpower your desire to stay awake if you build up too much of a sleep debt. A healthy sleep drive follows a predictable cycle. When you go to bed, you should feel that you are responding to your body’s natural drive to sleep.

Sleep enhancement is not about actively trying to sleep.Sleep enhancement is about creating conditions that allow your body to fulfill a natural need. Lifestyle habits, schedules, and thought processes can throw off your body’s natural rhythm. Using this guide will help you “re-set” your sleep drive.

Shift Work

About 20% of the U.S. workforce is employed in some type of shift work or works non-traditional hours. Often, shift work does not follow the body’s natural circadian rhythm. Working during normal sleep-time can put shift workers at high risk for sleep deficiency. Without enough sleep, the risk for accidents and health problems increases. You can take special steps to promote healthy sleep if you work shifts other than usual daytime hours. Check out the tips for shift workers throughout this guide.

You have special sleep challenges if you work long hours, rotating shifts, permanent night shifts, or multiple jobs. School and/or family responsibilities on top of shift work may also interfere with sleep time. Night-time shift work involves working against your body’s natural rhythm. Remember, your body clock is “set” by exposure to sunlight. Shift work presents challenges:

*  You need to sleep at times that your body is not naturally inclined to sleep.

*  You need to be alert during times your body expects to be sleeping.

*  Going to and from work may involve driving during times your body wants to be sleeping. Shift workers are six times more likely to be in a fatigue-related road accident than other workers.

*  You may struggle to feel connected to family and friends. You may feel unable to do activities or attend events that are important to you.

*  You may be more sleep deprived, have a harder time falling asleep, sleep lighter, and feel less rested upon waking.

Control Risk Factors for Work-Place Fatigue

*  Work in well-lit, safe areas.

*  Work in well-ventilated areas and reduce exposure to industrial chemicals and toxins. Follow your workplace’s Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs).

*  If possible, avoid working overtime during times that would interfere with your scheduled sleep time.

*  Avoid shift-swapping and changing schedules more than necessary.

*  Use breaks, meal times, and rest periods at work. Don’t work through your breaks.

*  Use equipment provided (machinery, lifting equipment, comfortable chairs, anti-fatigue matting, etc.) to reduce the physical demands of a job.

*  If working in warmer temperatures, take more breaks and seek shelter often. Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.

Plan Transportation

Take public transportation, a taxi, or share rides after a long or overtime shift. Plan a car pool and have an alert person drive. Or, arrange for someone to pick you up. Avoid driving alone after a long shift. Do not drive if you are too drowsy.

Exercise briefly before you drive home. Jump in place or walk briskly around the parking lot. Drive carefully and defensively.

Time Your Fuel

Eat three regular meals spaced evenly during the day. Eating helps cue your body’s clock.

*  Make your first two meals larger and avoid having your largest meal before bedtime.

*  Avoid drinking any alcohol within three hours of bedtime.

*  Avoid eating a lot of snacks and fast food.

*  Drink a caffeinated beverage early in your shift, if you need it. Avoid caffeine six hours before bedtime.

Light Exposure

*  If you are coming off a night shift, limit exposure to early-morning daylight on the way home. Wear sunglasses to reduce the light level. Your body will be more ready for sleep when you get home.

*  If you sleep during daylight hours, use window coverings that darken your bedroom. Use curtains with black-out backing or cover the windows with black plastic garbage bags. Use a sleep mask to further limit light exposure to your eyes.

*  Draw the blinds and pull shades down before you leave the house to go to work. When you arrive home, the darker room will help cue your body to sleep. If you wake up after you fall asleep, the dark room will help you fall back asleep.

Scheduling Shift Work

Talk to your supervisor or manager about the right kind of schedule for you and your team. The risk for accidents and on-the-job errors decreases when employees are alert and well-rested. A schedule allowing everyone enough time to sleep and recover from shift changes is in the group’s best interest.

Forward rotating schedules make it easier for your body to adjust to changes. This type of schedule follows a clockwise pattern. For example:

Day shift > Evening shift > Night shift > Morning shift > Day shift

Reverse rotating schedules make it more difficult for your body to adjust to changes. This type of schedule follows a counter-clockwise pattern. For example:

Day shift > Morning shift > Night shift > Evening shift > Day shift

Randomly rotating shifts are very hard on your body. Try to stay on the same schedule-this helps align your body clock with your sleep and wake patterns.

Planning Sleep with a Rotating Schedule

Begin to adjust sleep before your shift changes. Gradually move your sleep and wake times to prepare for the new schedule.

Example: Rotating from evening shift to night shift

Delay the times you go to bed and wake up by one to two hours on the last few days of your evening shift. When you begin the night shift, your body will already be getting ready for the new schedule. Give your body time to adjust. By making changes gradually, you can avoid the harsh disruption of a sudden schedule change. This will help you to sleep better through the change in your work schedule.

Plan Your Sleep Transition: Start with the time you normally sleep for your current shift. A few days before your shift changes, start to move your sleep time towards the time you will be sleeping for your next shift.

Extra Tips for Changing Shifts

*  After your last night shift, try to adjust your body clock to be awake in daytime. Sleep only two to three hours on the first morning after a night shift and then get a good sleep that night and on the following nights.

*  Avoid abruptly going back to a daytime schedule during a day or night off. This change makes the circadian rhythm unstable and can make it more difficult to sleep when you want to.

“Catching Up” on Sleep

Avoid over-sleeping, even when you have missed sleep in the previous days. If you sleep too much, your sleep drive will decrease. With decreased pressure to sleep, your sleep may be lighter and you are more likely to wake up. When you keep regular sleep and wake times, it will be easier for you to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Your mind is very powerful. How you link things affects how you behave in a particular situation. When you walk into a dark room, you probably look for a light switch. When you always watch TV in bed a lot, you probably reach for the remote as soon as you go to bed. Habits and routines get stronger as you repeat them.

You are not locked in to these patterns. You can train your brain to respond to cues in a different way. Stimulus control is part of cognitive-behavioral therapy, an effective and well-researched sleep enhancement strategy.

Be patient with yourself. It may take several weeks of repeating a new routine for it to seem normal.

What’s On Your Mind?

Walk into your bedroom. What are you thinking about? How do you feel? Are you worried about another sleepless night? Are you thinking about everything that needs to be done tomorrow? Are you remembering an angry discussion that happened in this room last month?

Removing the link between your bedroom and negative, unpleasant thoughts takes time.

Associate Your Bed with Sleep

*  Limit your bedroom activities to sleep and sex. While sex is stimulating for most people, it may help you sleep as well. This is the only activity other than sleep that should be allowed in your bed.

*  Complete work and pay bills in another room. Don’t use the bedroom as a home office.

*  If you can’t avoid working in the bedroom:

– Don’t sit on the bed while you work.

– Sit in a chair facing away from the bed.

– Put all work materials away or cover them so you can’t see them at bedtime.

*  Have difficult conversations in another room.

*  If possible, have your partner give you a massage or back rub. Take deep breaths and clear your mind.

Skip the evening news. Watching or listening to the news can be stressful. Stories of crime, the economy, political battles, and community issues can be worrying and depressing. Stress hormones can make you feel more alert and less ready to sleep.

Avoid social media right before you go to bed, too. Positive or negative stories from friends and family may keep you awake. Add these to your “to-do” list if you need to follow-up. Give yourself a media curfew.

Over-the-Counter Products

It is best to check with your doctor before you take over-the-counter (OTC) medicines or supplements that promote sleep. Why?

*  Some products could cause harmful interactions with medications you take and with alcohol.

*  You may need to find out the right dose for you to take.

*  You could have side effects, such as daytime sleepiness.

*  Some products may worsen health problems you have.

*  You could have a medical problem that needs proper diagnosis and treatment.

In general, do not take OTC sleep medications for more than two weeks without your doctor’s advice.

Use Caution with Prescribed Sleeping Pills

Prescribed sleeping pills can cause daytime drowsiness and other side effects. Do not drive or do other activities that require you to be alert.

*  Follow your doctor’s advice for taking prescribed sleeping pills. Do not increase the dosage without your doctor’s okay.

*  Let him or her know about side effects that bother you.

*  Discuss how long to take sleeping pills to avoid getting addicted to them.

*  Do not stop taking them abruptly. Doing this could cause withdrawal symptoms. Discuss this with your doctor.

*  Ask your doctor how to reduce your intake gradually and ways to promote sleep that work best for you without taking sleeping pills.

Signs to seek help for a problem with sleeping pills

*  Taking sleeping pills every night for more than two weeks

*  Taking a higher dose than you did before to fall asleep

Hitting Snooze Hurts Sleep

Your body prepares to wake up before your alarm goes off. Hormones that make you feel alert increase in the body. When you first wake up you may still feel groggy and hit the snooze button. Confused, your body releases sleep-promoting hormones. Getting out of bed becomes harder and you may feel worse when you do get out of bed.

Tips for Avoiding the Snooze Trap

Set only one alarm. If you know you have a back-up alarm set, it is tempting to go back to sleep.

Keep your alarm clock or cell phone alarm well out of arm’s reach. Make it necessary to stand up and cross the room in order to turn off the alarm.

Relaxing for up to five minutes after you wake is okay, but get out of bed within five minutes. Think about what you are going to do first when you wake up-go to the bathroom, start making coffee, take a shower, stretch, etc.