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Review Your Current Sleep Habits

Review your SleepWell® Tracker from the previous week. Complete the “Sleep Trends” chart in your tracker. At this point, you may not know what needs to change. This section explores the following:

1. Self-assessment of sleep quality, including your sleep environment and lifestyle habits

2. Sleep hygiene and creating an environment that promotes sleep

3. Goal-setting and planning successful changes

SleepWell® Program

QUICK LINKS: WEEK 2

SleepWell® Program

QUICK LINKS: WEEK 1

What should I do when I wake up in the middle of the night or wake up too early in the morning?

If you can’t go back to sleep within 10-15 minutes, get out of bed. Go to another room and sit in the dark or do an activity in dim light. After  20 minutes, go back to bed.

*  Read a book, magazine, or newspaper.

*  Knit, crochet, braid yarn, or practice tying knots.

*  Sit in dim, not bright, light.

*  Work on jigsaw or crosswords puzzles or play cards.

*  Avoid using a computer, tablet, or smartphone screen. The light from the screen can make you feel alert.

Create a basket of items to prepare for times you may wake up during the night. This can include a big sweater, blanket, slippers, a book, or other items that are listed above. If you can’t fall back asleep after 10-15 minutes, take the basket to another room and do one of your activities.

Do not associate your bed with being awake.

Others may notice you have more energy during the day. They may know it is because you are sleeping better and changing other lifestyle factors. As with any personal change, how much you talk about it is up to you.

When you talk about changes you have made, use “I messages.” An “I message” starts with “I” and expresses a feeling.

Examples:

*  I think dimming the lights before bed helped me to be more ready for sleep.

*  I decided to improve my sleep habits so I could be a safer driver.

Avoid using the word “you” to tell someone else what will work for him or her. Avoid telling someone else why he or she should improve their sleep. This can lead to defensive and negative feelings, even if you are trying to help.

What worked for you may not work for someone else. Everyone needs to find what works for him or her. If someone has experienced sleep problems for more than three weeks, it is important for him or her to seek a doctor’s advice.

If someone you care about is also working to improve their sleep, you can help in the following ways:

*  Model healthy lifestyle behaviors like eating fruits and vegetables and exercising regularly.

*  Help with driving, childcare, chores, etc.

*  Practice healthy ways to manage stress.

*  Plan times together to be physically active. Go for a walk outside or at a mall.

*  Plan times together to relax. Picnic at the park, watch a movie together, or just sit and talk about your day.

Step back and look at your worries from an outsider’s point of view. Imagine how others might handle these issues. You can also use this technique to look at your job or family duties.

Ask yourself these questions:

*  What can I expect of myself in this situation?

*  Are my expectations realistic, given my abilities, strengths, and weaknesses?

*  What do others expect of me?

*  What ideas would others have for me?  When you imagine how someone else might respond to a situation, you may actually come up with helpful ideas!

Continue to make sleep a priority. Assess your energy and make adjustments to your lifestyle and sleep habits as needed. Practice relaxation and stress management techniques.

Return to each week’s activities and suggestions regularly. The more tools you use, the more you will understand what works for you. Improving your sleep takes self-discovery and patience. Going back and spending time on a previous week’s activities may help you.

Reflect on your experience.

Complete the following.

*  Ways my sleep improved since starting the SleepWell® program.

*  Changes I think are having the biggest impact on my sleep.

*  In what areas do I still need to make changes? These can be in my sleep environment, lifestyle behaviors, stress management, communication with others, or another factor that affects my sleep.

Stress is linked to more than 50 percent of all sleep-related problems. You face stressors daily. Common examples are work and family demands, traffic jams, and health problems. Some stress helps you to be more productive. Too much or chronic stress can cause damage to your body. High stress levels can cause, or worsen, many health issues. These include heart disease, diabetes, obesity, depression, gastrointestinal problems, muscle problems, headaches, and   back pain.

Your Body’s Response to Stress

*  Heart rate and breathing speed up.

*  Blood pressure rises.

*  Blood moves to major muscles.

*  Muscles tense.

*  Sweating occurs.

*  Blood sugar increases to supply the body with energy.

*  Brain waves increase. You feel more alert and may have racing thoughts.

*  Stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline) increase. Adrenaline makes you feel “on edge” and amped up.

Cortisol is one of the hormones released when you are stressed. Cortisol increases your appetite, especially for sugar and starchy carbohydrates. Consuming these foods in large amounts promotes belly fat, high blood pressure, and diabetes. During sleep, your body attempts to repair the damage caused by stress. Sleep lowers cortisol (a stress hormone) and raises growth hormone (a repair hormone).

Without enough sleep, levels of cortisol in the body stay high. High cortisol levels keep the body alert, increase blood pressure, and continue to damage cells. This raises the risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke. You may feel like you are in a state of hyper-alertness. Even if you fall asleep, your brain does not enter deep sleep. When you wake, you do not feel rested.

When you do not get enough sleep, you are less able to cope with stress. Improving the length and quality of your sleep is one of the most effective stress management techniques.