Strategies for Improving Sleep Quality

Speaker 1 0:01

This is part three of our three part series . So far , I've covered why do we wake during sleep , and I've also covered how to wake up less frequency from our sleep . So in today's episode , I'm going to cover the really important topic and , without doubt , the most frustrating of them all , and that is how can we get back to sleep . Shift work can be brutal , but it doesn't have to be . Welcome to a healthy shift . My name is Roger Sutherland , certified Nutritionist , veteran Law Enforcement Officer and 24-7 Shift Worker for almost four decades . Through this podcast , I aim to educate shift workers using evidence based methods to not only survive the rigours of shift work but thrive . My goal is to empower shift workers to improve their health and wellbeing so they have more energy to do the things they love . Enjoy today's show .

Speaker 1 1:09

Welcome to another episode of a healthy shift podcast . I'm your host , roger Sutherland , and it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to this episode of the show . I am your dedicated guide in evidence based strategies for shift work success , and today we're delving into a common challenge that affects all of us and it's the most frustrating of all , and that is I've woken up when I want to be asleep . How do I get back to sleep now . Now , we all know that waking up in the middle of a sleep can be the most frustrating thing ever , but I want you to remember and I want you to go back to why did we wake up during sleep and how can we wake up less frequently ? The last two episodes of the podcast as well . And I don't want you to fear . Fear not , because , armed with the right tools , you can easily get back to dreamland . So grab your pen and paper and let's dive into some evidence based strategies to conquer those mid-sleep awakenings .

Speaker 1 2:16

Now I want to first talk about and I'm going to try and explain this , which is not easy , and I'm going to try and give you a visualization . I went into this in great detail in another episode of the podcast , but I need to talk to you about sleep pressure , because one of the main reasons why we wake up is because what we do wake up , as you've learned in the episode two , we wake up every 90 minutes . It's just that we stir . We don't generally wake right up unless we have significant environmental factors going on , which may very well be something along the lines of stress , or caffeine , or a large meal , or something along those lines mental health issues that are causing us real great issues . But one of the biggest problems that we have and let me try and explain this to you is we have our circadian rhythm , we have sleep pressure and then we have sleep .

Speaker 1 3:11

Now what actually happens is we go to sleep because we're exhausted , we're tired . That means our sleep pressure has actually built up , so we go to sleep . Now , when we are in a situation where , for argument's sake , we've done a few nights and night shift and now we're coming out of that night shift or for some people they might do a whole week of night shift when you do a whole week of night shift , you've actually changed and phase shifted your circadian rhythm to fit in with that routine . If you go about it by sleeping all day and then working overnight , you have phase shifted your circadian rhythm . It's just the same as when we travel . When we travel , we literally phase shift our circadian rhythm to the new time zone , and when we're on night shift , we do the same thing . So when we come out of it and then it's dark and we want to go to sleep , our poor circadian rhythm is still way back there in the . I'm normally asleep at this time . I'm normally awake at this time , so why are we sleeping ?

Speaker 1 4:13

Now , what actually builds up our sleep is sleep pressure , so that's adenosine that is literally building up and attaching to those adenosine receptors in our brain so that sleep pressure continually builds and builds and builds and builds , forcing us to go to sleep . And the longer you're awake , the more pressure there is for us to go to sleep . Hence the reason why , when we come out of night shift and we get up early if you go back to my series of how to go to how to come out of night shift we get up early and we get on with the day and we allow that sleep pressure to build up to put us to sleep . Now , when we go to sleep , that sleep pressure starts to chip away like a plaque off our brain because we're asleep , so the sleep pressure has gone . So what actually happens is then is our circadian rhythm is out of sync . So when we go through that 90 minute cycle and we start to wake in between 90 minute cycles of sleep , because there is literally no sleep pressure there at all and our circadian rhythm is out of sync , the problem that we have there is we wake up and there's no sleep pressure and our circadian rhythm is completely out of sync . So , therefore , we lie there staring at the ceiling , bright and bushy tarp , we're ready to go , and that is the most frustrating thing ever . But if you understand that , if you lie there and get that deep rest non sleep and close your eyes and focus on some breathing practice and basically tell your body no , no , we're going back to sleep in the dark with that controlled breathing , when that circadian rhythm catches up , you will go back to sleep , and this is the key for a lot of people to try and understand that having that awareness instead of getting frustrated is one of those things . If you are aware that your circadian rhythm is out of sync and your sleep pressure has gone , then what you can do is you can just lie there and do diaphragmatic breathing , and we'll talk about that in this podcast as well , in one of the strategies to help you to go back to sleep . It's really , really important that we are aware of why we've woken up , and then what we can do is we can understand what strategies to put in place around it . So one of the first reasons why we would wake up is let's first of all , let's check our sleep environment , so your bedroom should be a haven for perfect sleep .

Speaker 1 6:48

I want you to stand at the doorway and look into your bedroom . Does that look like and I'm not talking about at eight o'clock in the morning , when you've just come home from a full night on night shift , because you'd sleep in the corner standing on your head , I know but does it look like a room that you would want to sleep in ? Is it dark ? Is it cool ? Does it look comfortable ? Is it uncluttered ? Is it nice ? Is it fresh ? Are we have we got a good pillow ? Have we got a good mattress ? Do we have good bedding ?

Speaker 1 7:18

This is a key , not just something that's pretty , that looks great during the day , but we want something that is absolutely comfortable . When was the last time you changed your mattress ? When was the last time you changed your pillow ? When was the last time that you blocked out your curtains or put block out curtains up ? When was the last time that you cooled your bedroom to the relevant temperature that we need ? Is it really pitch black ? Because it needs to be . If you're on night shift , it does . Any light will actually trigger us to wake and it causes us problems . So your bedroom needs to be that peaceful , restful haven for us to sleep in . We need to keep it pitch black , dark , right . We need it cool . It needs to be between 18 and 20 degrees Celsius , stable . It needs to be at that . That is the temperature that our body actually sleeps at , which is around 65 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit . And this is the reason , believe it or not , and this is gonna be a light bulb moment for you . This is why they call it room temperature , room temperature . We want things at room temperature , and room temperature is between 18 and 20 degrees , and that is optimal for us to sleep , all right . So we need to really consider the impact of light and noise and how that may stimulate us .

Speaker 1 8:40

Now , in relation to noise , here's a little tip for you as well . If you have something that you can put white noise on when you're sleeping , even during the day , if you can have that white noise in your ears , your brain subconsciously focuses on that . So , sudden noises of the fridge clicking in and out , or someone going to the toilet nearby , or something along those lines , you know , flushing your toilet , not going to the toilet , like as in anyway , yeah , so you know if you're going to hear a toilet flush or sudden noises , the heater kicking in and out or the air conditioner kicking in and out , you won't notice that and you won't hear it if you've got a white noise machine on , because your brain will focus on that white noise , it doesn't become a sudden noise and your brain doesn't register it so much . So remember , non-sleep deep rest can be as rejuvenating as actual sleep and it's something that's really good . So if you wake up in the middle of the night and you just lie there eyes closed this is why I recommend a sleep mask the second you open your eyes excuse me , the second you open your eyes and your eyes register any light , keep this in mind . There's no sleep pressure . You've now put light in there . Then you think , oh my God , I've got to go to the toilet . So you get up to go to the toilet You've introduced the three seatkeepers there movement and go into the bathroom , and if you grab a glass of water , you've just contributed to the wake signals to the body , which causes us all sorts of problems . So if you can lie there sleep mask , even if you open your eyes , it'll still be pitch black under that sleep mask . So that's something to really remember . And you can get an hour of deep rest , non-sleep , which can be very , very significant . It can equal up to about 20 odd minutes of sleep , but just deep rest , non-sleep .

Speaker 1 10:32

Okay , now if you find yourself tossing and turning , some relaxation techniques can be a secret weapon for you as well . So let's talk about diaphragmatic . Anyway , I can't even say you try and say it , but diaphragmatic breathing , which is like a progressive muscle relaxation and a mindfulness meditation , a lot your superpowers as well . This is what helps you with a good night's sleep . So practice them during the day . When you wake up in the middle of the night . This is not the time to practice it . If you wake up in the middle of the night or in the middle of a sleep , this practicing it then is going to cause you more frustration . This is something that we need to absolutely nail away from our sleep outside of that , so that when we wake up in the middle of what we should be sleeping , we can actually just put these things straight into practice as a strategy , and it will help us absolutely know when . So keep that in mind . All right , practice , practice some diaphragmatic breathing and practice see I said at that time and practice meditation and also just literally deep breathing exercises , so that when this happens , you don't have to think about it , you'll just naturally do it .

Improving Shift Worker Sleep Quality

Speaker 1 11:49

Now , what if you're lying there awake for more than 30 minutes ? Well , it's time to get things going . We have to start thinking Don't lie there , it'd be getting up and it might sound counterintuitive or counterproductive , but it is really really important that you get up and get out of bed , because we will create an association between our brain and our body that this is where we lie and this is where we think and this is where we get frustrated . So , getting into bed and this is why we say that if you create the environment , your body will take care of the rest . It's because if you lie there tossing and turning and grab your phone or turn the TV on or whatever , you're actually educating your body that this is what we do and this is how we go about it . That's why it will wake up and that is incredibly annoying . So we need to think about things logically , all right , so think about that Now .

Speaker 1 12:43

Sorry , just to go back to that diaphragmatic breathing as well . One thing that's really important with that is when you lie in there lie on your back . If you wake up and lie on your back and put one hand on your chest right just below , like where your septum bone is put your hand on your chest and put the other one on your navel and take a deep breath . You don't want that breath to go into your hand on your chest . You want that breath to go into the hand that your navel is on . You want your gut to raise . This actually triggers our vagus nerve and it also triggers our parasympathetic side of our autonomous nervous system as well , and you will literally feel yourself relaxing by doing this deep breathing into your gut . If you're breathing into your chest , then you're in a sympathetic state and I'm sorry , but you need to really work hard to breathe down into that gut and make it a habit and I would highly recommend that people do this during the day that literally just breathe down into their gut and make it a concerted effort to breathe into your gut , because this will help you enormously to go back to sleep when you or go to sleep when you have had like a highly strong shift and you need to go to sleep and stay asleep , and it will make a big difference . So , if you do happen to moving on again . Going back to if you've been awake for more than 30 minutes . It's not the right thing to do to stay in bed until I go back to sleep . Get yourself up , but you've got to do something boring , all right . By reinforcing the association between your bed and sleep . It's really crucial .

Speaker 1 14:23

As I said before , there's only three things that we do in bed and our body needs to associate those three things . It's not a place that we lie there , watch TV or lie there and think or be awake . So what we need to do is we get up , we get out of bed and we just go and do something mindless like read a dumb magazine . Don't read bunnies catalog , because you'll get stimulated by what you need to buy that you didn't realize that you needed to buy . Anyway , on that . And we don't look at our phones . We don't look at , we can look at Kindles . Kindles are okay as far as a reader not reading a book on our phone or on our iPad . It's got to be on something like your Kindle , because there's just no blue light that comes out of it at all . We don't go and sit and watch TV . What we do is we just do something in a really low light that's as boring as that will help us to relax and go back to sleep , and I think that's really , really important Now .

Speaker 1 15:17

Nightmares , now those vivid and spine chilling dreams that can that really do jolt us awake . We really need to . We really do need to work on that as well . If we have one of those and we all do it every single person does it as well but if they're repetitive dreams that are work related , then you need to seek some help in relation to that . That's really , really important . But a strategy around that is guided imagery so like relaxation techniques and sometimes just sitting up in bed with a small light and just journaling things out can really help you to navigate through the remnants of that nighttime adventure . It can really help you to calm your mind and relax writing things out instead of just sitting there and thinking about it . Plus , it also helps because you can remember and tell your partner about it the next day as well . How many times have you had a vivid dream that you think , oh , I won't forget that , wake up in the morning , can't remember at all ?

Speaker 1 16:14

Right Now , the things that you have to avoid . You know what I'm going to say here first up , don't you ? And that's your smartphone . Like it might seem like we reach for it all the time and it's probably what you think is your soulmate , but it actually is causing you all sorts of problems . The blue light will actually disrupt your sleep , and it will . It will actually disrupt your sleep because it suppresses the melatonin , but the other problem that we have with that is the content that we're actually absorbing from the phone , right ? So it's really , really important that we don't open that phone , because there could be that notification , that text that we receive , that we start thinking about that person or you know , whatever .

Speaker 1 16:57

Nothing good can come when you should be sleeping off your phone . Nothing at all , all right . The same thing goes for watching the clock . You're only creating anxiety , and it's a slippery slope because we create what's known as sleep anxiety , that oh yeah , here we are , three o'clock , I wake up . I always wake up at three o'clock , like I do . That You're going to condition . Your brains are waking up at three and this is what you're going to do all the time . And this is science shows that this is what actually happens . So we've got to make sure that I know it's a . It's a vicious cycle . But we've got to make sure that we don't do that so that we don't end up in that vicious cycle of oh I wake up at three . Here we go , look at the clock , look at the phone , do whatever , all right , and that's it . And I've also discussed alcohol , nicotine and caffeine , because that will absolutely wreak all sorts of havoc to your sleep cycle . Now let's uncover the mysteries of those midnight awakenings . Aging changes your sleeping environment , bathroom trips God damn it , god bless , have to go to the bathroom all the time overnight Alcohol before bed , insomnia , other sleep disorders and certain health issues these all play a role .

Speaker 1 18:03

But at what stage do you raise the white flag and get professional help ? First up , we do not consult Jenny from the office . Jenny is not an intelligent person to help you with this when she suggests to you to take this or go and see your doctor and get a script for that . A script and prescription medications for sleep when you are a shift worker is not not helping you in any way whatsoever . What you need is you need CBT which will actually help you . That's not CBD , right . You need CBT which will actually help you . A psychologist can help you to work through things and give you strategies . A doctor , a sleep expert , can help you , but the first part of call is to go and see your physician to get help in relation to it .

Speaker 1 18:49

Now , if you are battling fatigue and struggling to focus , experiencing mood swings , or your performance at work or school is suffering , then it's time to consult with your doctor . First part of call and I will always say this , it's got to be your first part of call . They will help you to navigate this landscape of your sleep disorders . They're aware of all of this sort of stuff and they will ensure that you're back on the right path to restful nights . And I say again please resist medication and resist medication from them and ask them for a referral to a sleep specialist to help you with it . Really , really important . Okay , excuse me , remember my fellow shift workers . You do deserve quality sleep . All right , implementing these evidence based strategies , and soon you will be thriving and not just surviving in your world of shift work .

Speaker 1 19:48

And that , my friends , concludes my three part series around optimizing sleep , and I hope those three episodes really , really helped you . If you got any value out of these episodes , please , I beg you , share them to your stories , tell your colleagues , tell your friends about them , because it does mean the absolute world to me that you do that . It's really , really important . And if you could just take a moment to actually rate the episode and if you're on Apple , you can actually write a small review as well , which will help other people to find the show . And this is really , really important to get evidence based strategies out there to help our shift working community . And don't forget to hit follow and to turn on your notifications , and then you'll be notified when a new episode of a healthy shift podcast drops . And that's a wrap .

Speaker 1 20:44

Thank you for tuning into this episode of a healthy shift podcast . By understanding the reasons behind the nighttime awakenings and implementing these practical tips , you , too , can take steps towards achieving a more restful night's sleep . Remember , prioritizing your sleep health is essential for overall wellbeing , so don't hesitate to seek support if you're struggling with sleep . And until then and until next time , sleep well and take care . I'll catch you on the next one . Thank you for listening . If you enjoyed this episode , be sure to subscribe so you get notified whenever a new episode is released . It would also be ever so helpful if you could leave a rating and review on the app you're currently listening on . If you want to know more about me or work with me , you can go to a healthy shiftcom . I'll catch you on the next one .