Sleep Deprived and Fighting Cancer--a potentially harmful combination.

Published February 19, 2009 @ 01:10PM PT

  We know that getting a good night’s sleep isn’t always easy, especially when you are in college. Late-night cram sessions, loud room-mates and social engagements leave many college students with minimal hours to sleep and running on empty. Not getting the recommended eight hours of sleep per night is harmful to healthy students, if you have cancer however, not getting enough sleep is something that you can ill afford to experience.   Experts say that almost half of people with cancer can’t get good quality sleep. Sleep is more than relaxing and refreshing, good sleep helps your body try to heal itself. Additionally, getting enough sleep helps you cope with every day life. If you don’t have enough sleep - and we’ve all experienced this at one time or another - a small irritant can turn into something much bigger if you’re tired and less patient. People who don’t sleep well can become anxious or depressed, or both. And if you’re fighting an illness like cancer, anxiety and depression is something that you can ill afford to experience.     24 ways to get a better nights rest by SLEEPEASY      Remove distractions 1. Unplug all of your high tech goodies at the wall socket - Removing items such as the TV/DVD player/TiVo/crackblackberry will not only save you money when your new electricity bill comes (even if items are on turned off using the remote they are still on standby and guzzle down energy) it’ll also help remove distractions and noises these devices emit. There is nothing worse than trying to go to sleep but being unable to relax as the DVD is still spinning loudly in the DVD player. 2. Keep the noise level down - Traffic noise, loud outside conversations, TV blarring in the other room and any other assortment of noises make it difficult to sleep. If the noise can’t be eliminated it can be masked or diluted, closing your door and ensuring all windows are properly sealed is a good start, earplugs are also a good investment. If none of these options work then having another louder noise is an option - it may seem counter productive to eliminate one noise with another but the main reason why it’s hard to sleep when you can hear somebody’s conversation is that conversation isn’t constant. The noise level/pitch and frequency of a conversation or the TV is almost always constantly changing which makes it hard for the body to get used to it and sleep through. Some people find white noise machines and recordings of the beach or a rain forest to be quite sooth, it’s all a matter of trial and error. 3. Get an old school clock - If you have a new digital clock you can probably see it constantly flickering as the LED lights keep changing - some clocks even blink every second which is highly annoying. Old school clocks generally don’t glow in the dark which is one less distraction in the bedroom. Get comfortable 4. Get the right temperature (if more than one person are sleeping in the same room, set the thermostat to a setting where the ‘warmer’ of the two people feels comfortable. If the other person is cold they can add layers to their side of the bed. It’s much easier to add layers than it is to cool down. 5. Buy a new mattress Let’s assume you sleep the average 8 hrs a day, that’s 56 hours a week, 121.33 days a year and 3.33 years a decade or more simply one third of your life. That’s right one third of your life is going to be spent on that shitty $50 mattress your cousins best friend sold to you when you first moved out and that you never replaced because your a cheap ass. It might seem ridiculous spending several hundred or even thousand dollars on a good quality mattress (especially when you could spend it on hookers and cognac) but they generally last 10-15 years so it might be a worthwhile investment, especially if you suffer from back pain. 6. New pillows/blanket - Now that you’ve invested in a good quality mattress it’s important that you do the same with your pillow(s) and blanket. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to either of these, it’s a matter of testing what feels right for you. Following some of the same rules that you discovered when purchasing a new mattress certainly couldn’t hurt. 7. Cuddle sideways: If you’re girl or man needs a cuddle and you need a good nights rest, why not do it on your side? You can adopt the classic spoon position, not only will the special somebody in your life get the love and attention they want (strikeout) deserve,  there might also be proven medical benefits”If you’re sleeping on a good-quality mattress and pillow, the position has actually been shown to help lower stress levels while boosting intimacy,” says Jodi Fidler, a chiropractor and sleep expert at Davis chiropractic in Minneapolis. 8. Meditate - If you’ve got no clue on how to meditate then just try to relax instead, closing your eyes and taking long deep breathes usually does the trick. If you’d prefer you can always learn how to meditate (link to site focused on meditation) 9. Room temperature and ventilation - On a hot stuffy summers night it’s incredibly difficult to get to sleep. Most people prefer a slightly cooler room, but if you’re sleeping in a bed room with two people the best rule to follow is “set the thermostat so that the ‘warmer’ of the two people is comfortable”. It’s a lot easier to add extra blankets to warm a colder person up than it is to cool somebody down (unless you have some type of space age cooling blanket). If you and your partner are constantly bickering about the temperature it may be worth investing in a dual weight blanket which has heavier levels of down on one side. 10. Head north - feet south - Feng shui aside facing your head north and feet south will align your body with earths magnetic fields. Sounds crazy doesn’t it? Well it probably is, we didn’t actually try this one because we had no idea where north was. But I’m sure if you try it it’ll work. Improve your day time habits 11. Don’t watch TV/look at your TV screen for at least 30 minutes before bedtime. The light from a television/monitor are the same intensity as natural sunlight, which tricks the body into thinking it’s time to roll around in the grass - not to sleep. 12. Bed is for sex and sleep only - and in that order (am i rite ladies?) You should avoid watching tv/reading and anything remotely related to work while in bed. If you insist on reading before bed, invest in a comfortable chair which can be placed near your bed. 13. Regular exercise during the day - Exercising 20-30 minutes a day will improve your general fitness and also help you get to sleep quicker. Exercising will help you nod off quicker as some of the chemical by products of burning sugar are a key ingredient to sleep. Be careful not to exercise too late in the day though, as this will increase your body’s internal temperature which hinders sleep. Some light exercise such as stretching or tai chi should be fine. 14. Get some light/dark to set your body clock - Everybody has an internal body clock which helps to regulate sleep, if it’s light the clock tells your body to move to the active daytime phase. When you wake up go outside and get some sunlight, or at least open the shades. If no natural light is available (if you’re an early riser or god forbid you work night shift) then turning on some lights will do the trick. Similarly when you want to go to sleep make sure your environment is dark. 14. Don’t nap! - When you’re not getting a good nights sleep it can be extremely tempting to have a nap during the day time, unfortunately this will only make it harder for you to get a good nights rest. If you must nap keep it to 15-20 minutes, if you nap longer than this you’ll generally enter stages 3 and 4 of sleep (commonly referred to as deep sleep). When you wake up from deep sleep you often feel groggy and worse than you did when you first started to nap. Whereas if you are woken up during stages 1 or 2 of sleep you should feel slightly refreshed. Reduce/remove drugs such as; 15. Alcohol - A night cap before bed will help you get to sleep quicker, unfortunately it also reduces the quality of sleep you do get. Don’t worry, you don’t have to stop drinking completely just try to avoid it in the last few hours before you go to bed. 16. Caffeine - Caffeine can cause sleep problems 10-12 hours after it has been consumed. If you need your daily coffee to keep you going, try to stick to one cup in the morning and possibly a cup of tea before/during lunch. 17. Smoking - Nicotine is a stimulant which makes it difficult to get to sleep, staying asleep isn’t easy as a smoker as the body goes through nicotine withdrawal while asleep. Thus why the first smoke of the day is always the best (apart from the one after sex, but that’s probably to do with the fact you just got some). 18. Other over the counter drugs/prescription drugs/illegal drugs - Most drugs are going to effect your sleep in some way shape or form. It’s best to talk with your local pharmacist/physician about any drugs you’re currently on and what effect they may be having on your sleep 19. Keep a regular bedtime schedule - Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day will make it easier to both go to sleep and wake up feeling refreshed. Time of day is a powerful cue to your internal body clock. It’s important to try to avoid breaking this routine during weekends or when on holidays. When first organizing a bedtime schedule there a few rules to remember - your earliest waking time dictates the time when you go to sleep. Most people need around 8 hrs of sleep to feel fully refreshed, so if you need to wake up at 6:30AM to get to work by 9AM then you need to be going to sleep at 10:30PM. It’ll also take some time for you to get used to your new schedule, it can be the equivalent of jet lag if you previously had vastly different waking hours. Prepare yourself for the wonderment that is sleep. 20. Drink warm milk - Milk contains the amino acid tryptophan which the body breaks down into serotonin and melatonin, both of have shown can aid in sleep. Unfortunately milk contains very minute amounts of tryptophan so unless you plan on drinking a few gallons before bed you might not see much effective.  21. Take a warm bath - Skin temperature regulates sleep, the easiest way to increase your skins temperature is to take a warmish bath before bed. Having a bath will also help your muscles relax and get you into the right mind frame for sleep. Try adding epsom salts and baking soda to your bath as these help to remove toxins from your body. 22. Get a massage - Get your partner to give you a massage before bed, full body massages are best but if your partner is lazy/unwilling to fully co-operate try for a short back rub. This will help soothe your muscles after a long days work. If your partner shows no interest, you might want to give them a massage first. Guilt is key. 23. Avoid foods high in tyrosine - Tyrosine is another pesky amino acid. Tyrosine stimulates brain activity which is exactly what you avoid before trying to nod off. Tyrosine is found in protein rich foods, so eating half a cow before bed isn’t going to do you any favors. 24. Count sheep - Counting sheep works (or is at least supposed to work) because it forces you to focus on counting sheep rather than the stresses of your life. You’ll find it easier to drift of into la la land when your focusing on a mind numbingly boring task like counting sheep than you will worrying about that draft your boss has been hassling you about for weeks which you haven’t even started or the fact that even though your wife has been nagging you all night to put the bins out you’ve forgotten but you’re already in bed so really it’s no longer your problem. Even if counting sheep doesn’t distract you from life’s woes hopefully it’ll bore you enough that your brain will give up and just relax already.