“Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links.”
Often, sleep is the first thing to suffer when you’re busy. But skimping on shut-eye is the worst thing you can do to yourself, especially during stressful times. “Sleep isn’t a luxury,” says Michael Sabia, M.D., the division head of the Cooper University Health Care Pain Management Program, an associate professor of anesthesiology at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, and the author of The Wellness Formula: Unlocking a Doctor’s Secrets to Longevity and Optimal Health. “It’s a biological necessity and the cornerstone of human wellness. In a culture that glorifies productivity and hustle, sleep has been wrongly sacrificed.”
Unfortunately, just one rough night can take a toll. “Missing sleep for one night can make you more emotionally reactive, less focused, more prone to conflict, and more likely to crave high-sugar, high-fat foods,” says Wendy M. Troxel, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, a sleep scientist at Rand Corporation, and the author of Sharing the Covers: Every Couple’s Guide to Better Sleep. Even worse, “chronic short sleep or disrupted sleep is linked to higher risk of depression, anxiety, relationship problems, diabetes, weight gain, heart disease, and even Alzheimer’s disease.”
But listen to all the positives solid sleep can provide: “It’s the single most powerful, yet most undervalued, tool for optimizing physical health, emotional resilience, cognitive performance, immune function, and longevity,” says Dr. Sabia. “During sleep, the body enters a state of active restoration. Hormones that regulate growth, metabolism, and repair, such as growth hormone and melatonin, are released in precise cycles. The brain consolidates memory, clears metabolic waste through the lymphatic system, and recalibrates emotional processing. Muscles are repaired, inflammation is regulated, and the immune system is strengthened.”
Here are three small steps that can transform your sleep routine:
Get light in the morning.
Morning light exposure plus keeping your wake time consistent equals a simple but powerful strategy to help you sleep better. “Outdoor light is best, but in the winter months even bright indoor lights can help,” says Troxel. Even after a bad night, getting up at the same time as usual institutes a “self-correcting” mechanism, making your sleep drive higher the next night. “Anchoring your wake-up time is the single-most important thing you can do to regulate your circadian rhythm,” Troxel says.
Cut back on caffeine.
Caffeine’s average half-life is about five hours in healthy adults; that means if you drink one cup of coffee at noon (with about 95 mg of caffeine), half of what you consume can still be active in your body well into the evening. In fact, at 10 p.m. about 23 mg of it still may be circulating. “This lingering effect is one of the most common hidden causes of poor sleep quality, even if someone ‘falls asleep fine,’” says Dr. Sabia. Also, different people process caffeine differently based on factors such as genetics, hormones, stress, and medications, which means caffeine sensitivity is a specific to each individual.
Getty Images
If you drink caffeine, taper off over seven to 14 days, stopping earlier in the day than you usually do. People often notice lighter awakenings and deeper sleep within the first week of reducing caffeine intake, says Dr. Sabia. “Caffeine often masks exhaustion rather than fixing it,” he adds. “People often find that they need less caffeine once their sleep improves.”
Consider a temporary sleep divorce.
It’s difficult to rest well when your partner is snoring or tossing and turning, disrupting your sleep. “Research is somewhat mixed on whether people objectively sleep better together or apart, but what is clear is that a well‑slept partner is a better partner,” says Troxel. “Sleeping apart can be a very effective tool when snoring, restlessness, or mismatched schedules are disrupting both your sleep and your relationship.”
Sleeping apart should be part of a broader plan, not the whole plan in itself. “First address underlying sleep problems, identify the source of disruption, and then, if needed, use separate rooms strategically—on work nights, during symptom flares, or during stressful periods when sleep is vulnerable rather than as a permanent ‘sleep divorce,’” says Troxel. “When you frame flexible sleep arrangements as a way to protect both partners’ health and mood, even occasional nights apart become an act of relationship care, not a sign that something is wrong between you.”
You Might Also Like
