Articles - Sleep, Mind-Body Practices and Self-Care

Everything I know about sleep I learned from Dr. William Dement, founder of the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic.

Well, not everything - but it's fair to say that reading his fascinating book, The Promise of Sleep, was a real eye-opener, which led me to further study and an on-going interest in the critical role that sleep plays in our health, longevity, and emotional well-being.

In 1999 I developed a seminar on the connections between sleep, stress, and substance abuse ("The Sleep - Alcohol - Stress Connection"), and I've been educating my clients about the importance of sleep ever since.

Unlike computers, people don’t just cease functioning when they go into “sleep” mode – in fact, certain parts of the body actually become more active. The sleeping brain is busy processing, organizing, and storing in memory all of the information we accumulate during the day. Hormones that are used to repair skin cells and build muscle and bone cells circulate throughout the body. And the immune system becomes more active during sleep, producing more disease-fighting cells. So yes, “sleeping on it” really does help us to solve problems, and it turns out Mom was right about needing her “beauty sleep”, and about making sure we got extra sleep if we were coming down with a cold.

Lack of sleep can be both a cause and a result of stress, anxiety, and depression, trapping you in a vicious cycle. But having a nightcap or popping sleeping pills isn't the answer, in fact, it often makes things worse. The solution lies in establishing good self-care habits, especially around sleep-wake schedules, exercise, and relaxation.