“Challenge conquered!”
That’s what Bonnie Markham, one of the more than 1,800 members of our 30-Day Sleep Challenge Facebook group, posted.
“I have learned that little changes can make a huge difference,” she wrote. “I am now, once again sleeping through the night and feeling awake in the morning. All I changed was not going to bed until tired, reading before getting into bed and finding the right relaxation tape to listen to.”
Of course, not everyone is feeling quite so well rested. But as our challenge comes to a close, many of us have come to learn about our sleep rhythms and make small, doable changes that improved the quality and quantity of our rest.
As we move forward, our long-term Snooze Goal is to build on to what we learned through the challenge.
Some participants found that keeping a sleep diary (as we did during the first week of the challenge), paying attention to when they felt sleepy and going to bed then helped them sleep better. Others discovered that keeping a regular sleep/wake schedule helped them fall asleep and wake up more easily.
For Shelly Miller Peters, a member of our Facebook group, the week spent following sleep hygiene recommendations made the biggest change.
“I’ve been wearing my Fitbit to bed to help track my sleep patterns,” she posted. “It’s been keeping me aware of how I’m sleeping and showing me that when I take time to wind down, read a book and no phone, limit caffeine, I actually sleep a lot better!”
I learned that there may be some things I can’t change about my sleep. My alarm will always go off a little earlier than I wish it would. And the likelihood of one of my young daughters waking me up in the middle of the night remains high.
But installing blackout curtains, putting away my phone at least an hour before bed, meditating and avoiding checking the clock when I wake up at night? These changes made a real difference for me.
And, who knows, maybe if I practice enough, I will eventually master the art of taking a nap, one of the sleep hacks I tried the last week of our challenge.
If you worked to make healthy changes to your sleep and still struggle with not feeling rested, ask your doctor if a sleep study would be appropriate for you. There’s a questionnaire — called STOP-BANG (stopbang.com) — that doctors often use to screen for sleep apnea. It’s available online if you want to check your score.
I’m going to keep working to boost my sleep, as are many of those who took part in the challenge. We’re in good company. The Minnesota Vikings will be right there with us.
Eric Sugarman, the vice president of sports medicine for the team, said he has been working to teach his players about the role sleep plays in their recovery.
“These guys suffer a lot of stress to their muscles and ligaments and brains and everything else. Sleep is one of the key factors of regeneration and letting your body recover for the next day. We just try to emphasize that to our players,” he said.
“We found that it was essential to educate our players on not only how important it is to sleep eight hours a night if possible, but how to sleep properly. We’ve educated them on how to put your brain at rest, and what the proper conditions are for sleeping. A cool room, a dark room, stay off your mobile devices an hour before you go to bed.”
Vikings players also track their own sleep using Sleep Number 360 smart beds, which use a biometric sensor that’s integrated into the mattress to give a sleep score based on breathing, heart rates and restful periods.
And power naps aren’t discouraged, Sugarman added.
“Sleep is really, really important for an athlete’s success and it’s paramount to their recovery and peak performance,” he said. “We have a room in our beautiful new building that is dedicated to recovery. And, you know, sometimes the guys do take a nap in there.”
The 30-Day Sleep Challenge has been a great team effort. Hopefully, we’ll continue to learn about how essential sleep is to our health — from improving mood to lowering risks for heart disease, cancer and diabetes — and make it a priority, not just for 30 days, but for the rest of our lives.
Your top sleep questions answered
Dr. Michael Howell spends his waking hours thinking about sleep — studying it, teaching about it and helping his patients get more of it.
“Sleep is just so fascinating. There’s a bit of a wonder to it,” said Howell, a sleep medicine doctor and associate neurology professor at the University of Minnesota.
Q: Why do I consistently wake up in the middle of the night?
A: It’s perfectly normal to wake up in the middle of the night. The normal sleep cycle is that about every 90 minutes we will wake up.
The awakening itself is fine, as long as you’re able to fall back asleep in 5 or 10 minutes. You get up, you go get a drink of water, you go to the bathroom, you go back to bed, you’re asleep within 10 minutes. That is not pathology.
Q: Is it only older adults who wake at night?
Q: How do I get back to sleep?
Q: Should I try to force myself to sleep?
Q: Is the quantity or quality of sleep more important?
A: Sleep is a three-legged stool. First, you have to have the right timing. Your sleep has to be at your right circadian rhythm. If you would naturally go to bed at 3 a.m. and you go to bed at 10 p.m., I don’t care if you do get eight hours of sleep, it’s not going to be refreshing. So first and foremost, you have to have the right timing of sleep.
Secondly, you have to have the right quality of sleep. So you want to make sure you don’t have sleep apnea, or pain or restlessness.
Q: Is it OK to get sleep whenever you can, like taking an hour nap after work, then getting seven hours at night? Or is it better to sleep uninterrupted?
Q: How can I quiet my mind so I can get to sleep and stay asleep?
A: The first question to ask yourself is, what is my natural timing of sleep? Am I trying to fall asleep at the time which is natural for me? I don’t care when you think you should go to bed, I want to know, when does your body naturally fall asleep? Don’t try to fall asleep until it’s your body’s natural timing to fall asleep.
If you say, well, that’s not going to work, because I need to get to bed at 10, then the first thing you focus on is moving your circadian rhythm around with light in the morning and melatonin [in the evening].
Q: How does aging impact our sleep?
A: We become more aware of awakenings. Our sleep is not as deep. Our sleep tends to be a little bit more fragmented. We tend to be awake a little bit more throughout the course of the night. We’re more at risk for sleep disorders such as sleep apnea.
Q: Do you recommend taking melatonin?
A: Normally, melatonin is naturally secreted by our brains when the sun goes down, under natural conditions. What does natural conditions mean? That means no electricity, no lights, no screens, no televisions, no tablets. No smartphones, nothing.
Q: Is taking a prescription pill in order to get to sleep harmful?
Q: What are your recommendations on how to gradually get off sleeping pills?
A: If you’re at that point, I think it’s worthwhile to see a cognitive behavioral therapist specialist, and work with your doctor to come off of the medication. Recognize that your sleep is going to get a little worse before it gets better. And know that the vast majority of people can get off of them.
Q: What do you think about legislative proposals for Minnesota to have permanent daylight saving time?
Q: I have restless leg syndrome and I have noticed that as I get older I have restless arms. Is there such a thing as restless arm syndrome?
Q: Are there any alternatives now to the over-the-face CPAP masks? I’m going in for a sleep study and hoping that I can use something else that doesn’t cover my nose and mouth. I’m claustrophobic.
Q: What are your tips to getting quality sleep while also parenting a 9-month-old baby that wakes during the night?
Q: What’s your best sleep advice for parents of teenagers?
A: Parents need to understand that their kids aren’t being obstinate or purposefully frustrating. They’re probably going to be night owls just naturally. That’s their natural circadian rhythm.
Q: What is your best sleep advice for young teenagers?
A: Realize that you need a lot of sleep. I realize that there are a lot of forces — homework, friends, social media, texting — that are keeping you up. It’s really important to get off the screen, if you can, for an hour before bedtime. Dim the lights and get to bed.