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Sleep Your Way to Better Health
Dr. Don Parkerson, Jr.
Getting the right amount of quality sleep is one of
the most important things you can do to optimize your health. Let’s talk about mattresses, pillows, and 14
ways to help you sleep your way to better health.
Do you have a sleep problem?
Most adults need between 7.5 and 8.5 hours of
uninterrupted sleep every night. The
average American is now getting around 7 hours of sleep and nearly 60% of us
report having trouble sleeping a few nights per week.
According to Psychology
Today, you suffer from insomnia if you take 30 minutes or more to fall
asleep or you lie awake that long during the night at least 3 nights per
week. Insomnia is characterized by one
or more of the following:
§
Being unable to
fall asleep
§
Waking up too
often
§
Not feeling
well-rested in the morning
Insomnia creates a plethora of health issues, such as
headaches, irritability, and muscle pain.
Chronic lack of sleep can also affect your skills, stamina, memory, and
your ability to learn. Some have also
theorized that insomnia is the single biggest trigger for depression.
It has been said that without a good mattress, your
mood and health will suffer. Considering
that you will spend roughly one third of your life in bed, you should make your
mattress selection a high priority.
The general rule is that you should get 8 to 10 years
out of a good mattress, provided that you flip and/or rotate periodically. If your mattress is reaching that time
threshold, it’s time to start considering all of your options.
For your typical type of mattress, you’ll find plenty
of choices from Serta, Sealy, Simmons, Stearns & Foster, and King
Koil. The mattress you choose should
enable you to sleep on your side and maintain a straight spine. In general, a firmer mattress is better, as
long as you can still rest comfortably.
The Mercedes of mattresses now seem to be the
Tempurpedic and the Select Comfort Sleep Number bed. Both may require a second mortgage on your
home, but may also 
revolutionize the way you sleep. Prices on these two range from $2,000 to
around $7,000 if you want all the bells and whistles.
The Tempurpedic bed (see Left) is made from
the unique Tempur type of memory material. The Tempurpedic bed conforms to your
individual body shape while you sleep on it and claims to have an amazing
pressure-relieving quality.
Much of the allure of the Select Comfort (see
Right) is being able to manually set the firmness of each side of the
bed. You and/or your spouse can select a
firmness setting between zero and 100 that provides the ideal comfort and
support for your individual body type.
For more information on the Tempurpedic and Select
Comfort mattresses, you may go to their respective websites:
Your pillow
Like mattresses, pillows come in all shapes, forms, sizes, and prices. You’ve got feather, foam, silk, wool, down, foam cervical pillows, water pillows, buckwheat pillows, tempurpedic pillows . . . and the list goes on. Prices vary from the el cheapo at $15-20 to over $100 for the more trendy choices.
Personal preference always plays a big role in pillow
selection and it’s impossible to say that this one type of pillow is the best
for every person. We all have different
body types and sizes. Some may also have
immune sensitivities to certain materials.
The bottom line is for you to find a pillow that will
conform to your individual head and neck structure. That is affected by the size of your head,
the length of your neck, and the width of your shoulders. All factors must be taken into account when
selecting the right pillow for you.
What position should I sleep in?
First and foremost, never sleep on your stomach, for
any reason or at any time! If this is a
habit of yours’, break it immediately because sleeping on your stomach causes
many neck and back problems.
If you start out sleeping on your side or back and
end up on your stomach, try placing a large foam pillow on either side of you
before you go to sleep. This will help
prevent you from turning onto your stomach in 
your sleep.
The optimal sleeping position may be on your back
with a small to moderate pillow support, but that is just not realistic for
most people. Most people just can’t
maintain comfortable sleep on the back for an entire night.
A more likely scenario, and the one our clinic
recommends the most often, is sleeping on your side with a pillow between your
legs. The pillow between your legs will
take pressure off of your lower back and hips when lying on your side. This position is also the best if you have an
episode of acute lower back pain during the night.
14 Tips for Better Sleep
Dr.
Joseph Mercola is a New York Times best-selling author and the director of www.Mercola.com, one of the world’s most
popular health and wellness websites. He
offers this advice to help you get a good night’s sleep.
1. Exercise
regularly. Exercising for at least 30 minutes everyday
can help you fall asleep quicker.
2. Avoid
before-bed snacks, particularly sugars and grains. Those foods
raise blood sugar levels and inhibit sleep.
3. Sleep in
complete darkness or as close as possible. If there is even the tiniest bit
of light in your bedroom, it can disrupt your sleep rhythm. Darkness causes the brain to secrete the
sleep-inducing hormone melatonin.
4. Avoid TV
right before bed. TV is too stimulating to your brain, thus
taking you longer to fall asleep.
5. Read
something spiritual or religious before bed. This will help you relax. Don’t read anything stimulating, such as a
mystery or suspense novel, as it may have the opposite effect.
6. Wear socks
to bed. Due to the fact that they have the poorest
circulation, the feet often feel cold before the rest of your body.
7. Journaling. If you often
lay in bed with your mind racing, it might be helpful to keep a journal and
write down your thoughts. This is a
powerful tool to help you recover from the effects of stress.
8. Keep the
temperature in your bedroom no higher than 70 degrees F. Many people
keep their homes, and particularly the upstairs bedroom, too hot for optimal
sleep.
9. Avoid
caffeine. An afternoon cup of coffee, tea, or soda will
keep many people from falling asleep. Some medications, particularly diet pills,
also contain caffeine.
10. Lose weight. Being
overweight can increase the risk of sleep apnea, which will prevent a restful
night’s sleep.
11. Take a hot
bath, shower, or sauna before bed. When body temperature is raised in the late
evening, it will fall at bedtime, facilitating sleep.
12. 
Get to bed
as early as possible. Your body’s organs, particularly your adrenal
glands, do a majority of their recharging or recovering during the hours of
13. Don’t change your bedtime. You should go to bed and wake up at the same times each day, even on the weekends. This will help your body to get into a sleep rhythm and make it easier to fall asleep and get up in the morning.
14. Remove the
clock from your view. It will only add to your worry when
constantly staring at it . . .
For further information on this topic, you may contact Dr. Parkerson at
770.952.5353, by email at Parkerson@humberparkerson.com,
or visit our clinic on the web at www.humberparkerson.com.
The Highest Level is the monthly e-mail newsletter of the
©
Humber Parkerson Clinic 2006
March
2006 issue of The Highest Level
