How can you help patients prioritize sleep and reduce stress?

Sleep is very fundamental to physical and psychological health-- it is key for memory, concentration, alertness, energy, mood, and much more. There are many things that can disrupt your sleep or worsen sleep quality including coffee after noon, alcohol in late evenings (which causes early morning awakening), work stress, anxiety, rumination, and depression. Keep track of when you're going to bed, how long it takes you to fall asleep, how much you're waking up throughout the night, and how rested you feel in the morning. These are all trackable elements that are important. There are also several wearable devices and apps that can help to keep track of sleep quality overnight.

Sleep plays a very important role to keep the mind and the body healthy and active. Inadequate and poor quality of the sleep may lead to fatigue during the day, difficulty in concentrating, cravings, gut related problems like constipation or diarrhea and high levels of cortisol. Mood disorders like anxiety, depressions were reported among people with sleep disorders. It may also play a role in the development of obesity, type-2 diabetes and hypertension. Research reports showed that those who slept an additional hour on their free days to catch-up on the sleep had better blood sugar control. Another report indicated that 'catch-up sleep' helps with controlling inflammation levels that play a role in chronic conditions.

Healthy sleep habits that can be followed for a good quality sleep that have benefited my patients include- 1. Expose to some sunlight during the day. Sunlight set the rhythm of sleep and wake cycle. 2. Include some exercise or activity during the day 3. have a light dinner 2-3 hour before bedtime 4. Keep the bed time consistent 5. Keep the bed room distraction free from TV, laptops, mobiles. Atlease switch them off 1hr before the bedtime 6. Keep the bedroom clean, clutter free and slightly cold 7. Have a shower before bed 8. Read or listen to some soothing music if that helps 9. Cup of warm milk with nutmeg or turmeric helps

Awareness is half the battle. Many of my clients have not taken sleep hygiene and quality as an important aspect of healthy and disease free life. Creating awareness on how sleep plays a role in hormonal balance, metabolism, recovery and detoxification of the body will help them to start thinking about prioritizing sleep quality. Small steps can make big difference. Steps like - Having a bed routine, finishing dinner at-least 2 hours before bedtime, a warm shower , switching off devices, keeping the bed room distraction free can help. Chamomile tea or a cup of warm milk can also help induce sleep. In some cases deficiencies of nutrients like magnesium, hormone melatonin can also be considered in consultation with health care team.